Kane – 0 Goals
Rooney – 0 Goals
Welbeck – Injured
Sturridge – Injured
Austin – Championship
Vardy – 1 Goal
Not the greatest of returns after 3 games is it, with San Marino up next it’s not the greatest cause for concern but whether this signifies the start of a long term problem remains to be seen, how long will it be until we are picking strikers out of The Championship to represent the National side. This isn’t about banging the Xenophobic drum and saying there’s too many foreigners playing in the Premier League because that argument has been done to death but for a leading European nation it is quite a paucity of available options.
The San Marino game coming up on September 5th isn’t really the issue but I would say the Switzerland game a few days after is more of a pressing concern. In a group that England have all but qualified out of by the time we beat San Marino (we will, won’t we) the lacks of goals so far might be an issue that doesn’t necessarily rise to the forefront but when Euro 2016 comes around in June then it will be interesting to see who makes the trip to France but the above options won’t strike fear into tournament favourites such as Germany, Spain and the French hosts.
With only 3 games played, it’s not about making this a crisis but it will be interesting to see what returns the players listed have this season and whether will get another name break out of the pack and have a great Premier League debut season (Wilson and Deeney could spring to mind) but long term if we’re not careful we could be looking at an even greater lack of top level striking talent for England. It will be interesting to see how this one develops over the course of the season and beyond.