HARRY KANE doesn’t usually say very much in his post-match interviews. He always shows up, always engages with the questioner, is always very polite, but never has much of substance to say.

These week, though, he has said quite a lot. Of the 26 players selected for England’s matches this weekend, eight have dropped out with one replacement also withdrawing.

"It's a shame,” said Kane. “It's a tough period of the season and maybe it's been taken advantage of a little bit. I don't really like it, if I'm totally honest. I think England comes before any club situation.”

It shows how far playing for your country has slipped in the order of importance. One of Gareth Southgate’s great strengths was that he created a sense of togetherness and unity, and yet here is the England captain criticising his would-be teammates who have not come together.

Many probably had genuine reasons, but if this had been the first game of Thomas Tuchel’s reign, rather than the dying days of the caretaker Lee Carsley’s period of standing-in, you can bet that several would have put their aches and pains behind them to make an impression.

The Football Association has created this fallow period by allowing Tuchel, who looks more like a hired hand with every development, to start on January 1. Let’s hope the less experienced players who get their chance – including the replacement of the replacement – play so well that they show they were proud to wear the Three Lions shirt and they give Tuchel a selection headache whenever he eventually starts work.