Tony Adams: Harry Kane WILL finally break his duck at World Cup 2022 against Senegal as England cause set-piece chaos

HARRY KANE will lick his lips at the thought of facing Senegal and think, “Hallelujah! This is where I break my duck at the World Cup.”

I’m sure there will be a lot of opportunities, especially from set pieces because after studying our opponents it’s pretty clear that while they’re a group of very talented individuals, they’re not a team.

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When Kane and Harry Maguire interfere with corners and free kicks, they are rewarded.

A third of all goals come from set pieces and that hasn’t changed over the years.

It’s no different in the World Cup, Premier League or League Two.

They are so important and we are good at them.

I thought I was doing well with my five goals in 66 caps, but Maguire has scored seven out of 51, which isn’t too shabby.

Defensively, Senegal is poorly organized. I watch Kalidou Koulibaly from Chelsea and although he has skills he plays for himself and doesn’t organize the men around him.

His relationship with goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, another Chelsea player, doesn’t seem to exist.

Mendy is a fantastic goalkeeper but he makes mistakes – just look at the two he threw in against the Dutch.

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As a defender you have to make the game predictable, you have to be solid and work together, make sure there are no holes, communicate with your goalkeeper, your full-backs and your midfield.

Koulibaly is exposed one-on-one without the help he needs around him, and then the likes of Marcus Rashford can take advantage of him.

I remember our old Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger making us play one-on-one all over the pitch in training.

There was a lightning fast Thierry Henry against me.

I don’t have any full-backs or midfielders in front of me and Thierry just passed me with his space and skill.

I walked in and said to Arsene, “Don’t ever do that to me again. I’ve spent my entire career playing, so I don’t get into that situation working with the rest of the defense.

That’s why I’ve been so successful in making sure the unit was always solid and nobody was left isolated.

England have too much for Senegal whoever is playing

Tony Adams

Senegal is not so structured, but England is.

We put John Stones and Maguire together which is a good organized couple and they are well trained.

Defense is the only area on the field where you need familiarity and consistency.

It’s all about those partnerships in defense, which I kept saying to Arsene, who had this irritating rotating defender policy.

The only thing predictable about Senegal is that it is unpredictable.

Very inventive and flamboyant, they have a lot of talent, but even though they score goals, they always let them in.

As for England, when I did the quickstep on Strictly, Craig Revel Horwood said to me, “That was better.”

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We had people chasing against the Welsh, while Maguire sprayed the ball across the pitch and stretched it – that’s what I was screaming for.

While we did well against them, let’s not forget the guys who started against Iran.

With England, suddenly the players on the bench seem better than they were before kick-off when the side are struggling a bit.

We shouldn’t turn our backs on the players who have done it in the past.

Gareth Southgate chose Iran’s side for a reason – he believed in a trusted group to get off to a good start.

Players like Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling and Mason Mount should not be forgotten.

I’m still keeping an eye on the French in the quarterfinals and see who’s the best for this game.

Is it Phil Foden or Saka or Rashford? Or two out of three?

The great thing is that we have options and our A and B teams are pretty much the same.

We have too much for Senegal, whoever is playing.

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