England legend Paul Scholes has launched a stinging critique of Harry Kane’s decision to repeatedly drop into midfield during the Three Lions’ World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina.

England lost 2-1 in a heartbreaking contest on Wednesday night, with the match turning dramatically after Anthony Gordon had given the side a 1-0 lead.

Two late goals from Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez completed the Argentine comeback and ended England’s hopes of reaching yet another World Cup final.

Scholes, speaking on The Good, The Bad, and The Football Podcast, made clear he found Kane’s tendency to drift deep deeply frustrating to watch.

“If I keep seeing my centre-forward almost coming behind me half the time, I’d hate that. I want my centre-forward to play centre-forward. I think it’s also a leadership thing from midfield,” Scholes said.

The former Manchester United midfielder also called out Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice for failing to push Kane back into a more advanced position during the game.

“If me or Nicky, or me and Roy, or whoever it is as a midfield player, we’d say: ‘What the f— are you doing?’ That’s up to Elliot Anderson and Declan Rice; they should be saying: ‘Get out of here, we need you up there,'” Scholes added.

Kane, England’s all-time leading scorer in both World Cups and across all competitions, is known for his habit of dropping deep to influence play from midfield areas.

The England captain himself addressed the painful defeat, acknowledging that the squad had come agonisingly close to reaching another major final.

“We were close, really close to another final but it wasn’t enough. We’ve given everything over these last seven weeks and to fall short is hard to take,” Kane said.

Kane also pointed to England’s sustained inability to take that final step, referencing nearly a decade of near-misses at major tournaments.

“I know the expectations are high and rightly so, we’ve been knocking on the door for eight years now but again are missing that final piece of the jigsaw! That’s where we have to go away, process it and find a way to get better,” he added.

Much of the post-match attention has also fallen on England manager Thomas Tuchel, whose tactical decisions late in the game drew significant criticism from pundits and supporters alike.

Tuchel controversially substituted Anthony Gordon for Ezri Konsa, a defensive change that attracted widespread backlash and reportedly left players unhappy with his cautious approach.

Former England coach Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink suggested that previous manager Gareth Southgate would not have made the same tactical shift at that stage of the match.

“I don’t think that Gareth would have gone to a back five. I don’t think that he would have gone to it with 20, 25 minutes before the game finishes,” Hasselbaink said.

Hasselbaink also argued that Southgate’s approach would have preserved more energy and attacking intent in the final stages of the contest.

“I think he would have changed the wide players and still had energy up front so that he could still press from the front and still be able to get behind their defence,” Hasselbaink concluded.

Argentina will now advance to the World Cup final where they will face Spain, leaving England to reflect on another missed opportunity at the very top of international football.

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