English football is moving in the right direction - Dyche

Sean Dyche points to the likes of Harry Kane and Danny Ings as signs that English football is moving in the right direction.
English future: Danny Ings in action for the Under 21's against GermanyEnglish future: Danny Ings in action for the Under 21's against Germany
English future: Danny Ings in action for the Under 21's against Germany

Burnley tackle Tottenham Hotspur at Turf Moor on Sunday lunchtime, with Kane out to add to his 29 goals for Spurs so far this season.

Ings is one short of double figures in his first year at this level, and the England Under 21 strike duo will inevitably command much of the headlines ahead of the game.

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Kane is flavour of the month, having netted within 79 seconds of his England debut as a substitute against Lithuania, before his first start in Italy.

Harry Kane celebrates his England debut with a goal after just 79 secondsHarry Kane celebrates his England debut with a goal after just 79 seconds
Harry Kane celebrates his England debut with a goal after just 79 seconds

There has been a perceived dearth of striking options for England in recent years, but Roy Hodgson could afford to leave Ings, Charlie Austin, Saido Berahino and Rickie Lambert out of the full squad, while Andy Carroll is currently injured.

Dyche said: “I don’t know whether there has been a dearth, I think it comes in spells. I think the thing about football is that it moves on.

“We all question who is next and then they just arrive. They come of age.

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“I think there’s a reasonably good group of young players who are beginning to show true worth and value.

“There is a lot of good work going on in this country. They are trying all sorts of things to help with grassroots football.

“If we had parents just talking to their kids rather than screaming at them that would be helpful in youth football!

“Kane’s one who has come out of it because he’s scoring goals in the Premier League. Ingsy is similar. There are signs that we are moving forward.”

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Kane has 15 goals since the turn of the year, including his England strike, which is more that Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale combined at Real Madrid.

The 21-year-old is in a terrific vein of form, elevating him into Player of the Year contention, but Dyche admitted: “I think he’s just a young player playing with the freedom that young players often do.

“I remember speaking to Clive Allen about him and obviously I respect his goalscoring praise, and he felt he had goals in him as a young lad.

“He was one of the early ones who said to me, for all that he is not rapid, his movement is good, he’s energetic, and it seems to me that he is willing to keep arriving in the box.

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“That sounds really simplistic, but often players work away from the box, he works in the box, he’s always around the key goal scoring area, the position of maximum opportunity.

“He’s someone who is always in and around it and if you get in there often enough you will score goals. At the moment his strike rate is excellent.

“His challenge is to keep that going because there will be a black moment, there will be a dark spot when it doesn’t come as freely.

“It’s very rare that goal scorers score all the time through his career, so it’s how he handles that if and when that time comes.

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Kane brought the biggest cheer of the night when introduced at Wembley against Lithuania, and it would be typically English to overhype emerging talent.

Dyche added: “It does speak for itself, if you’re scoring goals that often everyone takes about it. Fans are fans.

“They tweet ‘Harry Kane brilliant again today’ and it spreads quickly.

“Some of that is just the people talking.

“As much as we admire many of the foreign players that come into this country, there is still an element of the British public that love to see a young player playing at the top level producing the goods.

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“That’s why there is a lot for him. ‘Here’s another one, we needed one, we wanted one’.

“In my lifetime we had when Rooney first came on the scene, it wasn’t really the media, it just spreads from people who are excited about him playing and scoring goals.

“It’s usually people who score goals. If Messi didn’t score as much as he did he would just be a fantastic player, because he scores so much he’s an amazing player, one of the best of all-time.”

But, asked whether Ings can challenge himself to reach the heights Kane has scaled this season, Dyche responded: “I don’t think Danny measures himself against other people and I’m not a big fan of that.

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“I think you measure yourself against yourself. He’s got to know where he’s going and how his game is.

“Goal scoring has changed. It used to be out and out goal scorers but I think they’ve got more to their game than that.

“It used to be people who would score and almost not have a kick for the rest of the game. I think that’s changing. I think the game wants more out of a centre forward than that and I some of these players are delivering more and there is more to their game than just goals.”