Last week, Harry Kane was asked whether he had a special goal celebration planned in tribute to former Tottenham Hotspur teammate Christian Eriksen following the Denmark midfielder’s recovery from cardiac arrest.
The 27-year-old had only played one game by that point, but Friday’s 0-0 draw against Scotland followed a similar pattern to the previous weekend’s opener against Croatia in that Kane was on the periphery from start to finish.
That is not by itself a cause for panic: England remain in a good position to qualify ahead of Tuesday’s final Group D game and will secure top spot with victory against the Czech Republic .
The 50-year-old’s task was complicated by a shortened timeframe to work with the players after Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea contested the major European finals at the end of the regular season.
There is also a concern within the camp that England can only go as far as their defence will allow them.
Against Scotland, it contributed to a lack of speed in their passing, which enabled their opponents to remain compact, denying space for Kane.
Southgate may have had that partly in mind when choosing to persist with Raheem Sterling despite a poor end to the season with Manchester City; the only goal England have scored at Euro 2020 came from Sterling running into space vacated by Kane to collect a Phillips pass and fire home against Croatia.
Even one of the three scored from open play was blind luck — against Panama in the group stage, Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s shot hit Kane’s heel as he ran away from the ball before flying in.
It also partly explains why the clamour for Jack Grealish’s inclusion against the Czech Republic has grown of late.
And then we come to Kane himself.
Kane’s professionalism is such that it is hard to believe talk of a possible move to Manchester City, Manchester United or Chelsea is genuinely a factor influencing his performances, especially given his sincere desire to be successful with the national team.
Kane holds himself to the highest possible standards, inviting comparisons with Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi rather than being unfairly or prematurely catapulted into that highest bracket by others.
They are yet to concede a goal, and the cathartic feeling from beating Croatia three years after losing to them at the last World Cup has not been entirely lost.
The BBC ran a piece asking “Do England have the best front three in world football?” as Kane, Sterling and Jadon Sancho racked up the goals in Euro 2020 qualifying, scoring five against Kosovo and four against Bulgaria.
Tournaments are radically different to qualifying, but it says plenty about how quickly things can change that Sterling was the popular choice to miss out in the opening game, Kane finds himself under renewed pressure while Sancho didn’t even make the final 23 against Croatia.