Harry Kane's impact on Friday night was extraordinary. What a delight it was to see a young Englishman, who is leading the Premier League scoring charts, come on and score for England within 79 seconds. Like everyone at Wembley, I left the ground with a smile on my face because of Kane’s cameo appearance. But we do have to measure our praise a little bit. On Friday against Lithuania he was facing a League One back four. To judge Harry properly you need to see him over 10 international games — and probably 10 back-to-back games. He needs those games to settle in and see what international football is about. Harry Kane (left) scored 79 seconds into his England debut against Lithuania on Friday . Kane wheels away to celebrate scoring for England against Lithuania at Wembley on Friday . Kane's incredible rise continued on Friday when he marked his first England game with a goal . What I will say is that from what I’ve seen of him over the past 12 months, stepping up from Under-21 level to the Tottenham first team, to the Europa League and now to full international level, he has looked comfortable at every stage. He can hold the ball up, he leaps well to head the ball, he works hard and can play in either of the front two positions and his finishing doesn’t really need any additional comment. He can be a genuine international player but we have to see him against tougher defences first. If he starts against Italy on Tuesday, it will be more of a test both on the pitch and mentally. On Friday, when he came on, there was nothing to lose. The game was won and their back four, which was struggling anyway, had been stretched. That’s a lovely position to be in as a fresh, young striker. When you start the focus is all on you and the team is looking to you for the breakthrough goals. That’s a different test. And he’s likely to be up against Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, two of the toughest defenders around. I do believe that he will learn quickly and he can raise the bar at international level. Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge will both enjoy playing with him. I’ve said before that we haven’t had this range of attacking talent since I was the England manager and had to pick between Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham, Michael Owen, Ian Wright, Les Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler and Andrew Cole. There are some great options for Roy now. We’re not going to mess around any more with Rooney playing out wide. But I can see Rooney and Kane playing up top together, with one dropping in behind at times. Both of them can do that, so you can rotate the role. I had the same kind of pleasant problem going into the 1998 World Cup. We knew Alan Shearer and Teddy Sheringham could play together and they had a wonderful balance to them, with Teddy dropping in and Alan always playing close to the goal. But then Michael Owen burst on the scene with his lightning pace. I didn’t want Alan to play in the pocket if he played alongside Michael, because that’s not his best position. So we had to work at the system so that both of them would have little spells where they would be up top: Michael because of his pace and Alan because of his goal threat. If you look at Michael’s famous goal against Argentina, he comes from deep. That’s because he had dropped in for that period of the game and that was something we had specifically worked on. I didn’t want a 4-4-2 with two strikers playing square because, at international level, that’s food and drink to defenders. Kane headed in England's fourth against Lithuania shortly after replacing Wayne Rooney . It has been queried how Kane (left) would fit in a starting line-up alongside captain Wayne Rooney . Kane and Rooney in the same starting line-up could see formation turn to a 4-3-3 . The attacking full backs, Leighton Baines and Nathaniel Clyne, would be able to provide width to the attack . I think Rooney and Kane can do that, so that when we’re in possession it naturally changes into a 4-3-3, with the wide men pushing high. And if they stay up square of each other, the two wide men can come back down and the full-backs can get overlaps on them. That should happen so you’re changing your shape constantly. It also gives your wide player the opportunity to come inside and, although he can’t play on Tuesday, Danny Welbeck did that fantastically on Friday, driving into the box. He is going to win so many penalties doing that because he’s flying at people and throws defenders off their guard. And with Raheem Sterling, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to add to the mix, it really does feel like a great period for English forwards. Give Harry a bit of time and there’s no reason to think he can’t be an important part of that. It is not just Harry Kane who we have to be careful not to overpraise. We need to be realistic about this England team, too. The qualifying campaign is telling us very little about whether Roy Hodgson’s team have progressed since the World Cup. We’re in control of the games and dominating possession. But we need to know how to play when we don’t have the ball and whether we can keep possession under pressure. We’re not really going to know if they’re good enough until June 2016. Friendlies won’t give us a real idea, as teams like Italy will be chopping and changing. Roy Hodgson is refusing to get carried away with the hype that is surrounding Kane . Danny Welbeck (left) produced a man-of-the-match display in England's win against Lithuania . Raheem Sterling (left) scored his first England goal in the victory over Lithuania on Friday . As the World Cup demonstrated, if you’re a little bit short, two years of work can all be over in 180 minutes of football. There’s nothing like a tournament to apply some cold reality. I think Gary Cahill is a really good defender but he and Phil Jagielka struggled against Italy and Uruguay at the World Cup. We don’t know whether that weakness is still there. And we don’t have the depth of defenders, because Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and John Stones haven’t seized their chance yet. Our wide forward players like Danny Welbeck and Raheem Sterling look great but they don’t have to defend that much. The problem will come when they get dragged back against much better sides. And let’s see how well the full-backs stand up when they are put under pressure. It was down that left side with Welbeck and Leighton Baines that Italy caught us out in the World Cup. Phil Jones (left) started alongside Gary Cahill in defence for England against Lithuania . Danny Welbeck (second right) celebrates England's second goal with Gary Cahill and Raheem Sterling . If England have less of the possession against Italy on Tuesday it would be probably be beneficial in the long term. We won’t have been used to playing without the ball. Major international tournaments are like being an Olympic athlete who has to be ready for a few days of competition every four years. Let’s hope England are up to the Olympic standard because we’re only going to find out next June.
Harry Kane scored on his England debut against Lithuania on Friday . Kane looked comfortable on the biggest stage at Wembley . He could line-up with Rooney in a system near to a 4-3-3 formation .