Kane lauds England for making Serbia 'look average' in qualifying rout

England captain Harry Kane lauded his international team-mates for making Serbia "look average" in their resounding 5-0 victory in their World Cup qualifying clash. 

Kane kick-started the scoring in the 33rd minute after glancing Declan Rice's corner beyond Djordje Petrovic before Noni Madueke doubled the lead two minutes later. 

Further goals from Ezri Konsa, Marc Guehi and Marcus Rashford sealed an emphatic victory against Serbia, who saw captain Nikola Milenkovic sent off in the 72nd minute. 

Indeed, the result ensured England did not concede in their last seven competitive fixtures, matching their longest ever run of clean sheets in such games, which came under Sir Bobby Robson between October 1988 and October 1989. 

The performance was by far their most impressive under Thomas Tuchel, who became just the fourth England manager to win his first five competitive games at the helm, after Fabio Capello (first eight), Ron Greenwood (six) and Sven-Goran Eriksson (five).

After labouring past Andorra in their previous qualifying clash, Serbia posted a huge test for the Three Lions, having lost just one of their last 28 home qualifiers before Tuesday. 

However, England passed with flying colours, ending the match with an expected goals (xG) total of 4.22 from their 24 shots to Serbia's measly 0.08 from their three attempts. 

England's victory saw them make it five wins from five to start their World Cup qualifying campaign, sitting seven points clear of Albania at the summit of Group K. 

Ahead of kick-off, Tuchel believed that the hostile environment in Belgrade would bring the best out of his players, and Kane felt the Three Lions more than delivered. 

"I spoke a lot yesterday about how we wanted to play – being on the front foot and being aggressive, and I think we showed our level today," Kane told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"Even in the other games, we did well, but we didn't reach top form. We scored five and made it look comfortable. We can be proud of ourselves.

"It has been a great camp and we are in a great position. They found it difficult to play. Whenever they did break, we recovered quickly.

"Overall, we can be pleased with the whole week and we will take this into the next camp. The energy has been higher and the level has been higher.

"We felt we had a good performance a few days ago. I know it wasn't the performance that everyone was excited about, but we did what we had to.

"Serbia are a good team, and we made them look average tonight."

England will be hoping to maintain their perfect start to qualifying away to Latvia on October 14, with a friendly against Wales also to come five days prior to their trip to Riga.