BBC's Gary Lineker 'defended' by Match of the Day bosses after England spat with Harry Kane

Gary Lineker has been 'defended' by his Match of the Day bosses over his comments about England, which sparked a spat with captain Harry Kane, with them saying they want their pundits to be 'honest' with their opinions.

Like many England fans, BBC presenter Gary was left distinctly unimpressed with the performance of Gareth Southgate's men against Denmark on Thursday, with them losing their 1-0 lead and limping to a 1-1 draw, which, while still left them top of their group, did little to boost supporters' hopes of a good showing at Euro 2024.

In the aftermath of the lacklustre match, Lineker singled out Kane for criticism, remarking: ""Can I offer a theory? If you want to press, it has to come from your centre forward. Harry does not press and he has not pressed in that first half." Putting the boot in, he added: "He’s barely moved. Then the team goes deeper and Harry Kane goes even deeper and even when you get the ball you have nothing to hit. I just don’t understand.”

READ MORE: Gary Lineker 'loses it' on Match of the Day as BBC hosts apologises

Get all the latest TV and showbiz news and gossip from Chronicle Live with our free new

Kane was quizzed on the comments made by both Lineker and his Match of the Day colleague Alan Shearer during a press conference and, while he didn't mention them by name, he replied: "All I would say is remember what it is like to wear the shirt and that their words are listened to. Some of the lads, I don’t know how many, but we do hear it."

After not addressing Kane's comments at the start of Monday night's Italy v Croatia match, Gary did make a thinly veil dig at half time. Confirming England had already qualified for the last 16, before a ball has been kicked against Slovenia, Gary then quipped: "I wish people would stop being critical of them

BBC bosses have now waded in on the controversy, with a statement to the Daily Mail reading: "We encourage all our pundits to be honest with their opinions and to be themselves We have a good balance of people on our coverage who are able to talk about the right topics in a way that informs and educates the audience."