journeyman
Well-Known Member
- Jul 26, 2005
- 931
- 3,657
I go into this one with eyes wide open. Kane is far and away our best player, one of the best finishers in the world and an outstanding creator too. He has delivered season after season and it may be decades before we see any Spurs player challenge the records he’s about to set.
And so, even though I want to be optimistic about Spurs after Kane - and I believe he will most likely leave for a Prem rival and a fee Levy can’t resist this summer - I accept that it’s an uphill task to make the case that we can hit similar levels again without our talisman.
It was his free-kicks that set me thinking though. Not because he has failed to score any since that deflected effort v Villa in 2014 and because that has probably cost us a handful of goals through the years. (In truth, a pittance compared to the chances he’s put away from open play.) But more because it shows something about Kane’s power within the setup: that managers as strong as Mourinho and Conte are still letting him blast free kicks into walls week after week, month after month, year after year, despite it being plain to us, to them, to everyone but Harry, that he’s not the one to take them. And yet even figures as powerful as Mourinho and Conte, who could obviously see the problem, preferred to keep Kane sweet rather than confront the issue.
And it got me thinking re how our reversion to playing counter-attacking football since 2019 - under Jose, then Nuno and now Conte - has suited Kane more than anyone, releasing him from constant pressing as he gets older and unleashing his terrific creative skills. He has undoubtedly been our outstanding player over this period (even, I would argue, last season, when it was Son who got the plaudits and the Golden Boot). But while this style has suited Kane - especially coming out the other end of persistent ankle injuries in the final part of Poch’s time with us (which of course also cost him his place in our Champions League run in 2019) - has it suited Spurs generally? Or has it seen us give up far too much possession and territory to teams who are now much better at exploiting those advantages than they were even back when Mourinho or Conte won their league titles?
We all agree, I think, that we want to see front-foot and possession-based football back at the Lane. And, of course, if you told me tomorrow that Kane wants to be a part of that, and wants to sign a new contract, I’d bite your hand off. The risks of him leaving are a dark cloud, with only theoretical silver linings. And yet… just as City racked up more points pre the phenomenal number 9 that is Haaland, just as Utd have new vigour without Ronaldo, just as Arsenal now, or Liverpool previously, have built their successes without number 9s who can even remotely rival Kane’s goal rate, perhaps we can compete in the future with a game plan which doesn’t put quite so much emphasis on a single individual and his formidable strengths and instead prioritises team fluidity, movement, pressing, and wanting to dominate teams again from start to finish.
Or so I tell myself anyway.
And so, even though I want to be optimistic about Spurs after Kane - and I believe he will most likely leave for a Prem rival and a fee Levy can’t resist this summer - I accept that it’s an uphill task to make the case that we can hit similar levels again without our talisman.
It was his free-kicks that set me thinking though. Not because he has failed to score any since that deflected effort v Villa in 2014 and because that has probably cost us a handful of goals through the years. (In truth, a pittance compared to the chances he’s put away from open play.) But more because it shows something about Kane’s power within the setup: that managers as strong as Mourinho and Conte are still letting him blast free kicks into walls week after week, month after month, year after year, despite it being plain to us, to them, to everyone but Harry, that he’s not the one to take them. And yet even figures as powerful as Mourinho and Conte, who could obviously see the problem, preferred to keep Kane sweet rather than confront the issue.
And it got me thinking re how our reversion to playing counter-attacking football since 2019 - under Jose, then Nuno and now Conte - has suited Kane more than anyone, releasing him from constant pressing as he gets older and unleashing his terrific creative skills. He has undoubtedly been our outstanding player over this period (even, I would argue, last season, when it was Son who got the plaudits and the Golden Boot). But while this style has suited Kane - especially coming out the other end of persistent ankle injuries in the final part of Poch’s time with us (which of course also cost him his place in our Champions League run in 2019) - has it suited Spurs generally? Or has it seen us give up far too much possession and territory to teams who are now much better at exploiting those advantages than they were even back when Mourinho or Conte won their league titles?
We all agree, I think, that we want to see front-foot and possession-based football back at the Lane. And, of course, if you told me tomorrow that Kane wants to be a part of that, and wants to sign a new contract, I’d bite your hand off. The risks of him leaving are a dark cloud, with only theoretical silver linings. And yet… just as City racked up more points pre the phenomenal number 9 that is Haaland, just as Utd have new vigour without Ronaldo, just as Arsenal now, or Liverpool previously, have built their successes without number 9s who can even remotely rival Kane’s goal rate, perhaps we can compete in the future with a game plan which doesn’t put quite so much emphasis on a single individual and his formidable strengths and instead prioritises team fluidity, movement, pressing, and wanting to dominate teams again from start to finish.
Or so I tell myself anyway.
