‘Harry Kane Team’? Yes! But It Is Completely Justifiable
Infamously dubbed ‘the Harry Kane team’ by Pep Guardiola a few weeks back, Tottenham Hotspur are in dire need of proving otherwise. They succumbed to two defeats in two games without Kane, before beating Real Madrid with the Englishman starting up front.
Kane is certainly an important member of the squad – he guides, defines and shapes this exciting young team. He is not the sole reason Spurs are feared, but he is the main one. Regarded as the best English striker at the moment, Kane is a sheer match-winner. He often comes through even in the stickiest, most difficult positions, thus making him a reliable figure. But are Spurs depending too much on their main man?
Tottenham’s need for Kane goes without saying. They had a chance to prove the naysayers otherwise but it all fell apart after their defeat against Manchester United and West Han. United and Spurs were level on points, and Tottenham travelled north with the intention of making a statement.
Unfortunately, they failed.
Kane cannot stay fit all the time and teams heavily reliant on one man often fail to win titles. It is noteworthy that last autumn, Spurs lost an injured Kane for about 10 games and won just 4 of them, one of which was in the League Cup. It was quite a dip that ultimately cost Mauricio Pochettino’s side a strong title challenge.
Kane suffered from a hamstring injury but he did fare well against Real Madrid in what was his comeback game. They won it, and much was due to his brilliant presence up front, despite him drawing blank.
It is not like they don’t have options though. Pochettino signed Fernando Llorente from Swansea in the summer as a contingency plan, in an attempt to secure a striker who could compete with Kane and also effectively act as a cover. The Spaniard was superb for a struggling Swansea team last season and was deemed as an upgrade on Vincent Janssen, who failed to slip into Kane’s shoes last term.
Yet, Llorente did not start at Old Trafford. The like-for-like replacement was left on the bench, with Hueng-min Son playing through the middle and Moussa Sissoko, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli offering support. That clearly did not work, which again brings up the possibility that Spurs are perhaps overly-dependent on Kane.
Scoring continues to be an issue whenever Kane is sidelined and without goals, Tottenham cannot win matches. Thus, Spurs are being too dependant on Kane. But if Real Madrid can depend on Ronaldo and Barcelona can depend on Messi, then Tottenham have all the rights to depend on Harry Kane, who bails them out almost every game.
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