Tottenham reliance on Harry Kane could cost them title as misfiring striker runs on empty
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Tottenham have suffered a setback this season, they have responded brilliantly, but do they have enough petrol in the tank to do so again?
Spurs’ energy levels between now and the end of the campaign will surely decide the outcome of this season’s Premier League. Maintain them, and Spurs can take their first title since 1961. Suffer a dip, and the trophy will go elsewhere.
The players who faced West Ham last night will concentrate only on rest and recovery today and tomorrow to ensure they are ready for their second derby in four days, against Arsenal at White Hart Lane on Saturday. The coaches and sports scientists will pay particular attention to one player, perhaps the most important of all — Harry Kane.
Kane has scored only two goals in open play since Boxing Day, against Crystal Palace on January 23 and Norwich on February 2. Although he was typically committed, the England forward lacked his usual verve.
In the first half, he had little joy as a lone runner against three centre-backs — Cheikhou Kouyate, James Collins and Angelo Ogbonna. In the second, there were two moments that suggested tiredness.
With Spurs’ trailing to Michail Antonio’s seventh-minute header, Toby Alderweireld moved forward in the 61st minute and sent a low shot goalwards. West Ham keeper Adrian parried it and the ball fell to Kane. Six yards from goal, he ought to have buried it. Yet he could not adjust his body position quickly enough and the chance was lost.
Six minutes later, Christian Eriksen guided in a ball from the right that beguiled the home defence and goalkeeper. Kane was closing in at the far post but, stretching, was able only to slice the ball wide with his left foot.
Would a fresher, sharper Kane have accepted one of those chances? It is difficult not to think so. The more uncomfortable question for Spurs is this: Will they pay the price for demanding so much from him? The strain is mental as much as physical. This, don’t forget, is the first time Kane has started a Premier League season as his club’s first-choice striker.
Kane was assigned an enormous task last August. He is the sole senior centre-forward at Spurs, where last season, there were two others — Roberto Soldado and Emmanuel Adebayor. If the England man expected the club to sign another forward in January to ease the burden, he was to be disappointed.
Kane is required to supply goals, bring others into the game, act as his team’s first line of defence and run relentlessly from first minute to last.
He is permitted only the odd breather, with last week’s Europa League match against Fiorentina the sole match this season for which Kane was absent from the squad. He has started all 28 of Tottenham’s league matches, and been substituted eight times — usually only in the closing minutes, when the game is won. That makes 2,469 minutes of football in league competition alone.
Within Tottenham’s squad, only Alderweireld (2,520 minutes) has played more and the centre-back is not required to do anything like as much running as Kane. According to EA Sports data, the 22-year-old Kane covers almost a kilometre more per match than Alderweireld.
Something has to give. Kane is a fine striker but a robot he is not. Leicester’s forwards are Jamie Vardy, Leonardo Ulloa and Shinji Okazaki. Arsenal can call on Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Danny Welbeck. Emirates Marketing Project have Sergio Aguero, Wilfried Bony and Kelechi Iheanacho. Spurs have Kane and…that’s it.
Nacer Chadli has performed competently as a striker when required but, as the Belgian revealed recently, he has not played there before in high-level football.
“The Premier League is the most competitive league in the world and you can see that every week,” said Spurs head coach Mauricio Pochettino. “For different reasons, it’s open and competitive and not easy to play every week. You need to be 100 per cent mentally and physically. There are no easy games. But we need to be positive. Why not?”
Pochettino is correct. Despite this defeat, the gap to Leicester has grown by only one point. Arsenal and City lost and inflicted no damage on Tottenham. Beat Arsenal on Saturday — as Spurs have in three of the last four league derbies at home — and they will move six points clear of Arsene Wenger’s team.
Yet when Pochettino talks of the need to be “100 per cent, mentally and physically” in every match, is it realistic to expect this from his only striker? A year ago, Kane scored twice against Arsenal to help his team to a 2-1 victory, his finest moment in a Tottenham shirt. He has the talent to repeat the trick on Saturday but not if he is being asked to write cheques his body can no longer cash.
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I was thinking the same. Kane has only scored 2 goals from open play this year. If we want to beat Arsenal and stay in the title race, we need to get Kane back scoring again !
