The last Harry Kane "derby" took place without the man himself. “Are you watching, Harry Kane?” crowed the Tottenham fans as Nuno Espirito Santo’s side launched the falsest of false dawns by defeating the champions.
Minus Kane, Son Heung-min resumed a familiar role as a tormentor of Manchester City. Lacking the striker they had hoped to sign, Pep Guardiola’s team failed to score.
It was an illustration that a game can be deceptive but a season rarely is. When City and Spurs reconvene on Saturday, it is with different experiences. City can feel the winners of a saga in which they did not get what they wanted, Tottenham the losers over the transfer that wasn’t, which they supposedly won by keeping Kane out of Guardiola’s grasp.
Kane has shown glimpses of his best of late. He was outstanding in the remarkable victory at Leicester, as he was, barring a wretched tackle on Andy Robertson, in December’s draw with Liverpool. He scored twice in the FA Cup win against Brighton.
Yet the fact is that Tottenham are eighth and have lost their last three league games. He was supposed to spearhead a charge back to the Champions League, not a descent into mid-table.
Daniel Levy may yet be vindicated if Tottenham emerge from the pack to win the race of the stumbling contenders for fourth, but the eventual verdict might be that he refused to sell Kane out of stubbornness, rather than expert strategising.
Kane was not alone in looking underwhelmed by Nuno, but he scored a solitary league goal for the Portuguese. Even with an upturn in form, he still only has five.
Since his breakthrough season of 2013-14, he has never finished a Premier League campaign with fewer than 17 goals. A consequence is that Tottenham are the second lowest scorers of the top eight; only the famously frugal Wolves have fewer goals.
Perhaps Kane served a purpose in providing the pulling power to attract Antonio Conte; maybe a manager who has already been critical of much else at Spurs would have had too many reservations about accepting the job without him.
It would have been intriguing, however, if Levy had replaced Kane with Lautaro Martinez, who helped fire Conte’s Inter to the scudetto last season. But as Kane turns 29 this summer, he will never be in a place to demand £150 million for him again; he is unlikely to get an offer that reaches £100 million.
Spurs 0 v Wolves 2: player ratings
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TOTTENHAM RATINGS: Hugo Lloris 5 – Chiefly at fault for Wolves’ opening goal, after punching Ruben Neves’ shot back into a dangerous area – with Raul Jimenez duly sweeping the ball home. The Spurs captain was also guilty of poor distribution and decision making. Reuters -
Cristian Romero 6 – The best of Spurs’ three central defenders. Did well to limit the impact of Rayan Ait Nouri on the right side of the pitch. AP -
Davinson Sanchez 5 – Looked lost at sea at times after being dragged out of position time and time again. The Colombian almost handed Wolves a third goal after giving the ball away in his own penalty area at one point. AP -
Ben Davies 5 – Gave the ball away in dangerous areas, in similar fashion to Sanchez. However, Davies did at least make up for his early suspect defending by putting in a crucial last-ditch tackle to deny Jimenez in second half. AFP -
Matt Doherty 5 – Despite playing as an advanced wing-back in the first half, the former Wolves man failed to offer much going forwards. Looked far more comfortable in a back four after Antonio Conte made a formation switch. EPA -
Harry Winks 6 – Struggled at times to retain the ball effectively. Came the closest of any Spurs player to scoring after striking the post from range in the second half. Reuters -
Rodrigo Bentancur 6 – Looked calm and composed early on, but the new signing’s frustration visibly grew as the game wore on as highlighted by late yellow card for a rash tackle. PA -
Ryan Sessegnon 6 – Was brutally subbed off after just half an hour, as Conte changed his system after Wolves raced into a 2-0 lead. PA -
Lucas Moura 5 – Frequently wasteful in the final third. Shown yellow card for a petulant foul and replaced by Steven Bergwijn, who looked far sharper. Getty -
Harry Kane 6 – Not the England captain’s day. All his efforts at goal seemed to go straight into the grateful hands of the Wolves keeper, on what was a thoroughly forgettable afternoon for Kane. Reuters -
Son Heung-min 7 – Seemingly unfazed by Spurs’ struggles, the forward was a constant threat to the Wolves backline. Got in behind the defence on a handful of occasions but was unusually hesitant to pull the trigger. Getty -
Dejan Kulusevski (On for Sessegnon 28') 6 – Added some much-needed creativity in attack after replacing Sessegnon. The Swede very nearly dragged his new side back into the game after firing just wide of Sa’s post in the second half. -
Steven Bergwijn (On for Moura 71') 6 – Impressed in flashes, but much like the man he replaced on the hour mark, the Dutch international’s end product wasn’t good enough. Getty -
Emmerson Royal (On for Doherty 82') N/A. AP -
WOLVES RATINGS: Jose Sa 8 – Extended his fine league form with another outstanding showing this afternoon. The Portuguese stopper seldom put a foot wrong, holding onto shots from the likes of Kane and Son despite of the sodden, slippery conditions. Getty -
Max Kilman 8 – One of the standouts this afternoon for Wolves. The defender handled Son very well, often forcing the South Korean wide when he was looking to cut inside. A mature all-round display. EPA -
Conor Coady 7 – As ever, Wolves’ talismanic captain led by example. Was responsible for several crucial interceptions and clearances late on, as Spurs piled on the pressure. AFP -
Romain Saiss 7 – Made a crucial block to deny Son in the first half, and generally remained composed throughout the game. Helped cover for the defensive errors of Ait-Nouri ahead of him down the left channel. Getty -
Nelson Semedo 7 – The Wing-back was a bundle of energy all game, providing vital width to the Wolves attack. He also played a crucial role in their second goal, after pulling the ball back for Podence’s original effort. Reuters -
Leander Dendoncker 8 – The scorer of Wolves’ second goal. Showed excellent awareness and anticipation to follow up on Podence’s effort and tap home from close range. Reuters -
Ruben Neves 7 – The midfielder’s comeback from injury continues to go well. Worked tremendously hard this afternoon to limit the influence of the home side. It was Neves’ quick free-kick that eventually led to Jimenez’s opening strike. AP -
Luke Cundle 7 – The 19-year-old didn’t look at all out of his place, much to his credit. While it was a big call from Bruno Lage to hand the academy graduate his first PL start, it certainly paid off. Reuters -
Rayan Ait-Nouri 6 – One of the few Wolves players who slightly underperformed this afternoon. He was fairly wasteful in the final third, while also making one or two key errors in a defensive capacity that - on another day - could have been costly. Getty -
Raul Jimenez 8 – The Mexican forward scored Wolves’ opening goal, after wonderfully improvising to fire past Lloris, following the keeper’s weak punch. From there, he worked exceptionally hard to close-down the Spurs defenders and force mistakes out of them. AP -
Daniel Podence 8 – A menace all afternoon. Whenever he was on the ball, it felt like something was about to happen for Wolves. The 26-year-old was taken off with around 10 minutes to go with what looked like a slight injury, but he will count himself unlucky to have not scored. Getty -
SUBS: Hwang Hee-Chan (On for Podence 81') N/A. PA -
Trincao (On for Cundle 84') N/A. Getty -
Fabio Silva (On for Jimenez 86') N/A. Getty
For City, however, the debate has receded. Every early-season setback came laced with the suggestion that it would have been different with Kane. They failed to score in six of their first 16 games in all competitions, veering between boom and bust, appearing to underline the argument they needed a striker to get the scruffy goals.
Not since: City have scored in all subsequent 21 matches. On 16 occasions, they have got at least two goals. A total of 61 gives them an average of almost three per game.
They have specialised in sharing them around. Raheem Sterling’s hat-trick against Norwich took him to 10 in the league.
Before that, there was a four-way share of the lead on seven, while Phil Foden now has six. Guardiola has prospered by picking his most predatory wingers. Whereas Sterling and Riyad Mahrez spent some of the autumn understudying Jack Grealish and Gabriel Jesus, City’s winning run has come when they have started more frequently.
They have taken on the scoring duties Kane might have had; indeed, the Algerian has been clinical from the penalty spot, as Kane could have been.
Sterling and Mahrez have had far higher chance conversion rates than any of Grealish, Jesus and Kane this season.
It has been a very Guardiola-esque solution to render a striker redundant by making two wingers more prolific.
But as he faces the club he famously once called ‘the Harry Kane team,’ City look fine without Kane in their side and Spurs flawed even with him in theirs.
