They say that if you don’t shoot, you don’t score. In Harry Kane’s case though, that adage doesn’t seem to apply at present.
Kane's lacklustre start to the domestic campaign spilt over into continental competition on Wednesday as the Tottenham Hotpsur striker again drew a blank in a 2-1 defeat to Monaco at Wembley Stadium.
Last season’s Premier League Golden Boot winner looks like a striker so low on confidence that he is practically dragging it on the floor. He has now scored just once in his past 11 matches for both club and country, with his performances at Euro 2016 a serious stain on an otherwise outstanding campaign up to May when the wheels came off Spurs’ title bid in such inglorious fashion.
See also:
• Uefa Champions League results: Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid salvage a late win against Sporting
• Mauricio Pochettino slams Tottenham players for 'a lack of passion' in Monaco defeat
• Uefa Champions League results: Messi, Neymar and Suarez on target as Celtic crumble at Camp Nou
Hopes that his goal – a two-yard tap-in that took him to 50 in the Premier League, the youngest Spurs player to do so – in last weekend’s 4-0 rout of a hapless Stoke City would trigger a goal rush were dented by a performance that bordered on desperate at times as he looked to haul his side level against Monaco in their Uefa Champions League opener.
Kane’s scoring prowess over the past two seasons have marked him as one of Europe’s finest. His ability to find his angles, off either foot, aerial agility and willingness to shoot from range have given Spurs a much-needed cutting edge.
The problem now is that where everything Kane struck before turned to goals, now it tends to strike only the legs of opposing players or the safety of a pair of goalkeeper gloves.
There have been myriad occasions for Kane, 23, to turn provider instead of punisher in Spurs’ opening five games this season, but instead of picking out a better-placed teammate, he has opted to go for broke and shoot.
Of course, Kane has been here before. It is well documented the young striker has never scored in the month of August during his fledgling career. But if Kane is something of a slow burner, the fact he went from one league goal in October to 25 in May shows he is hard to stop when he has the wind in his sails.
Because of the way Spurs set up last season with Kane up front on his own, Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino, recognising the burden on his young striker to not only score the goals but be fit for almost every single game, added another striker to his squad in the shape of Vincent Janssen over the summer.
The Dutchman scored 31 goals in all competitions last season for AZ Alkmaar, and although he is yet to register a goal for Spurs, he has shown glimpses that he can fill in when Kane needs resting or even offer a Plan B of pairing both together.
Another area of concern with Kane though is his willingness – whether by way of instruction from Pochettino or intuition to help his teammates – is dropping off as the spearhead of the attack to operate in a deeper No 10 role.
According to Opta stats, Kane has touched the ball just 10 times in the opposition area in 336 minutes of action in the Premier League this season, well below the likes of Raheem Sterling (39), Fernando Llorente (36), Diego Costa (34) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (31).
He should get plenty of opportunity to increase those numbers for the visit of Sunderland on Sunday, when Spurs return to more familiar surroundings of White Hart Lane. David Moyes’s men have conceded eight goals in their four league fixtures so far to sit second-bottom in the table.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
