Article by Danny Norman - @dannynormanCOYSFollow e-Spurs on Twitter
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The build up to Tottenham’s victory against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup 3rd round was dominated with chatter about the pressure on us to get a decent result against the Championship’s leaders. Some light relief came in the form of Harry Kane’s assertion that he was hopeful we would get “three points” from the game. Queue sniggers and LOLs…
Our Harry may not know his Milk Cup from his Tournoi, but he undoubtedly knows where the spud bag is, killing the game off with a clinical finish at the death. For some unknown reason Harry has been labelled in some quarters as a bi-word for mediocrity, a figurehead for the narrative that we a) were not ambitious in our transfer dealings because we did not sign a striker, and b) Pochettino does not know what he is doing because he has played the hitman in a number of games this season. This of course is tosh, and I’ll tell you why I think it is the aforementioned tripe.
Harry Kane is only 21 and has scored prolifically at all levels through our youth structure. He is a strong, confident and clinical striker both adept in the air and with the ball at his feet. He initially cut his teeth in league football whilst on loan at Leyton Orient, bagging goals and garnering rave reviews from the ‘O’s’ faithful. The next season saw him farmed out to Millwall, where his 9 goals saw him pick up their young player of the season award. His loan to newly promoted Norwich in the 2012-13 season was cut short through a debilitating metatarsal injury, probably the low point in his career so far, and obviously not his own doing.
The end of last season saw Tim Sherwood (and to a great extent to excellent Chris Ramsey who is a great loss) transfer the faith shown in him whilst he was U21 manager, starting him against Sunderland, a game in which he scored. He went on to collect a goal in each of the next two games in the Premier league. Any real Spurs fan already knows this, and will also acknowledge his contribution to the England U21 side this season in which he found the net against both Lithuania and Moldova.
The last part of this slightly long but important history lesson focuses on his performances
for Tottenham this season. In pre-season he registered against Toronto and also in the thrashing of Celtic, and neatly clipped in for Holtby against Seattle. Against West Ham he set up Dier’s grandstand clincher, and he also bagged in both legs against Limassol (including a demonstration of obdurate grit at home in scoring after missing a penalty).
It’s been said already, but this lad has shades of Sheringham about him. What he lacks in pace he makes up for with a certain calmness, willingly dropping deep and showing intelligence to play in others (see the Holtby and Dier assists above). Beyond that, he scores goals.
Other than his lack of pace, I’m aware of other negative bullets fired his way such as his profligacy from time to time. A wise man (Gary Lineker in fact) once said that it doesn’t matter if you miss chances, it means you are getting in the right positions. When a striker stops getting chances, the time has come to panic. Let me put it this way. If Bobby Soldado, or even Lamela had done exactly the same as our Harry this year there would be trumpeting and hype galore, that fact cannot be argued with.
Players need games at the top level which not only bring priceless experience (both technically in learning to play against top defenders, and mentally in handling the occasion), but breed confidence, which in my humble opinion is the biggest factor for any top striker. When Xavi was first put in the team at Barca he was castigated as being not good enough, but the powers that be at Camp Nou stuck with him…that little project worked out ok I believe. Then closer to home a certain Gareth Bale took some time to settle in; Kane has easily outshone the Welshman at an equivalent stage in his career.
I know the majority of supporters are right behind him, and they should be. A local lad who has risen through the ranks, an example and encouragement to other youth players. From time to time I understand bad vibes towards Carlos kick-a-ball who doesn’t care about the badge, but there’s no basis for anything but 100% support for our kid Harry.
Do you agree? How far can this guy go? What benefit to Tottenham do the naysayers see in criticism?
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Feed this goat and he will score!!
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