Is Harry Kane the new Danny Rose?

A little over two years ago, then Spurs head coach, Andre Villas-Boas, came to the conclusion that he couldn’t see regular first-choice left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto being a part of his future plans. The Cameroon international was soon banished to the wilderness – only to be seen through occasional social media offerings – before securing an underwhelming season-long loan spell at Championship side, Queens Park Rangers.

Article by Atour Toma

In his place stepped up a raw, but promising, young Englishman by the name of Danny Rose. The 23-year-old had spent the previous campaign on loan at Sunderland – a period in which he impressed so much that he was voted their Young Player Of The Season. Perhaps understandably, Villas-Boas showed considerable faith in him, despite Rose’s obvious inexperience, to the point where Assou-Ekotto’s departure left Rose as the club’s only senior left back. Rightly or wrongly, Rose would be pretty much guaranteed to start the vast majority of first team games for Spurs when available.

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The former Leeds trainee started well, contributing to a decent defence that kept four clean sheets in their first five Premier League games. However as the season went on, an air of inconsistency crept into Spurs performances – as demonstrated by heavy domestic defeats to the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City – ultimately culminating in the dismissal of Villa-Boas in December. The short term appointment of Tim Sherwood did not do much to address this trend and Spurs laboured to an eventual sixth-place finish that many would agree they probably didn’t deserve.

The fortunes of Spurs that season can most accurately be reflected in the performances of Danny Rose, who made 30 appearances in all competitions. He had poor games at times – as most young players do – and suffered from bad runs of form. Learning from these experiences is all part of growing up as a player and becoming a better footballer. Whereas in most instances, a youngster going through one of these spells could be dropped for a couple of games to remove them from the firing line and give them time to reflect, Rose was in the unenviable position of being the only left-back at the club, and hence he was forced to soldier on despite it probably not being in his best interests.

Some of the abuse suffered by Rose at the hands of Spurs fans that season was, at best, unfair, and at worst, downright disgusting. This is most summed up by the howls of derision that greeted the club’s announcement of Rose signing a new five-year contract in July 2014. It is to his great credit that he was able to overcome this backlash as well as the increased competition from Ben Davies, to put in an excellent season at the club last campaign, in the process becoming one of the best left backs in the Premier League.

It’s easy to forget that Kane has made less than 50 Premier League appearances for Spurs…

This season Harry Kane has been left as the only proven central striker at the club. The debate about whether Spurs should have done more to bring in another during the summer transfer window has been done to death. But regardless, the parallels are there between Harry Kane this season and Danny Rose two seasons ago.

Kane had a stellar campaign last time, scoring 31 goals in all competitions, but he is still only 22 years old and relatively inexperienced. In fact, it’s easy to forget that the talented striker has made less than 50 Premier League appearances for Spurs.

However, much was expected from him this season, and many are already asking questions of him after four league games with no goals scored. Admittedly this is largely emanating from outside the Spurs fan-base at present, but the longer this barren spell goes on, the louder the criticism will get.

It is vital that Spurs fans show composure and do not turn on Kane should he continue to suffer from the goal drought (by his standards) that he’s currently going through. He has – through no fault of his own – been left as the only realistic option to play as a central striker and hence will be forced to play the majority of first team games regardless of form or fatigue.

He will have good games and he will have not-so-good ones, but until this issue ‪is addressed, he will simultaneously be a victim of his own past successes as well as the club’s failure, in the transfer window, to bring in another striker.

Spurs fans are not renowned for being the most patient when it comes to an underachieving player, but in Danny Rose they have a perfect example of one that proved all the doubters wrong when given a suitable platform to develop accordingly. Until Kane is given a similar platform, it’s important he continues to receive the support and encouragement from fans that perhaps he didn’t get from the club in the transfer window.

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