Speaking recently on the Football Writers Podcast, Michael Calvin, John Cross and Ade Oladipo discussed several topics following the opening round of Premier League fixtures, and, in particular, Harry Kane’s performance in Tottenham Hotspur’s match against Everton.
In the fixture itself, a second-half header by Everton forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin was enough to ensure that Carlo Ancelotti’s side left north London with all three points and meant that Spurs boss, Jose Mourinho, lost on the opening matchday of a league campaign for the first time in his managerial career.
Harry Kane, in particular, struggled to have any meaningful impact on the match for Spurs, with the England captain, who was the club’s top goalscorer in the league last season, having only one shot on target, as well as registering a pass accuracy of just 56.3% and losing possession of the ball twice, culminating in a disappointing WhoScored match rating of 6.49.
Cross spoke specifically about Kane’s performance in the match on the Football Writers Podcast, stating that he believed the 27-year-old was ‘miles off it’ in the fixture, and that, by the second half, it was evident that the striker had “run out of gas”.
He said: “Harry Kane was miles off it [on Sunday], wasn’t he? He was so far off it. Frankly, he was a bit like that with England – [he had a] golden chance in either game, didn’t take it, but it was just about his all-round play.
“There’s [been] so many times down the years [when] Harry Kane has saved Spurs, and he just looked a long, long way short.
“I think he touched [the ball] twice in the opposition box during the game, and, frankly, you could see in the first half he was trying and then by the second half, he’d run out of gas.”
Do you agree that Harry Kane was 'miles off' his best in the Everton game?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
From Cross’ comments, it would seem as if the journalist is of the belief that Kane is in need of a rest if he is to get back up to his highest level of performance for Spurs.
However, with the 27-year-old currently being the only out-and-out forward in the Tottenham squad, as well as the fact that Spurs have a heavily congested fixture schedule over the coming weeks, we can’t imagine him getting much of a rest in the near future, which, in our opinion, lends even more weight to the argument that Spurs need to sign a striker before the summer transfer window ends.