Harry Kane

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Another issue when comparing With Kane to Without Kane, is that PL opponents know how we play with him and have inevitably worked out a kind of optimal defence. When he's out, they need to work out how we're going to play (as do we!). So for a period after he gets injured, I would argue that the forced shift in our tactics makes our opponents weaker, but this is not a sustainable shift because they will figure us out.

Worrying now is that without him I think we just look poor, although there are some glimmers of hope in how the new guys are coming on.
Good post. During the height of that meme, I must've come up with at least 30 different arguments against the idea that Spurs are better without Kane. As part of the "theory", if you can even call it that, relies on previous short spells without Kane during which the team did okay, I thought about the psychological effects on both the Spurs team (seems like everyone steps it up a gear for their own various reasons: understanding the need, wanting to prove themselves etc.) and on rival teams (thinking basically the same as you).

I eventually concluded that, in the short term, the Sons and Deles etc. would and were benefiting from increased space as the opponents' defenders had less directly intimate familiarity with Son etc. and would not be instructed to and/or know how to double/triple up effectively on any one of the Spurs attackers (a pertinent question for the managers would be "which one?") as they would on Kane. But just as Kane had to overcome the problem of being double marked all over the pitch in his second season - a test that has felled so many one-season wonders - Son and Dele etc. would have to overcome the same problem before long (and it definitely wouldn't take a season).

Even though if you just watch a typical XI Spurs match, it looks superficially like the team could do the same shit without Kane (which absolutely fed the meme), it was clear, on a deeper level, that this wasn't the case. The space the other attackers receive from two or three runners going with Kane when he peels off would not only be lost but the remaining attackers would actually have to be able to deal with that extra attention themselves. And that's partly why I think Kane is still a little underrated or at least underappreciated: he makes that stuff look like a routine part of the game, to the extent that it tricked tons of football fans into thinking that Spurs would do great without him.

On that basis, I predicted that nobody else in the squad would have the same combination of attributes and skills needed to fill in fully for Kane in the long-term -- and that seems to be true. I did get a kick out of a few (mostly Korean) lads in that "best player" thread saying that Son would outperform Kane as a drop-in CF replacement whereas Kane would be a trash winger (the latter is at least true, I guess).
 
I suspect Kanes huge salary is heavily loaded on bonus payments and I suspect he gets a lot of money for playing.

And for that reason he's probably unlikely to ever get a proper rest. That's more on him than anything else IMO. He could forgoe £50k for not playing a few games. Or the club could pay him just for being willing but elect to leave him out.

This is why, IMO, big name players come on for 10 minutes against teams when we're 7-0 up (Tranmere for example)
 
I suspect Kanes huge salary is heavily loaded on bonus payments and I suspect he gets a lot of money for playing.

And for that reason he's probably unlikely to ever get a proper rest. That's more on him than anything else IMO. He could forgoe £50k for not playing a few games. Or the club could pay him just for being willing but elect to leave him out.

This is why, IMO, big name players come on for 10 minutes against teams when we're 7-0 up (Tranmere for example)
I'm not convinced. This might be a bit naive but Harry seems like different gravy compared to most modern footballers. I'm sure the extra money is nice and all but given his modest background and personal life (e.g. his wife's definitely not a gold digger) and the level of ambition and commitment he's always showed within the game, I would think that his overriding motivation is to play football as much as possible: for the love of it, for the glory, for the records, for the hope of winning medals, for succeeding with his country and a club he loves, for the thrill of scoring goals.

When your base salary is over £100k a week, another £10k is not going to weigh heavily on the mind of someone who isn't greedy -- and, to some extent, let's be honest, Kane probably isn't smart enough to be thinking about how many holidays he'll be able to afford each year after he retires (it's actually bizarre how intelligent he is on the pitch).

Something a friend said to me years ago - that Harry looks like a Tesco manager who found a magic lamp and made a wish to be the best striker in the world - has always stuck with me. It seems like he's just a guy doing what he loves at levels nobody could have anticipated. And on a final note: never forget that this guy puts the same pressure on Southgate to play every game for free.

All of this is part of why he's my favourite player of all time, especially his commitment to the national team, which is rare in England in this day and age. Rest assured that despite all the shite he gets from kids on Twitter, every England diehard who shows up in the real world, like me, absolutely loves Harry.
 
Paul Miller on the Spurs Show said that he's spoken to Kane's dad and he's going to be back in early March

Has gone to Joe Lewis' house in the Bahama's (via the Superbowl) for warm weather training
 
Paul Miller on the Spurs Show said that he's spoken to Kane's dad and he's going to be back in early March

Has gone to Joe Lewis' house in the Bahama's (via the Superbowl) for warm weather training
Don’t know how I feel about this. . . If he really is fit then fair enough but I really really don’t want him to rush back yet again.
 
Yesterday for an hour we were outplayed and did not have a shot on goal. It is easy to think it would have been different if Kane had played but there have been many examples in the past in matches like this that Kane is starved of service and having to go deep to get the ball. Like many on here I would have played Moura instead of Kane in the CL final. However unless we start to show like in past years that we can cope with Kane's absence as we have definitely struggled since his injury, then I wil be glad to see him back. I think Jose will be stricter with his playing mins than Poch was and his first match should be from the bench.
 
I think the good thing for Kane now is just relax and get fit. No hurry but when he return we will be back challenging for that top 4
 
Don't rush back FFS Harry.

Multiple expert physicians in dominant positions in their fields have said that you are only back to full fitness in late April-early May.

LISTEN TO THE EXPERTS FFS
 
Why do people assume he's being rushed back? Only the club know the exact nature of the injury, they might have done the surgery and discovered the tendon wasn't actually completly ruptured, which would reduce the recovery time.

Kane has never broken down again after coming back from an injury. He clearly knows his own body.
 
Don't rush back FFS Harry.

Multiple expert physicians in dominant positions in their fields have said that you are only back to full fitness in late April-early May.

LISTEN TO THE EXPERTS FFS
Thing is, all experts were speaking as if he had a Grade 3 hamstring tear. None of them were the actual people close to him handling his recovery.

Spurs have never come out and said it was grade 3 so maybe it’s just not as bad as we thought.:harryhmm:
 
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