It has been a breathless Summer for Harry Kane. Leading the line for Spurs despite injury, manager instability, and a pandemic was tough enough.
But captaining England through the highs of a tournament, reaching their first final since 1966, and the lows, losing is a cocktail that the England striker had one month to recover from until the start of the Premier League season.
The context of a silverware-less year hung over the England captain more so than most. Oh, and that month-in-between got affected with transfer speculation for the first time in his career.
Now, Spurs fans believe that Kane did not deal well with the speculation of a move to reigning champions Man City.
He is not the first player to consider his options to leave the club where he spent most of his career.
Speaking before the current round of World Cup qualifying matches against Albania and San Marino, Kane said: “Whatever the circumstance, whenever there are articles written about your family, it is always a little bit difficult to take, especially when it is not positive.”
Spurs have a history of their best players leaving due to a desire to win silverware: see Campbell, Sheringham, Berbatov, Carrick, Modric, and Bale, yet the circumstances and the failed attempt from Manchester City have lingered in the mind of fans and has affected the performances of Kane at the start of the season.
Kane Form, Misunderstood
The stat that stands out is 11 games, one goal. Harry Kane may have a reputation for starting slow in August. However, he has rarely suffered a goal drought that has lasted this long.
A Summer hangover notwithstanding, Kane has not looked quite right. Failing to pick up positions that he would instinctively find, his work rate got questioned during many of the poor performances under Nuno Espirito Santo.
Even his telepathic partnership with Son Heung-Min has failed to click as it did a year ago under Jose Mourinho.
If one looks beyond the Premiership, however, there is plenty of room for optimism. Since July, in all other competitions for club and country, Harry Kane has a record of 11 games, 16 goals.
In stark contrast to his premiership form, he has five goals for Spurs in the Europa Conference League, one goal in the Carabao Cup, and 10 goals for England.
Whatever the reason behind this strong showing, glimpses of Harry Kane, top goalscorer, are there to be found. Getting the best out of Harry Kane then is up to the new boss at Spurs, Antonio Conte.
Upcoming Fixtures
Sometimes the form of a player is an aspect of football discussed regularly. One of the crucial discussions year-on-year in fantasy football is form or fixtures? The answer is ideally both.
However, if you have good upcoming fixtures and the underlying stats are not too concerning, you can presume a still great player would use these fixtures to round into some degree of form. And Spurs have a good set of upcoming fixtures.
From now until the end of December, they face only one team that currently sits above them in the table, a home fixture against Liverpool on the 19th of December.
Before that exciting matchup, Spurs face Burnley (A), Brentford (H), Norwich (H), Brighton (A), and Leicester (A). They have matches between Christmas and New Year against Palace (H), Southampton (A), and Watford (A).
Outside of Liverpool, this is a collection of obliging defenses that Harry Kane threatens. He has continued to score in all other competitions for club and country, now is the time to put it together in the Premiership.
Ready to get started in the Premier League? You can find a wide selection of various sporting events tailored to your style at Sporting Index.
New Manager: Antonio Conte
Spurs appointed Conte as a manager in November, the month Mauricio Pochettino got fired two years previously.
A cloud has engulfed Spurs ever since the sacking of Pochettino.
Too often since its opening, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has felt muted as the club has navigated the underwhelming reigns of Jose Mourinho and then Nuno Espirito Santo.
It is perhaps too soon to pick apart the tactics brought by Antonio Conte. However, the passion shown by the manager last weekend against Leeds United was a welcome burst of positive energy.
Harry Kane now has a manager with a proven track record of turning ailing clubs around and delivering trophies.
