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Harry Kane: Spurs’ Striker or Play at a Different Position?

By Alexander Balano

Jul 29, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane (18) celebrates after scoring against the MLS All Stars during the first half of the 2015 MLS All Star Game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 29, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane (18) celebrates after scoring against the MLS All Stars during the first half of the 2015 MLS All Star Game at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Harry Kane hasn’t scored for Spurs, is it time to change things up?

It’s starting to become very obvious that Harry Kane’s form is not very good, in terms of scoring, this season. However, while the 22-year-old English international has yet to find the back of the net for Spurs, he has scored twice for England. Which means he can still score — just for country and not club.

With that said though, Harry Kane is still a starter despite his lack of goals.

He has instead excelled in something else. Maintaining possession, linking up with teammates, creating chances and pressing offenses to reclaim the ball back. Scoring for Tottenham is currently eluding him so far. This aspect of Kane’s game isn’t new, he did these things last season. They’re more apparent now after seeing Mousa Dembélé play, and coincidentally, they’re similar. Both are good at maintaining possession, pressing and linking up with teammates.

This is an underrated aspect to Harry Kane’s game. But aside from their different positions, Kane is a goalscorer whereas Dembélé isn’t. However, the Belgian midfielder, can say that his game has been reinvented this season because of Mauricio Pochettino who has restored him to the starting eleven before getting injured. Should Pochettino consider doing the exact same thing with Harry Kane? Reinvent his game by playing him at a different position?

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Tottenham signed two strikers this summer who are capable of playing as wingers as well. Both Heung-Min Son and Clinton N’Jie were brought in to help carry this team, along with Harry Kane, to score goals. So far, only Son has scored, scoring three goals. N’Jie is trying to work his way into a rotation role in Pochettino’s offense while Kane is struggling to find the back of the net.

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For the sake of rearranging Mauricio Pochettino’s attacking players in his 4-2-3-1 formation. Harry Kane should drop into the #10 role that Christian Eriksen would occupy but is now going to play wide left. Up top as Spurs’ striker is Heung-Min Son. Wide right? Érik Lamela. What will this potentially do for the team’s offense at the striker and central attacking midfield positions?

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For starters, this gives Mauricio Pochettino a striker who is currently in-form and scored three goals. This should give some breathing space for Harry Kane to score.

Son’s goals could be a byproduct of not being considered a marked man just yet. So if he is now, Kane can become a poacher and run around free behind him to get back to his goal scoring ways from last season.

At best, this is a temporary solution that gets both players to score goals and causes defenses to now focus on two in-form strikers instead of just one. At worst, swapping Kane and Son around means that one player is consistently marked while the other still can’t score, thus reproducing what happened last season with Roberto Soldado and Harry Kane.

One thing that Pochettino tried — that actually failed last season — was playing Harry Kane in the central attacking midfield role when Roberto Soldado would come in as a substitute. It largely failed due to the Spanish international’s horrendous luck when trying to score. However, with Heung-Min Son’s current form, a position swap of Son and Harry Kane could work out. Son is proving to be a consistent presence in Spurs’ final third and can score. If and when Harry Kane rediscovers his goalscoring form, these two players will be hard to stop.

Although this might not actually happen this season, it should, and hopefully is something that Mauricio Pochettino takes into account. Otherwise Harry Kane is in fact what he was being hyped up to be leading into the 2015-16 Premier League season. A one-hit season fluke who will get found out sooner or later.

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