History Says Tottenham May be Without Harry Kane for a While
By Aaron Coe
2016-17 and 2017-18 Opportunities Lost
Harry Kane again took his game up a notch in 2016-17. After producing at a high, but not nearly as efficient level in 2015-16 as he did in 2014-15, Kane went to a new level in 2016-17. Harry Kane had a career best goal or assist every 75.10 minutes in 2016-17, as he scored 35 goals and had 7 assists in just 38 matches.
Kane’s injuries cost Tottenham a shot at silverware
It was those 38 matches that were a problem as Harry Kane missed 13 games that season with injury. Sure Tottenham were unbeaten in 7 matches in league without Kane, but they did tie three, meaning they dropped six points. Oh Spurs lost the title to Chelsea by seven. Those three games are wins and Spurs are closer down the stretch who knows what happens.
Instead Spurs drop the league by seven points, finishing a club best second in the Premier League era. Further, Kane was actually injured twice in that 2016-17 season. The first time from September to November when Tottenham was knocked out of the EFL Cup. During this time Spurs drew and then lost two winnable games against Bayern Leverkusen in the Champions League, costing Spurs advancement.
Kane’s second injury, was in March and April, ultimately hurting Spurs during the run-in, although they went 3-0 in League during those matches. We will never know if Spurs might have won something that season had Kane stayed as healthy as the previous two seasons, we just know he was scoring for fun.
In 2017-18 Harry Kane was as close to completely healthy as he would be in the last four season. Kane never had a long-term injury and only missed three matches all season. His overall effectiveness was down a little, averaging a goal or assist once every 86 minutes, but still was pretty incredible.
Of those three matches Kane missed, Spurs won one and lost two. One of those two losses was in the fourth round of the EFL cup, meaning Kane missed Tottenham’s exit from the competition. While you cannot blame that on Kane, we all know Spurs are better with him than without him. Unfortunately for Tottenham, the last two seasons for Harry Kane have looked more like 2016-17 from a health perspective than his two seasons prior, as Kane’s number and percentage of games missed has gone up.