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Can Harry Kane prove his staying power this season?

By on August 15, 2015

Over the past few years, Tottenham Hotspur have signed or raised a wealth of promising young players, including Christian Eriksen, Ryan Mason, Erik Lamela, and Andros Townsend. All have had their moments and proven their class. There was Lamela’s incredible rabona goal from twenty yards last season and Townsend’s debut goal for England; Eriksen’s free-kick against Sheffield United in January and Mason’s assists.
All are talented, Premier League calibre footballers. It wasn’t two years ago that Lamela lit up Serie A with fifteen goals and five assists from thirty starts for AS Roma. Townsend broke onto the scene as a future Tottenham and England star at the beginning of the 2013/14 season but then made just one start in the second half of the season. Yet Lamela has been a flop at White Hart Lane and Mason’s form petered out before losing his starting position to Nail Bentaleb. It has become a trope that Tottenham’s next brightest star becomes the club’s next big flop the following year. Though older, Roberto Soldado also failed to live up to his bidding at Spurs and has now been silently offloaded to Villareal.
Others, like Eriksen, fit into a functioning squad. The Danish international has been Tottenham’s chief creative force in the midfield since he joined but hasn’t always stood out like expected. Despite the occasional flash of brilliance, Eriksen not able to consistently drag Spurs out of ditches like Gareth Bale, whom all Tottenham’s young guns will inevitably and unfairly bear the burden of replacing. Bale has been the only Tottenham starlet of this generation to find continuous dominance within the first team.

As such, there’s little doubt why Tottenham’s start to the Premier League has the feeling of forlorn familiarity. In the opening twenty-five minutes of their season opener at Old Trafford, Maurico Pochettino’s men had a spark about them. They were passing slickly, pressing high and generally looking the way that Pochettino set out to play. 
It all looked too good to be true; because it was. This is Tottenham Hotspur we’re talking about. An unfortunate own-goal later, and Tottenham struggle throughout the rest of the match to an eventual 1-0 loss. “We need to be more consistent for ninety minutes,” Pochettino summarized after the match.

The same storyline unfolded against Stoke City. Spurs moved the ball around the pitch well and two goals follow a bright start. They were managing the scoreline until Toby Alderweireld gave up a penalty with fifteen minutes to go and Tottenham let their lead slip. Stoke scored twice in the space of ten minutes and won a point out of the game. At the end of the match Pochettino admitted it felt like a loss.

Tottenham’s season has already had so much promise but much frustration as well, though obviously it is early in the Premier League season.  Yet they have faced a similar struggle the majority of their seasons in recent memory. Last season, Harry Kane stepped up to the plate and dragged them back into the Champions League race with a fantastically consistent twenty-one goal season. Moreover, he injected a confidence in Tottenham’s stride not seen since the Bale days.
Yet at the beginning of this season, Kane’s lack of goals has been a problem. Some have pointed to a lack of fitness, too, and possibly the potential of a transfer over the summer has distracted the Englishman. So what will Kane do this season? Will he follow in the footsteps of forgotten youngsters before him, in which case Tottenham will be in for a very rough season? Or can he ascend to the heights of Bale and prove his staying power with another squash-buckling season? Go on then, surprise us Mr. Kane.

Photo credit: @cfcunnoffical, via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.