Do Kane’s 10 goals in 15 games in this season mask preimier league struggles?
Do Kane's 10 goals in 15 games in this season mask preimier league struggles?
Harry Kane has already scored 10 goals this season and yet there is a sense he has been nowhere near his best.
A solitary goal in the Premier League is a significant reason for that – he had failed to score in the top flight before Sunday’s strike in the 3-2 victory at Newcastle.
The 28-year-old missed Spurs’ first game of the campaign after returning to pre-season training late following the collapse of a much-discussed move to Manchester City.
But while league goals have been hard to come by, he has been scoring plenty in Europe – and for England – this season.
After the strike against Newcastle, Kane said: “There’s always a lot of talk whenever I go a few games without scoring.
“I’m a man who wants to score in every game I play, of course, but I don’t panic when there are a few games where I don’t score.
“That was my 10th goal overall this season and hopefully I can add a few more in the coming games.”
So how is the Tottenham and England captain really faring this season?
The verdict on Kane’s start very much depends on whether you are judging him on the Premier League or not.
Overall for club and country – as of 20 October – he had scored 10 goals in 15 games. By that date in a season he had only twice scored more goals and only played more games once.
The same is also true if you factor out England games and only count Spurs.
But you would have to go back to 2015-16 for the last time he took seven Premier League games to score a goal.
His goals this season have come against Pacos Ferreira, Hungary, Andorra, Poland, Wolves (a Carabao Cup XI), Mura and finally Newcastle.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (with 10) is the only Premier League player to score more club goals than Kane’s seven this season in all competitions.
If we look solely at the Premier League though, Kane’s start to this season has been markedly down on recent years. He has one goal and one assist in his first seven games.
In his first seven Premier League games last season under Jose Mourinho, he had scored six times and assisted eight goals.
The four seasons before that too, he managed five or six goals each time.
His shots (17) and touches in the opposition box (27) are the fewest at this stage since 2014-15. They are also below any of his seasonal averages in the top flight for Spurs.
At international level, Kane had managed three goals in three games for England before failing to score in their 1-1 draw with Hungary. That ended a 15-game scoring run in World Cup and European Championship qualifiers and he was replaced after 76 minutes, despite the fact the Three Lions were chasing a late winner.
