Alan Shearer is a pundit that sometime grates, as he has that Andy Gray ability of often being able to talk at length without actually saying anything. This piece for the BBC is remarkably good, well researched and worth your time.
What the former Newcastle legend manages to do is provide some insight into Harry Kane under José Mourinho. The added defensive play has been extraordinary; apparently Harry has made 20 defensive headers so far this season and 4 were against Arsenal.
Kane’s technical skills are lauded – and this is not just the willingness to make the assist – but the ability to pick a pass, which makes the 27-year-old a fantastic team player.
What is an important backdrop here, is that Kane is still on top of his ‘day job’ and scoring plenty of goals. Assists are through the roof, as we all know, but the England captain is actually getting more shots away. The conversion rate is mildly down, but that is because we’re only 14 games in.
The good news is that the missed opportunities against Leicester City are clearly atypical. What cannot speak, cannot lie.
We beat ManU 6-1 (a), City 2-0 (h), drew at Chelsea, beat Arsenal (granted, they are bad, but it was still a NLD), and were only the width of the post and a free header away from a win (or at least a draw) at Anfield – this shows a marked improvement in the big games, where we usually struggled, especially away from home.
At the same time we’ve dropped too many points against average sides like Everton, Palace, West Ham and Newcastle. José has to let the creative talent of Son, Kane, Ndom and Lo Celso run riot against these sides, while keeping the same approach in the big games.
As long as about 9 other teams don’t get the balance right.
Great bit of stat-based perspective, thanks. Kane is a machine and hopefully will soon put the last two games behind him (history shows he will).
As for the title, we’ll see how quickly we’ll put the last three fixtures right – but I suppose this season still serves as a bit of a learning curve for José as to who can and can’t be trusted in the squad, and when to unleash the fury and when to sit back. Once he gets the balance right, we’ll be unstoppable.