Harry Kane’s absence will give Tottenham boss Maurico Pochettino a major headache as the title run-in hots up
Not only is the England man in wonderful form in front of goal — he's superb at linking up with Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen
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HARRY KANE’S injury is a major blow for Tottenham as Mauricio Pochettino’s other striking options offer a very different way of playing.
Kane, the Premier League’s joint top scorer with 19 goals, is in wonderful form in front of goal — and also superb at linking up with other players.
He has built up an almost telepathic understanding with Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen in this free-flowing Spurs side.
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And that’s a major reason they are doing so well.
Look at Kane’s average position on Pitch Map A which is from the Everton match when Spurs won 3-2 at White Hart Lane and the No 10 scored twice.
You can see how deep he can drop to link up with his fellow forwards.
In fact, Eriksen (No 23) and Dele (No 20) play further up the pitch than Kane as his dropping deep allows them to make runs beyond him.
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When they do this they also stretch the opposition giving Kane time on the ball when he does drop.
This was how he was able to pick up the ball, turn and shoot from distance for his first goal against Everton as the Toffees’ defenders tried to track runs by Eriksen and Dele.
Kane is no one-trick pony, though. He also makes runs beyond the defence, which is why he’s so difficult to mark — and it’s why Spurs are so effective going forward.
Spurs’ formation is nominally a 3-4-2-1 but it effectively becomes a 3-4-3 with the three at the top buzzing here and there.
With Kane out, Pochettino will have to try either Vincent Janssen or Heung-Min Son in attack against Southampton.
But they are both very different to Kane.
Take a look at Pitch Map B which is Spurs’ match at West Brom from earlier in the season when Kane was out injured. You can see how high Janssen (No 9) plays up the pitch.
And Pitch Map C — the 2-0 home win over Manchester City — shows how Son (No 7) plays the same way.
This stretches the opposition and gives Dele and Eriksen space to play through-balls — but they are less likely to make runs behind the defence because the striker is doing that already.
Spurs scored only six goals in the five games while Kane was missing for part of September and all of October and it was around this time that Pochettino was urging his midfielders to add more goals to their games.
They have done that in spades since Kane came back and their dynamic, link-up play has been a joy to watch.
In Kane’s absence earlier in the season, Spurs played a 4-1-4-1 and it will be interesting to see if they revert to this formation with their England man out or if Pochettino sticks to the 3-4-2-1 (or 3-4-3) they have developed over the season.
They may well revert to four at the back because neither Jansen nor Son quite have the same understanding with Dele and Eriksen that Kane has.
That means players can end up getting in each other’s way.
The good thing about this Spurs side though is that they are flexible. They are young and willing to learn new things and new ways of playing.
They have already changed systems several times this season and this makes me think they’ll cope without Kane, big miss though he is.
If Jansen plays he will be desperate to add to the goal he scored last week against Millwall — his first in open play for Spurs.
Some centre-forwards are there simply to score, others to link play. Jansen, you feel, needs goals before his confidence goes.
I played with loads of different strikers and they all, at one time or another, had a spell of not scoring.
Even goal-machines like Kevin Phillips who I played with at Southampton.
But they had a bank of goals in the top-flight to remember to boost their confidence — to remind themselves they could do it.
Jansen doesn’t have that yet. If he can remedy that over the coming weeks Spurs’ Kane pain will be somewhat eased.