Harry Kane put in another starring performance in Saturday’s 2-0 victory over Manchester City, a game which demonstrated his evolving role under boss Jose Mourinho.
The Spurs and England captain has built a fearsome reputation for his prowess inside the opposition penalty area in recent years.
However, Kane’s role in the side has changed dramatically this season. He’s taken on more playmaking responsibilities, dropping deep between the lines and firing forward passes to his fellow forwards, particularly Son Heung-min.
Now aged 27, Kane is in the form of his career. He’s netted seven goals in nine Premier League appearances and, even more tellingly, provided nine assists.
This shift in responsibilities was clear in Saturday’s triumph of resilience and tactical discipline in the win over Pep Guardiola’s side. Kane provided a perfectly weighted pass for Giovani Lo Celso to double Spurs’ lead in the second half, but it was his work off-the-ball that was most noteworthy.
Jamie Carragher was full of praise for Kane on this week’s Monday Night Football show on Sky Sports, mentioning how it was not just the player’s technical ability and tactical understanding that was impressing him.
The former Liverpool defender noted Kane’s work out of possession, his ability to nullify City’s attempts to build from the back and also his knack of frustrating opponents, drawing them into conceding cheap free-kicks.
"I spoke about Harry Kane on this show a month ago about this new role and this new No.10 role,” Carragher told Sky Sports.
"Harry Kane is the most streetwise footballer in the Premier League by a long way and I love it. I absolutely love it. After I've done this, if anyone tells me 'he's cheating or he's going down', he's not. It's a big part of the game and it's a really clever part of the game. He made Man City's defenders look really childish, naive and not understanding football."
There are multiple reasons behind Tottenham’s upturn in form this season, including the addition of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in midfield, two newly-signed attacking full-backs, and the return to form of Tanguy Ndombele. Yet Kane’s performances have been the main factor.
Strikers have always played an important part of Mourinho’s sides. The Portuguese is known for his tactical flexibility - he’s not inherently wedded to any one system - but the central striker always has a big part to play.
At Chelsea, Didier Drogba filled this role in his Mourinho’s first spell at Stamford Bridge and Diego Costa took over in his second stint. At Inter, Zlatan Ibrahimovic - who Mourinho subsequently took to Old Trafford in 2016 - and subsequently Diego Milito and Samuel Eto’o were the prolific strikers.
When he was appointed at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo’s goalscoring numbers - 168 goals in 162 appearances under Mourinho - truly took off, while Karim Benzema (78 goals in 150 outings) was also impressive.
These frontmen were all not only deadly in front of goal but also led by example. They are all players who could draw opposition defenders out of their structure, create space for others and win free-kicks. All of them did more than just score goals.
Kane has now evolved into a striker whose role is increasingly tricky for opponents to define; he may be dropping deeper to create but he’s still scoring regularly. Once again, Mourinho has a striker he can count on.
