Harry Kane- The Caveat King
Joe Marshall- @AllSportJoe
This blog began, like many of mine do, as a reply to a tweet that I typed out, deleted, typed out, deleted, typed out, deleted, and eventually abandoned altogether, after failing to summarise my feelings in 280 characters.
Harry Kane has gone through his career as the most controversial, uncontroversial footballer of his generation. Despite being proven goalscorer, an underratedly capable team player and an all-round nice guy, Kane has never been too far away from a transfer saga, debate around diving and question marks about his goalscoring prowess.
The latest storm came about after he broke Wayne Rooney’s all-time men’s England goalscoring record, surpassing ‘Wazza’ by hitting his 54th Three Lions goal, against Italy, from the penalty spot (naturally). This sparked conversations about the significance of the achievement, and whether or not we should actually applaud the bloke for what he’s done.
The Kane debate is always one littered with if, buts and maybes. His critics pepper his record with caveats and question marks, seemingly doing everything in their power to degrade Kane, making him out to be a lesser player than what he is.
Take Joey Barton’s latest tweet. A screenshot of another tweet listing some of the international opponents that Kane has scored against, as a way to undermine his efforts, implying that it isn’t particularly hard to score against the likes of San Marino, Panama and Scotland. This list of footballing “minnows” was used by Barton to prove that Wayne Rooney was in a “completely different stratosphere”, which confused and angered me in equal measure.
I’m not time-rich enough to dig out the list of nations that Rooney has netted against, but I’m sure that it won’t exactly be a whos-who of international juggernautery. In fact, despite the inception of the Nations League, it still remains rare for any modern-day England side to face off against another top level national team, and when they have done, Kane surely comes out on top in comparison to Rooney. I don’t think I’m being particularly controversial to say that, with the exception of Euro 2004 (which was so good that I actually think it set Rooney up to fail internationally), Rooney massively underperformed in major tournaments, with just 3 goals in the big competitions he played in after the Euros in Portugal. Meanwhile, Kane’s tournament record is the stark opposite to Rooney’s, collecting the golden boot in Russia and contributing some important goals in Euro 2020 and in Qatar. This completely contradicts the point of Barton’s tweet, as if the only relevant international goal is one scored in a big game, Kane trumps Rooney enormously. Who is in the different stratosphere now?
The claim that Kane has only ever scored against poor teams does not stack up, especially when you consider the reason why England take on these sides. The games against the likes of Andorra, Montenegro and Scotland were qualifiers, meaning that if Kane didn’t score in those games, he wouldn’t give himself the opportunity to score against ‘better’ teams in major finals.
The next caveat that people use to slander Kane’s record is pointing out that many of his goals have come from the spot. Although I alluded to it in jest at the start of this blog, I don’t think Kane’s penalty record is to be laughed at. If taking a penalty is as easy as @Mark4310395302 says on Twitter, why do we see penalties missed every week, by some of the world’s best players, and why did Kane miss that spot kick against France. A penalty scored is a goal scored, don’t pretend it isn’t because you’ve got an agenda against a player.
Going back to the Rooney comparisons, we live in a time where we are slowly becoming the grandads of society. Not in a literal sense (I hope), but in the “back in my day!” style. Those who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s will look back on Rooney’s career with a certain sense of nostalgia, but if you think back objectively, he was one of the most villified players in the national press, in an age where the tabloids were at their toxic worst. What I believe we’re seeing with Kane is a man that absolutely loves nothing more than scoring goals. I don’t want to see another glorious career tarnished by the fans and press that are supposed to be supporting him.
If it’s club rivalry that stops you appreciating Kane, then I understand that club ties run deep, and it’ll be hard for you to ever appreciate him, especially as social media grows ever more divided. If you want to be controversial and edgy, then you enjoy yourself and play in David Cotterill’s mentions. If you genuinely don’t see the appeal, or see why he is so rated, then that is absolutely fine, after all, it is all about opinions. But please, let’s not pretend that scoring the most goals in the history of the England men’s team is a small feat, even if one or two were against Scotland!
What is your opinion of Harry Kane? Leave a comment and let us know!