This was Harry’s game, Harry’s day. And also, in a lovely bit of irony – football really does love this stuff – Arsenal day, although we can perhaps draw a curtain on that for now.
At the final whistle of this 1-0 win over Manchester City the Tottenham players stood out, like a trophy ceremony, for a moment on the pitch with Harry Kane celebrating Jimmy Greaves’ all-time goalscoring for the club.
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Perhaps it should be said that Greaves finished on 357 in the league’s highest total, while Kane is 27th on England’s top-flight list, a far more storied list than Alan Shearer’s quest for a quarter century which the broadcasters love so much. . Fourteen more and Kane will be level with Tony Cottee. He can reasonably expect to reach the top 10 by reaching 250. All these will be scored in the white heat in a series that is competitive from top to bottom.
There was bobbing huddle, speeches, cheers. Thank God no one brought out a podium and a tape bomb. The scene will be mocked, of course, because everyone makes fun of everything, and because it was also quite silly. The winner of the Harry Kane shield is … Harry Kane.
But there is also a reason why the club celebrated this: because this is a ground that was built to celebrate things; and because it was a truly beautiful moment for Kane, a club-record winning goal at the stadium he helped build, his performances fueling Tottenham’s revenue streams and Champions League presence during years of intensity on the pitch how this thing was funded.
All those rushed returns, the twangs ligaments, the years without any serious backup, the full-body commitment to trying to finish Spurs in fourth place. They should probably name this land after him, or after his ankles. At least until Google or Yahoo or Myspace or Skynet finally moves some future
So Harry spoke of sacrifice and dedication, although of course (nobly) some of that sacrifice was not allowed to go to win the title with Sunday’s opponent. It felt entirely fitting that he should make the difference with the only goal of an enthralling, albeit deeply disappointing, game for City.
Pep Guardiola fielded a strange team, starting with Rico Lewis on the left. Lewis only managed to reach 18 years of age. He was asked in this formation to play two roles, to defend as a left back (he is a left back) and to move into the middle of the field as needed. Lewis did great, all things considered. But Rodri quickly sold it for the only goal of the game, when he received a scuffed pass from a hard angle with no time to turn. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg scragged his way through Lewis and curled the ball alongside Kane. From there the day seemed to stop. Kane stopped with just a theatrical touch, then pinged him into the far corner.
He was a great player, a model of continuous self-improvement from his early days and a light creative agent. It is little myth that Kane was a plodder as a young player. This is not okay. Those who saw him during his loan spell, particularly at Millwall, recall a highly trained player. The physical development under Mauricio Pochettino was the moment of real ignition. Kane pressured him and joked like a maniac in those early seasons.
The development into creative, forward deeper was partly in response to his own loss of high-speed throttle. Even here it is a great model. How many players do this, reinventing themselves not once but twice, from midweek optimist to cutting edge to creative foil. Kane has three footballing superpowers: his finishing, his passing and above all his supreme football intelligence, quality English players are often accused of lacking or failing to develop.
For City this may be a situation you may have. It will always be tempting to put forward a counterfactual history where Kane, not Erling Haaland, was at the center of Pep’s mid-life crisis prime minister, his red Porsche 911, his tactical tail and route markers.
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There is a favorable reception that suggests Kane could score Haaland’s goals for City; but that Haaland is still missing the full equipment of Kane’s game. On the other hand, Haaland’s one strength is absolute super strength. He is also 22. Its final form is yet to be revealed. He was poor here, however, failing to offer any consistent presence in attack.
A final word on Kane, who has always been criticized by some for being a great player. It is true that very few footballers have had an illustrious career without winning a trophy. The misconception is that this dilutes Kane’s achievements. It actually makes them more impressive. This is a man who has performed at a high level without ceasing while playing for Spurs and England, two teams with little recent history of winning pots. He is a true hometown hero in the unusually brutal landscape of modern football, and he deserves his moment.