The Harry Kane thread

[andycoull]

Still think he's worth between 7.0m and 9.0m or that kind of region, obviously the upper end of that on penalties. To my mind he's overpriced.

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[Innes]

If you're a believer in bookies odds, then Kane is priced up as 3rd most likely to be top scorer in the premier league this year. Perhaps some value then still, given he's only the 5th most expensive striker in the game. Seems immune from injury, excuse the jinx, will start every premier league game barring a new signing from Spurs up top, and most play will be through him. Seriously considering it, just not sure I'd want Rooney or Costa to give way in his place.

[Bertie64]

Agree with all the comments here (except those that think he's a numpty).

There's no doubt that if he had been some unknown starlet plucked from the obscurity of the lower levels of the Eredivisie, or something similar, last season then he would be raved about on every board and 9.5 would look cheap.

I think he will have another great season, but a great season for Spurs... I'm really not having a pop at Spurs - I just can't convince myself he's worth it yet.

He may well go on and be their top goalscorer this season, but it's still Spurs. They've flattered to deceive so often over the past few seasons (not unlike Arsenal I would add) that I just find it hard to believe the rest of the team are going to be there week in week out and he can't do it on his own.

At 9.5 he has some very stiff competition in all areas of the pitch, not just strikers.

At the end of the season there may very well be 4 or 5 teams who finish higher than Tottenham.
There may also be at least that many who score more goals than Tottenham...

I hope he does great. Actually I hope Spurs do great. But very much a wait and see for me.
Especially for the price.

[Stemania]

I think he'd do very well to justify the extra spend over Benteke @ 8.5m in that price range, or Lukaku @ 8.0m when Everton's fixtures clear up. Money will be very tight when we all rush to Aguero whilst trying to keep as many of our other premium captaincy options as possible (the likes of Costa, Hazard, Rooney). At 9.5m he definitely doesn't look underpriced to me.

[owenclass]

Usually the second season they dont score as many

[Notned]

It's not so much Kane himself that puts me off, it's the alternative options (and the players you can fit around them) at a similar price point that make him a no-go for me. At least for the start, anyway.

[Hotstepper]

If Kane scores in his first 2 games we'll all be scrambling for him

[Libero]

For me, that run of Spurs fixtures from GW2 looks very, very juicy: STO, lei, EVE, sun, CPL.

I know Stoke beat them home and away last time around but Hughes has sold two of his most effective defensive players in Begovic and N'Zonzi. And the only way for Leicester's defensive form is down.

The big negative is the opening fixture away at United. Sure, United's central defence isn't their strongest point but I think Spurs will struggle to get much of the ball at Old Trafford; Kane could be deprived of service.

So with all that in the mix, my decision is to take a risk and plan my GW2 transfer to sell Costa (who travels to Man City and West Brom) and replace him with Kane. I plan to own Benteke and Rooney from the start. I had been thinking about bringing in Sakho or Gomis instead, who look good value and have nice fixtures from GW2 but I can afford Kane and his ownership levels will be high.

[JLH]

Last season Kane scored against Arsenal, chelsea and liverpool!

[Archy]

For me, that run of Spurs fixtures from GW2 looks very, very juicy: STO, lei, EVE, sun, CPL.

I know Stoke beat them home and away last time around but Hughes has sold two of his most effective defensive players in Begovic and N'Zonzi. And the only way for Leicester's defensive form is down.

The big negative is the opening fixture away at United. Sure, United's central defence isn't their strongest point but I think Spurs will struggle to get much of the ball at Old Trafford; Kane could be deprived of service.

So with all that in the mix, my decision is to take a risk and plan my GW2 transfer to sell Costa (who travels to Man City and West Brom) and replace him with Kane.

Agree with this analysis and I've considered the same option of starting with Costa for GW1 and then bringing in Kane for GW2.

The problem though is this: if Costa is worth shipping out for his 2 away fixtures, then what is he doing in the team in the first place? The asnwer is he's a 1 week punt for the Home game vs Swansea.

That 1 week punt comes at a cost of £1.5m less being spent on the rest of your squad and a 4 point hit in the likely event that you're going to want to change another player in your squad as well as your planned transfer (whether or not this is the case in GW1, the 4 points will come and bite you in the bum at some point when you don't have a spare tranny and you do make a change).

So, if its a question of Costa v Swansea (H) against Kane v Man U (A) + £1.5m + 4 points, then i take the latter

[Finisher1]

I think there will be a time in this season when everyone is bringing Kane in. Except only few of us.

[sponduly]

You also have Giroud in the same price range (9.0M), and IMO Arsenal have the better fixtures for the start of the season, alongside looking pretty sharp in pre-season.

Although there is talk of Walcott playing upfront instead of Giroud, I’m not sure this would actually happen, unless Giroud was having a bad patch.

[Roope]

Well, he just scored quite a determined goal against MLS All Stars (/watch?v=-NTjfZirefM). Spurs have two interesting fixtures (Real Madrid and Bayern/AC Milan) next week so better keep an eye out.

[MoSe]

You also have Giroud in the same price range (9.0M), and IMO Arsenal have the better fixtures for the start of the season, alongside looking pretty sharp in pre-season.

Although there is talk of Walcott playing upfront instead of Giroud, I’m not sure this would actually happen, unless Giroud was having a bad patch.

another issue in comparing Kane/Giroud, is that the frenchman would be competing for one of the 3 Arsenal spots in your team, which you could well decide to fill otherwise (e.g Chech/DEF + 2 Mids). Not necessarily, but it's a possibility.
While I hardly see 3 other Spurs pushing Kane out of the 3 TOT spots. Maybe two (???), but definitely not three.

[gallus]

The thing I like about Kane is that he is 100% certain to start every game when fit. You don't get this kind of security with Giroud, Benteke or even Costa.

[Joshua82]

just to attempt to dispel a few myths...

1) Kane's form tailed off towards the end of last season, with him only scoring 2 goals from his last 8 games.

If I remember correctly, it was more of an issue with Spurs than with Kane. Inept and toothless performances, like they'd given up on champions league, accepted their top 6 fate and were mentally on the beach (0-0 against Burnley springs to mind or the defeats against Stoke and Villa). Kane just wasn't getting the service he was used to which may explain why he looked unmotivated. This might back up some people's views of not trusting Spurs, but you'd hope they would start the season motivated at least and in Erikson and Chadli providing assists there is hope. How bad can Spurs be really? They're still a top 6 team in which Kane could score 20 goals as the main striker. If Austin can score 18 for a relegated QPR then I'd hope Kane could score 20 again for Spurs. As for the Euro's, I listened to the Italy game and apparently he was our best player, set Ings up with a great chance which the Liverpool man fluffed and generally looked dangerous. Can't comment on the rest of the tournament but he's had a rest now and should be refreshed for the start of the season.

2) Second season syndrome. Defenders will have sussed him out etc.

I don't believe this. Watch his goals from last year, he scores a wide variety. Headers, free kicks, 25 yard strikes, well placed shots in the penalty area, tap ins. He's not a one trick pony like Jelavic or a one dimensional player like a Chicharito/Owen type (playing off the shoulder). He's far more of a complete striker in the Alan Shearer mould. He's got enough in his locker to unlock a variety of defences so I don't believe it's simple for defenders to "suss him out". Judging from last season he has far too much quality for that.

I guess the question is whether last season was a fluke? Did all his shots and headers go in when this season they won't? It would be an extraordinary fluke if this was the case. Even Michael Ricketts didn't score that many in a season before he regressed. Scoring 31 goals in all comps shows you have something good about you. I don't think he's a fraud at all but the real deal. This comes from somebody who watched him on loan at Norwich and he was terrible!

Kane or Benteke?

Like Archy, I'm surprised how much Benteke is being backed over Kane despite the £1m price difference and him being less "untouchable" than Kane in their respective teams. For me there are far more question marks over Benteke such as will Liverpool have to adjust their style to suit him? (i.e,. getting crosses to him?). If so how long will this new style take to gel? Does Benteke have the skill set to fit in with Liverpool's usual style if Rodgers' doesn't alter his tactics? (he's a striker who likes long balls/holding it up and thriving off crosses which is not Liverpool's usual gameplan). Will he take time get up to speed? Does he have spot kicks? Will he share gametime with Ings? Will he be another one of Rodgers' transfer disasters? (Can you trust Rodgers' judgement on buying strikers full stop after Lambert and Balotelli?). What about Liverpool's more tricky opening away fixtures (Stoke and Arsenal in GW's 1 and 3)? Conversely Kane is settled in his role at Spurs, has proved he can score goals there, has spot kicks, is nailed on and talking up his confidence. Are the questions surrounding Kane fewer than Benteke? He also has a tricky opening away fixture (ManU) but the fixtures after look good (STK and lei). However people are happy to go with Benteke's trickier looking opening 3 fixtures over Kane's. Also people are not picking Kane because they don't trust Spurs but are happy to pick Benteke and trust Liverpool despite Pool's poor season last year? People are worried if Kane can repeat last season's form (despite scoring 21 goals) but are happy to punt on whether Benteke can immediately score at Liverpool despite question marks surrounding how he'll fit in?

Just throwing these questions out there. I know the £1m makes a big difference depending on how you spend it but to me it seems you're paying for a player who is a better prospect in Kane IMO and right now that's what I'm siding with. Of course there is the option to go with both Kane and Benteke (which I'm tempted to do despite my reservations over Tekkers) but IMO Kane and Defoe/Deeney/Wilson or even Jerome looks more tempting than Benteke & Sakho (who also has a tricky opening fixture) if we're going down the cheap 3rd striker route.

All in all I'm with Archy, I'm surprised how much Kane is being overlooked given what he achieved last season and his important role in the Spurs team. He seems to have less question marks hanging over him compared to other strikers competing for places in our front 3 (e.g., Benteke, Costa, Giroud, Luka, Pelle).

[Jason Bourne]

Has benteke featured at all for liverpool in preseason? Can anyone say how he's looked?

[Mav3rick]

...A great post...

I don't disagree with any of your post, it's just the 1.0 which makes a big difference at this time of the season. I actually caught some of the MLS allstars vs Spurs game and Kane could have easily had a hat-trick in the first half, some great touches and he gets so many different types of goal that I don't think he will suffer from second season syndrome.

I'd love to accommodate him, but the extra 1.0 strips me of a premium midfielder or cuts my defence to the bone (I am trying to get him in a team with Aguero). I am still looking for some sort of inspirational way to fit him in though.

[Joshua82]

...A great post...

I don't disagree with any of your post, it's just the 1.0 which makes a big difference at this time of the season. I actually caught some of the MLS allstars vs Spurs game and Kane could have easily had a hat-trick in the first half, some great touches and he gets so many different types of goal that I don't think he will suffer from second season syndrome.

I'd love to accommodate him, but the extra 1.0 strips me of a premium midfielder or cuts my defence to the bone (I am trying to get him in a team with Aguero). I am still looking for some sort of inspirational way to fit him in though.

Exactly, Kane is showing in pre-season that he's still looking the real deal so I'd feel confident backing him from the start. The extra £1m is an issue but this is a Kane team I've been looking at which I think is decent (ironically with Benteke after my last post, despite my reservations about him):

4.5/4.0
Azpil/PVA/4.5/4.0/4.0
Walcott/Fabrigas/Depay/Ozil/Wanyama
Rooney/Kane/Benteke

No Hazard will undoubtedly put some people off, but I wouldn't captain him till GW13 anyway (Walcott GW1 for me) so I'm wondering what's the point of paying that much for him? Unless he suddenly starts posting consistent Suarez type scores of course. The flaw of this team (other than starting a £4.5m def every week and 2 £4.0's which I'd hope to fix with later transfers) is it blows out a £7m mid downgrade to fund Rooney --> Aguero. I'd have liked to have kept £0.5 ITB to help fix this otherwise I'll be looking at the £6-6.5m mids. Benteke --> firing cheap striker to fund Aguero could be a possibility though.

An alternative with Hazard is:

Fabrigas --> Hazard
Benteke --> Defoe
0.5 ITB to aid Rooney --> Aguero move (e.g., Walcott --> Milner)

Which is also tempting.

[Mav3rick]

No Hazard will undoubtedly put some people off

I've been looking at no-Hazard teams too this evening (whilst watching Australian wickets fall)

[vendzol]

Watched the Spurs game with MLS Stars and to be honest he should have scored 3/4 goals. It ended up with one his goal.


BTW: I like the way the Kaka's penalty was shown. Camera views are quite different in the US - much more dynamic...

[gallus]

Watched the Spurs game with MLS Stars and to be honest he should have scored 3/4 goals. It ended up with one his goal.

He's looking sharp, and every attack will go through him. I think he'll get his 20 goals.

[wizardoffire]

I have to say, I'm one of those doubters but watching pre season he does look sharp and so far has ended up in my drafts
same goes for Sterling, no idea how he would do at City but the way he has gone about pre season... made me take note

[Archy]

Well Kane has disappointed so far, including a substitution on 69 mins today, -a pretty much unheard-of event. I heard something about an ice-pack being used on Sky sports, but there's no talk of an injury so far.

He's the only member of my team in contention for a transfer out this week, do we have any thoughts on him?

[SuperGrover]

Well Kane has disappointed so far, including a substitution on 69 mins today, -a pretty much unheard-of event. I heard something about an ice-pack being used on Sky sports, but there's no talk of an injury so far.

He's the only member of my team in contention for a transfer out this week, do we have any thoughts on him?

Ice pack was on his calf which some have reported as his injury. MP contested that but he was limping so I am guessing he was injured at least a bit.

http://www.joe.co.uk/sport/harry-kane-p ... pics/11080

He has done okay, but can see an argument for shipping him out. Strikers in general haven't looked great unless you think Lukaku is going to score 2 for every 5 shots and get an assist for every 2 chances created. I have Pelle, Kane and Sakho and would be fine shipping either of the latter.

[SuperGrover]

Looks like MP didn't actually deny the calf was hurting him:

http://talksport.com/football/tottenham ... es-not-fit

“Harry was very tired and had some cramps in his calf, so to take the risk with the score at 2-0, I didn’t think it was a problem to take him off.

"He came later in pre-season and it is normal. He is better but he needs time to arrive.

"We knew before the end of last season Harry Kane would play a lot and the consequences you can see now.

"This is the truth, at 2-0, after 65 minutes, I think it was enough for him. We don't take risks with his body."

[Detroit City FC]

Kane could have easily had a brace if not for some superb goaltending by Jack Butland. Very unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. Spurs have good fixtures but they also have Europa League starting soon so it's a tough call for sure, especially with Aguero coming back.

[Archy]

Thanks for the info SuperG

There's another write up in the Independednt saying the same thing

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foot ... 57368.html

Lack of fitness is a concern. Will be considering the merits of a transfer out over the week, just a shame there's no stand-out alternative at the moment (Already have Aguero). Costa and Rooney are possibilities but neither of them offer great VFM in my opinion.

Am toying with the idea of getting a base-price forward, switching to 3-5-2 and bringing Silva in as the effective replacement for Kane. This looks inviting but costs 2 transfers and leaves little flexibility up front. Food for thought.

[wibble_mcwoo]

I'm taking a huge punt on him. I've got Kane and Rooney. Kane scored 12 and 17 against Leicester last year (albeit playing them before their big run at the end of last season). Now Rooney scored 16 against Newcastle at home last season, so it's pretty marginal, but it's come down to the fact that I benched Kane for the Chelsea game last year and I've learned never to let Kane have the chance to kick you in the teeth. Rooney to Aguero it is.