Harry Kane might be having a difficult time this season but the English striker is still a very important figure in coach Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur squad.
Ahead of Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool clash scheduled to kick off at 17:30 on Sunday, December 19, 2021, Antonio Conte stressed that Harry Kane is as important to him as to how Mohamed Salah is in coach Jurgen Klopp’s team.
Recall that so far this season, Mohamed Salah has been arguably the best player in the Premier League in terms of scoring goals and providing assists.
His brilliant form has earned the Egyptian winger a whopping 22 goals and 9 assists in just 23 appearances in all competitions. In the Premier League alone, the 29-year-old former Roma forward has scored 15 goals and provided 9 assists in 17 league games.
Salah’s performance has helped Liverpool to climb as high as the second spot on the league table with 40 points in 17 games, just a point below first-placed Manchester City. It has also helped him to become the highest goalscorer in the Premier League so far this season.
As for Harry Kane, the captain of the Three Lions of England has been a shadow of himself so far this season. Last season, the 28-year-old striker was unstoppable in all aspects of his game. He scored a whopping 33 goals and provided 23 assists in 49 games in all competitions.
In the Premier League alone, the England international scored 23 goals and provided 18 assists in 35 games throughout the 2020-2021 season. This performance won Kane Premier League top scorer and top assists provider awards.
Unfortunately for him, this beautiful performance could not help Tottenham Hotspur to win any major title which was one of the major reasons he wanted to leave Spurs for a club he could win titles.
At the end of a series of back and forth, Harry Kane decided to stay at Spurs. But his stay at the club has not yielded as much as expected. So far this season, Kane has managed to score 8 goals and provided two assists in 22 games in all competitions.
Despite his goals drought, coach Antonio Conte who has coached strikers like Carlos Tevez, Diego Costa, and Romelu Lukaku, insisted that Kane has been one of the best strikers he has ever worked with.
“Harry is a world-class striker,” he said. “Every day that I train him I understand very well that he’s a world-class striker.
“He’s one of the best I’ve had the pleasure to train. He’s amazing. I like to have him on my team.
“For sure Jurgen [Klopp] likes to have Mo Salah. But I like to have Harry on my team.
“He’s an important player for us and my expectation was very high and to play an important game against Liverpool.”
On the goals drought Harry Kane has been battling with, coach Conte added, “It’s very strange, no? It’s very strange.
“If you compare what he did in the past, this is very strange. But also in the past, in my experience, before as a player and then as a coach, it happens.
“I played with important strikers who – for a long period – didn’t score. But my judgment about them didn’t change.
“I wanted to have them in my team also if they don’t score. Because if you have Harry Kane in your team, you feel stronger, for sure.”
"It's not easy to explain to the players"
— The Sun Football ⚽ (@TheSunFootball) December 17, 2021
Antonio Conte says 'morale' at Tottenham is at a low after not playing for two weeks pic.twitter.com/xpl4zFcrAF
