Harry Kane’s most dynamic performances for Tottenham – ranked
At the end of the day, football is about scoring goals, and there are few who have been better at doing that than Harry Kane.
The Tottenham and England striker is one of the greatest strikers of his generation, and in recent years has added a few more strings to his bow, developing his skills as a complete forward and finding new ways to tear teams apart.
Here are Kane’s ten most dynamic performances in a Spurs shirt – ranked.
Kane’s tenth most dynamic performance while at Spurs is the most recent on this list, grabbing a goal and an assist as Spurs beat bitter rivals Arsenal in the north London derby.
Tottenham welcomed back 2,000 fans amid the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic and treated them to Jose Mourinho’s finest hour in north London. Kane set up Son Heung-min for the opener by dropping deep, wrestling off Gunners defenders and dinking one over the top for the South Korean to chase, before scoring himself with an emphatic finish off the underside of the crossbar.
After Chelsea clinched the 2016/17 Premier League title, Spurs were mostly just playing for pride. Kane, however, had his eyes firmly on winning the Golden Boot.
The England striker – who had missed a fair chunk of the season through injury – entered the final week of the season behind Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez in the standings. But four goals away at Leicester helped make up for last time as he went on to top the scoring charts for a second successive year.
2017 was Kane’s peak as a pure goalscorer. His tenth-placed Ballon d’Or finish on top of those two consecutive Golden Boots are testament to that.
Kane needed just one on Boxing Day against Southampton to break Alan Shearer’s record for most Premier League goals in a calendar year – so obviously he grabbed a hat trick.
That treble ensured he ended the year with more goals than Lionel Messi in all competitions. Some company, that.
‘He’s a one season wonder!’
‘He’s a tap-in merchant!’
Yeah, yeah, we know.
The build up to Kane’s first north London derby was intense, with Arsenal fans ruthlessly mocking his release from the club as a child.
But he came back to bite the hand that used to feed him in some style. Spurs dominated their rivals from the off and fell behind against the run of play, but a late brace from Kane turned the game on its head and handed Tottenham a dramatic win.
“Gotta love a north London derby, eh?” Kane told cameras at full-time.
Oh what fun it is to see Tottenham win away.
Spurs travelled to Goodison Park shortly before Christmas in 2018, and despite falling behind to a goal from old nemesis Theo Walcott, they rallied back in style.
All four members of DESK (Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Son and Kane) got on the scoresheet with the feared foursome working in tandem to pick Everton apart.
After a disappointing debut Champions League campaign, Kane took it up a gear in the 2017/18 season.
Spurs were drawn into the ‘group of death’ with Real Madrid headlining the group, and Borussia Dortmund awaited Tottenham in their first match.
Son’s early opener settled the nerves, only for Dortmund to equalise through a screamer from Andriy Yarmolenko.
But Kane would have the last laugh. He bullied the BVB backline to put Tottenham back in front, and after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had another leveller ruled out, Kane sealed the win with a scorching strike from the edge of the area.
Spurs’ record against Tony Pulis’ West Brom was a pretty consistent one – they were almost always 1-1 draws.
After snapping the winning streak of Antonio Conte’s Chelsea, this game a week later at home to the Baggies was seen by fans as the real test of how far Tottenham had come.
The answer was definitive. Kane put in an all-round display and grabbed a hat trick as Spurs tore West Brom apart and confirmed that they were firmly in the title race.
When you ask Spurs fans to pick a game where they realised that Kane was destined to be a world-beater, this is the one that stands out.
Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea were in formidable form as they continued to march towards the title. After Diego Costa put the Blues in front, you wouldn’t have blamed Spurs if they were to succumb to a more talented side.
Kane had other ideas. He equalised after shaking off the challenges of several Chelsea defenders, beating Thibaut Courtois with a driven strike from 25 yards.
His second was somehow even more impressive, rolling between the formidable pairing of John Terry and Gary Cahill and slotting under the Belgian goalkeeper.
You want to talk about dynamic? Then this performance was dynamic.
In a game where Erik Lamela scored the first of his famous ‘Rabona’ goals, Kane grabbed a hat trick and went in goal after Hugo Lloris red card.
Total football.
But Kane’s most dynamic performance in his entire career came at his very peak against Liverpool.
He hassled and harried the Reds’ defence, taking Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren for walks around Wembley as Spurs played Jurgen Klopp’s men off the park.
Kane grabbed a brace and a spectacular assist for Son for his troubles as Tottenham began to make the national stadium feel more like home.