The weight of expectation can often be a heavy load to carry on a young man’s shoulders and it can weigh a tonne when you are suffering from a touch of second-season syndrome, as Harry Kane is currently enduring.
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Harry Kane stamped his authority on the Tottenham first-team following a string of top quality performances in cup competitions such as the Europa League throughout the months of August, September and October before Mauricio Pochettino gave him his Premier League chance in late October and November of last season.
Since given his chance in that period, Harry Kane has stunned Spurs fans as to how well he has played, but has failed to live up to his expectations this term, and has netted just once in the league this season in a 4-1 win over Manchester City.
He took his goal well, but when presented with other chances throughout this season, Kane has come up with uncharacteristic and unexpected misses, take his miss in the first half against Everton at home as a prime example.
An own goal at Swansea has clearly harmed the 22 year-old’s confidence, and watching Harry Kane at Wembley against Estonia on Friday night was an underwhelming and disappointing experience, seeing one of your favourite players in that England squad perform so poorly.
Even the simplest things such as a ten-yard layoff seemed to be a mammoth task for Kane. Okay, I am exaggerating a little, but I think you get the idea. He looked like a man with no confidence at all, and although he lasted the full ninety minutes, he should have been substituted by Roy Hodgson in all fairness.
His night was summed up when a cross from the right presented the youngster with a great chance from inside the penalty area on the volley to send England 2-0 up, but it was a swing and a miss for the striker, the ball hitting his standing left leg and rebounded away. All of those things I have mentioned above have had an effect on Kane’s confidence.
I will be closely observing the performance of Harry Kane on Monday should he get a run out against Lithuania in England’s final Euro 2016 qualifier, but at the moment, it seems that the striker’s confidence is critically low.
