Between matches for both Bayern Munich and England, it has now been five matches across all competitions that Harry Kane has failed to find the back of the net, one of his longest stretches in recent memory. During the international break for England, he was still carrying a knock that he sustained in Bayern’s 3-3 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt the weekend prior, which was an injury to the same ankle that gave him some trouble in the 1-1 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.
Earlier in the season, Kane was scoring and assisting at will, just as he had started last season, but he has hit a bit of a wall. To be fair to the striker, he was not in the England squad that shockingly lost 2-1 to Greece at Wembley in the Nations League and he clocked 69 minutes in the 3-1 win over Finland before Lee Carsley made the decision to replace him with Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins.
Despite starting and registering nearly 70 minutes in Finland, Kane was only able to muster one shot (off target) and a total of 27 touches, the majority of which came from lateral or backwards passes with his back to Lukas Hradecky’s goal. To be fair to Kane, it was a different look and squad from the experiment that backfired on Carsley against Greece, but his performance looked eerily similar to the last couple of performances he’s had with Bayern.
Photo by Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images
Between the Frankfurt draw and Aston Villa loss, Kane has only registered four shots (all off target) and 68 touches. Against Leverkusen, Kane did not have a single shot and only recorded 20 touches on the ball squaring off on Xabi Alonso’s tactically sound, disciplined, and well resolute setup. He did, however, have an assist in Frankfurt and he currently leads the Bundesliga in assists for the season thus far (four) along with Frankfurt’s Omar Marmoush.
Of course, a key piece of Bayern’s attack in Jamal Musiala was missing for at least the first half against Villa and the draw at Frankfurt, but that is hardly an excuse for the Bayern striker to have been kept so quiet in recent weeks for both club and country. His last goal for either Bayern or England came in the 5-0 win over Werder Bremen at the end of September, a match in which he scored once and assisted twice. Prior to that match, he had already recorded 11 goals and three assists between Bayern an England, including a four-goal effort against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League and a hat-trick in the 6-1 win over Holstein Kiel. He did not go more than one match without a goal or assist during that stretch, so something has to give.
Is he still carrying injuries and fatigue from the EUROs? Is Kane no struggling with tactical adjustments from either Vincent Kompany or Lee Carsley? Is he not getting the proper service? These are all questions one could be asking with regards to Kane’s recent form, but Bayern and England will certainly be hoping he is able to put this spell behind him as quickly as possible, especially with the sheer number of matches coming up.
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