Cascarino says Harry Kane was unrecognisable against Aston Villa

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Tony Cascarino has told The Times that Harry Kane was unrecognisable during Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday, claiming that the striker actually looked past his sell-by date.

Predicting what position Spurs are going to find themselves in in the coming months is becoming harder and harder to do. Before the World Cup, they had clawed their way towards an impressive first-half of the season.

There was a sense that they had been papering over the cracks. But Antonio Conte is a world-class manager. So if anyone could resolve their problems during the break, it was surely the Italian.

Harry Kane unrecognisable against Aston Villa

Unfortunately, the problems persist. Spurs have failed to win their first two games back. And some fans could not contain their anger on Sunday as they were beaten by Aston Villa.

Several players were extremely poor against Unai Emery’s side. But perhaps one of the most worrying displays came from Kane, with the forward really struggling to get into the game.

According to Whoscored, Kane managed just 35 touches. That was just three more than Bryan Gil, who came off just after the hour-mark. No outfield player who started for Spurs managed fewer than the pair.

Given how important Kane has been to Tottenham’s fortunes, the display was a concern. And Cascarino suggested that the England captain did not look himself in the loss.

“I have rarely seen Harry Kane look as disillusioned as he did during Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat by Aston Villa. He was on the fringes and looked like he was past his sell-by date,” he told The Times.

“Now, he has still had a fantastic goalscoring season, is playing in front of a very frustrated crowd and is coming off a difficult, emotional ending to his World Cup. However, yesterday he was unrecognisable from the player who could drop deep, pressure defenders and dominate an entire game, as in previous seasons.”

Tottenham’s future looks so uncertain

The worry for Tottenham fans is that so much is up in the air right now. If Spurs do not spend, Conte will surely walk away before too long. And the Tottenham hierarchy will be aware that buying players for Conte is a gamble given how volatile he can seemingly be.

Meanwhile, someone like Kane will want to know what Conte’s intentions are if he is going to sign a new contract. And if Kane does not sign fresh terms, then there is less incentive for the key players around him to look to stick around.

Everything appears to be in place for Tottenham to achieve something special. But it could easily all fall apart if just one of the key bricks is dislodged.