It’s been a week to forget for former Tottenham Hotspur star Harry Kane. Despite a sensational start to the season, the veteran Englishman has no goals or assists to show for his last two outings for Bayern Munich.
As he attempts to rectify that this week before going on international duty, Kane will be relieved to have some defence coming his way from the other side of North London.
Martin Keown defends Harry Kane after German media criticism
In a recent appearance on talkSPORT, Arsenal legend Martin Keown came to Harry Kane’s defence after the latter had been slammed in the German media earlier this week.
The former Tottenham captain was called into question by German tabloid BILD, his big-game performances having been criticised.
“Harry Kane is hanging around alone up front. What good are three goals against Kiel if he doesn’t even get a shot on goal in a big game like yesterday [Bayern’s 1-1 draw against Leverkusen]?
“Fairness dictates that we shouldn’t unleash the Kane-can’t-win-a-title curse now. Especially since he had to leave injured.”
BILD on Kane, as presented by Football London.
The England captain’s performance during Bayern’s 1-0 defeat away at Aston Villa in the Champions League earlier this week did nothing to lessen the noise, as he has now gone two games without scoring or assisting. However, he has still delivered ten goals and five assists in eight games across all competitions.
Coming to Kane’s defence, Keown had this to say:
“I think the German media are having an absolute laugh to be criticising him after what he’s done for Bayern since he’s been there. He isn’t the reason they didn’t win the Bundesliga last year.
“He’s been magnificent. He could’ve got them back into the game against Villa right at the end but Emi Martinez made a great save.
“I find it ridiculous. If he was German he would be lauded and we’d be talking about him for years to come, but in Germany for some reason they want to criticise him. It’s out of order.”
“54 goals in 53 games is not someone who is not doing it.”
Keown on Kane, as quoted on the official talkSPORT website.
Up next for Kane and Co is an away game at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Fair play
It’s rare to see the North London line blurred, so fair play to Keown for not flying the Arsenal flag high and defending Kane.
As long as Bayern remain on this trophy-less run, the criticism around Kane will not go away. It will actually not go away anyway, because if and when he picks up silverware he will be mocked for doing so with Bayern, the same way Mauricio Pochettino was when he won trophies at PSG.
The narrative beats will not stop existing, but it’s important to make sense sometimes.
