Two Things Harry Kane Does Better than Most Strikers

1.

Pins defenders with his hips

Here is Kane demonstrating how a striker can ‘pin’ a defender without getting into a shirt-tugging war.

IT’S IN THE HIPS. Observe when Kane’s meets Caicedo’s in this sequence - after the former’s completes the turn.

This means that whether or not Caicedo committed to this challenge, the Blue’s man would have still stumbled: Kane’ goal-facing forward momentum + Caicedo backpedaling + both hips connected.

You may see other strikers opt for the hand-on-opponents-chest-while-I-pivot move, which is also good.

But Kane’s move here maximizes the distance between him and the ball such that it teases marking defenders to lunge for the ‘gettable’ ball. He’s earned SO MANY fouls like this. Art, really.

2.

Comfortable taking one-time shots from passes into space

Harry Kane has many goals like this in his collection: curved run, no touch to set, shoots in his stride.

Because goalkeepers use the set-touch to narrow down angles and shot possibilities, strikers like Kane are a nightmare to face.

Kane thrives in these situations because he’s got a sharper sense for where the goalpost and possible shot openings are than most elite defenders.

Goalkeepers are already expected to constantly scan + log shot openings, but the few strikers and center-backs with this perception are very good and seem to ‘sniff’ shots.