How did Harry Kane perform during Tottenham’s defeat to Inter Milan?

Tottenham striker Harry Kane has hogged the column inches in recent weeks as people question his form and fitness.

Kane had not scored in four appearances for club and country coming into Spurs’ Champions League opener at Inter Milan.

Here, Press Association Sport assesses Kane’s performance in the 2-1 defeat at the San Siro Stadium.

Goal threat

Kane had to wait until the 37th minute to get his first sight of goal and it was a fine chance. Christian Eriksen played him in brilliantly, Kane’s first touch set himself up even better, but instead of shooting he opted to try and round the goalkeeper but lost control and ran the ball out. It is impossible not to think if Kane was at the top of his game that he would have buried the chance. And that turned out to be his only sniff.

Link-up play

In the first half, Kane barely had a sniff of the ball as Spurs were so wasteful with it in their own half. In that opening 45 minutes he was able to make just five passes. He became more involved in the second half and kept the ball well but did not cause Inter any problems with the positions he was taking up.

Fitness

Kane still seems to be missing that zip that gave him such an edge for so long. Whether that is a lasting effect of his quickfire return from injury in the spring or a packed summer schedule that saw him have just three weeks off, is open to debate, but this is not the England striker we have come to know. He was taken off in the 89th minute.