I see football as a lot more nuanced than just a bunch of numbers, and I think one of the common mistakes is that people think they can just take a bunch of numbers and extrapolate them from one team to another and I think it’s not as simple as that.
Kane has several assists for example, and people commonly mention his dropping deep and then just take it out of a Spurs team and drop it into a United one. Two very different teams, and the first and most notable difference is one team has Bruno Fernandes and one doesn’t. All that stuff is not needed from Kane. It is not as simple as swapping Son for Rashford. Rashford is not searching for a Kane. Son may need him, but Rashford has Bruno.
To be more specific as you asked, I see our forwards as using quick interplay between themselves. One-touch passing and movement that Kane simply cannot keep up with IMO. That’s how they create for each other. They also like to get in behind, and Kane can’t do that. I’ve been watching the centre forward role closely all season and I watch out players and I watch the other strikers we are linked with and I am mainly watching their movements, the runs they like to make, the passes the like to make and I don’t see Kane as the best fit for us.
Weghorst is so much worse of a player than Kane, he has got a worse touch, worse finishing, worse in every technical area. I can accept that much. However, I don’t think there is much between them in terms of mobility. When I watch us play with WW, one of the most notable things to me are the numerous passes that we don’t play because it’s WW upfront and not someone who can move. To a commentator, these are not amongst WW’s many missed chances. We simply just pass the ball somewhere else, somewhere less immediately threatening to the opponent and try and build the attack more patiently. When I see those situations, I don’t think ‘if that was Kane we would have played that pass’. I think it’s the same problem. And I’m not talking about a big back to front for a striker to run into 30 yards of space exclusively. Often they are shorter passes, but one that will put a striker in and we have to turn that pass down too often due to having a centre forward who won’t win the first 10 yards.
That is OUR football. I don’t want us to have to change the way we attack because of Harry Kane. I want a striker who can come in and play out game. We need a more sprightly striker in my personal view. I would take an 18 goal, fit and consistent centre forward who can move around the front line, can stretch teams and play the high speed interplay with Rashford, Antony and co than a 25 goal Harry Kane who will take any chances that fall his way but overall make us as a unit easier to defend against I reckon.