Harry Kane stats underline the difference between this and last season

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The Tottenham Hotspur talisman has been unable to offer the same attacking threat this season.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane walks past manager Mauricio Pochettino as he is substituted

Though Harry Kane’s goalscoring woes this season are a long way from being a crisis, it is worth looking at the Tottenham Hotspur star’s statistics this season and last year, in order to try and understand why his attacking threat has dwindled when looking at the opening three games.

If anything, the Spurs forward has looked more off the pace this season than he did at the start of the previous campaign, when he also failed to find the net in the club’s opening few Premier League matches. Then he was still putting in impressive performances, even though the club failed to win their opening four league matches.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane in action with Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren

Even though Spurs have managed to secure a win and two draws, Kane has not looked his confident self at all this season, and in no way is that more clear than in looking at his shooting statistics this season compared to the previous one.

Shooting stats 2016-17

The above information is a perfect example of what is different with the Spurs and England forward this season. Confident, on form players have no problem taking plenty of shots, from all manner of impossible angles, because they believe they can score, even if they miss a bucket load.

Sergio Aguero, Philippe Coutinho, Eden Hazard and Zlatan Ibrahimovic; all four are supremely confident players, happy to take shots and miss because they know that eventually they’ll find the net.

Tottenham’s Harry Kane in action with Crystal Palace’s Joe Ledley

But despite finishing last season as top scorer, Kane is way off letting rip with the number of efforts he was happy to last year, level with defender Toby Alderweireld and new signing Vincent Janssen – who has only started one match. Put simply, he just isn’t taking the number of shots a confident striker would.

Shooting stats 2015-16

Last season was a different story for Kane, as he boasted the highest number of shots in the division, the highest number of on target efforts and the highest ratio of efforts per game – double the average so far in 2016-17 (4.16 per game to 2). He also has a one in six on target ratio this year, compared to roughly one in two the year before.

His confidence shone through as he also finished as the league’s top goalscorer, with 25 goals.

It may be the case that opposition defences have widened up to the 23-year-old’s style of play, but the key to Kane returning to his best could be as simple as encouraging the England international to shoot freely whenever he gets an opportunity, like he did so successfully last season.

Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane wins the 2015/16 Barclays Golden Boot Award, scoring 25 goals.