As Harry Kane won another penalty at the weekend, Gary Neville called him ‘cute’ and ‘wily’ just a week after Alexandre Lacazette was widely slated for being slammed into.
So, given what had been said about the Arsenal penalty against Spurs last weekend and how widely derided Alexandre Lacazette has been for a number of things Kane gets lauded for, I thought I’d compare the coverage of Arsenal’s penalty against Spurs with the one Kane won against Aston Villa.
They didn’t disappoint.
As you can read, the one about Lacazette says, “It was a penalty, but hardly one that came without controversy.
“Lacazatte [sic] chased a ball into the box, swung a boot and missed his kick completely. Davinson Sanchez, the Tottenham defender, could not stop his challenge and clattered into him. Michael Oliver gave the penalty, despite the fact the danger had passed before contact was made. Sanchez was incredibly clumsy, but it still seemed harsh. Many thought it would be overturned by Paul Tier-ney, the VAR. Many were wrong.”
If you haven’t seen the Kane penalty, or even if you have, here’s a refresher:
https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1373741390329430021
Now compare that with what they said about Kanes:
They write, “Then Tottenham punished them for another lapse at the back. Cash was fooled as Kane feigned to cross with his left foot only to check back and make sure he was clipped by the sliding fullback and crash to the turf.
“The contact was minimal but the Villa defender was in trouble as soon as he launched into the challenge. Mike Dean pointed to the spot without hesitation and Kane picked himself up to send Martinez the wrong way with his penalty kick.”
Do I really need to add anything else? Well, maybe just this:
This may force defenders to deal with this situation differently. Cash is doing everything I would expect, and want, my RB to do. It's easy to criticise from your sofa, but no defender would expect Kane to completely ignore the ball and dart across him. pic.twitter.com/ZekIj7gCjt
— Phil Roberts (@iamVilla) March 22, 2021