EA SPORTS Premier League Player of the Month – February – Harry Kane
Following on from a free scoring month for the Tottenham number 10, including 4 goals and 1 assist, EA SPORTS™ spoke to Harry Kane as he was named the EA SPORTS™ Player of the Month for February. Kane spoke about the title race, breaking Alan Shearer’s goal scoring record and THAT handshake with Dele Alli.
Q - How does it feel to be named EA SPORTS Player of the Month?
A - It’s a great honour. To get the recognition from the ex-players who are involved in the voting is amazing. It was a great month for myself but also the team; it’s a real honour to receive this award.
Q - You were instrumental in the 4-0 win against Stoke City, what’s your abiding memory of the match and can you talk us through the goals?
A - It was obviously a great match for us, to win 4-0 shows how well we have been playing as a team at the moment. With the first goal, the ball just dropped to me inside the box and I thought I would just try and get a quick shot off and it happened to sneak through one of their player’s legs and find the corner. The second goal was probably one of my better goals of the season, Eriksen whipped in a corner to the edge of the box and I managed to catch it sweetly with my left foot on the volley, that was a nice feeling. And then the third one was a bit luckier, it was a long-range free kick, which got a nice deflection and went in and then of course I finished it off with an assist for Dele. It was an amazing game for both the team and myself.
Q - You were the only goal scorer in the game against Middlesbrough, from the penalty spot. Do you remember your thought process when stepping up to take the spot kick and did you feel any nerves at all?
A - Yeah, I always feel a little bit nervous stepping up to take a penalty, especially in that game as well where it was 0-0 and we were founding it hard to break their defence down, so it was a great opportunity to take the lead. Obviously, I practise penalties quite a lot so I just went through my usual routine and managed to put it in the back of the net, it was a great feeling.
Q - What do you think the key is to your good run of form at the minute? Is there anything specific in which you’re doing?
A - My diet has actually changed slightly since January, I have got a new chef who I have been working with around my nutrition and helping me become a little bit leaner and quicker, which seems to be working. Your teammates always help as well though, when you’ve got Eriksen and Dele behind you and the guys behind them backing you up, they’re the ones creating all the chances for me so I’m just trying my hardest to put them in the back of the net. I can’t thank my teammates enough for that.
Q - In terms of goals, what is your target for this season? With 11 matches to go, do you think you can beat your total of 25 from last season?
A - Hopefully, obviously I’ve got 19 at the moment, 6 more to go to get to that 25. I just tend to take each game as it comes, game by game, week by week and try and do as best as I can. I’m in good form at the minute and I feel confident going into every game and I will continue to feel like this in the games coming up. I just try and go out there and score goals for my team.
Q - What’s been your favourite goal this season and where does it rank in your all-time goals?
A - I would probably say the volley against Stoke; technically it’s one of my best goals of my career, definitely in the top 5. It was a difficult technique as it was coming on to my left foot so I was really glad to see it end up going in the back of the net.
Q - Alan Shearer has said he can see you breaking his record of 260 goals if you keep playing the way you are, what do you think of that and is it something you do aspire to achieve?
A - It’s always there as a thought and I think every Premier League striker would love to be the all-time top goal scorer, but there is still a long way to go for myself and lot of hard work to be done in that time and maybe even a bit of luck as well with avoiding injuries and hopefully I can stay fit and strong. You never know though, obviously 260 goals is unbelievable and will be very hard to beat but I’ve just got to keep going, season by season and we’ll see how I’m getting on in a few years.
Q - You seem to score many different types of goals but do you feel there is any part of your game in which you would like to improve?
A - I still work on all parts of my game as much as possible. When I’m doing finishing drills I will work on all sorts of finishes, whether that be set pieces, crosses, one on ones or from the edge of the box, I try and cover as many bases as possible because in a game you never know what type of chance will come your way, I try and be as ready as possible. I’ve always said I want to keep working on my power and my speed, I’ve always thought it’s a part of my game I can improve on so there is still plenty to work on and I’m the type of player who feels they can always get better so its just about working hard.
Q - How do you view Spurs’ prospects for the rest of the season?
A - We’re in a good position at the moment; obviously we’re 2nd in the table but quite a few points behind Chelsea so we’ve just got to take each game as it comes and try and win. We’ve got a run of games now where we are playing teams around mid-table and the bottom half so if we can get some good results in the next 3 or 4 games, you never know, Chelsea might drop some points and we might get closer and we want to increase the gap between ourselves and the rest of the top four. Some of the teams in the top four are playing each other in the next few weeks so there is an opportunity for us to push on now
Q - So you still believe you’re still very much in the title race?
A - I think so yes, like you saw in the Barcelona game against PSG where they brought it back by scoring six goals, anything is possible in football. We have just got to keep believing, we’ve got a team who does believe so we’ll just have to see what happens.
Q - Who is the best EA SPORTS FIFA 17 player at Tottenham?
A - I think I’ll have to go with Sonny (Son Heung-Min), he’s always up in the games room playing with Kevin Wimmer and I’ve heard he’s a very good FIFA player, I’ve never played him myself but I do hear that he is the top dog in the team.
Q - So do the other guys in the team play a lot of FIFA 17?
A - Quite a few of them play, whether its here at the training ground or at home. I do play FIFA 17 now and then, just not all the time. There are a few of the lads who will go up to the games room after training or between double sessions and have a quick game, its good fun.
Q - Dele and yourself have combined to score 18 goals in 2017, is this something you work on in training a lot?
A - It’s very natural; ever since Dele came to the club we’ve had a understanding of each other and the way we play. The more we play together, the more it will grow, obviously we had a really good season last year together and I think this time around we’ve done even better. It’s just a natural understanding that we have.
Q - The celebration you two did together against Everton… where did that come from and whose idea was it?
A - We were just at training a few weeks back and Dele mentioned that we should have a handshake, as all make sure we shake hands with every teammate each morning. He said that he has a similar sort of thing with some of the other guys so he said we should make one and if one of us scores we should celebrate with it. So we made up a handshake and when we scored the other day we did it and the camera caught it perfectly. It’s a bit of fun; obviously we’re at the training ground, working hard together every day so it’s just a bit of a laugh and with the more goals we score the more we’ll do it.
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