The battle between Tottenham and Manchester United will see two of the Premier League’s biggest stars go head-to-head.
Unfortunately for Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo, the match comes at a time when both players are under increasing scrutiny.
However, it must be acknowledged that the criticism they face is largely down to the ridiculously high standards they’ve set for themselves.
Kane is regarded as one of the best out-and-out strikers in world football having scored 228 goals for Spurs in his career, while adding another 41 for the England national team.
As for Ronaldo, the Portuguese star truly is one of the greatest players that the game has ever seen.
The 36-year-old has netted over 700 goals in his career so far and leaves a trail of broken records behind him as the forward continues to rival Lionel Messi to be remembered as the best of all time.
Both players have put in some ridiculous numbers during their careers so far and being honest, it’d be a huge surprise if they didn’t continue to do so this term.
That said, it hasn’t been the smoothest of starts for either player this term, so what has gone wrong?
Let’s take a look at how the Premier League giants compare ahead of their clash this weekend which will be live on talkSPORT…
Kane and Ronaldo: Last season’s statistics
The Tottenham star had a busy time during the 2020/21 campaign with an early start due to Europa League qualifiers, while ending the season with the rearranged Euro 2020 competition.
For Spurs it was a hugely disappointing campaign in which the club finished in seventh position in the Premier League while failing to end their lengthy trophy drought.
Everyone associated with Tottenham came in for criticism apart from Kane who single-handedly kept the club competitive.
The striker made 54 appearances in total for the North London side, scoring an impressive 33 goals in the process.
However Kane’s contribution wasn’t just about putting the ball in the back of the net as he also found time to lay on 17 assists for his teammates.
It was an elite tally from a less-than elite side that truly showed the class of a player who had added an extra, team-orientated element to his game.
For Ronaldo, it was a similar tale.
After helping Juventus to the Serie A title in his first season, the hope was that the Portugal star would be able to do the same again, but unfortunately the season ended in disappointment.
Juve finished fourth in Serie A and while they did manage to win the Coppa Italia, being knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16 was a hammer blow.
However that didn’t stop Ronaldo from shining on an individual level.
The 36-year-old made 44 appearances for the Italian side in all competitions, scoring 36 goals and providing four assists.
Both players were rightly recognised as the key men for their clubs, something that was backed by their wonderful individual displays as their employers struggled to meet expectations.
Kane and Ronaldo: This season’s statistics so far
While both players were expected to pick up where they left off this term, the start of the campaign was disrupted for both by the ongoing transfer speculation.
Kane was heavily linked with a move to Manchester City and the saga of the summer wasn’t resolved until days before the transfer window slammed shut when the player himself revealed that he would be staying at Spurs.
However the weight of summer expectations have seemingly taken their toll on the player who has netted just once in eight Premier League games.
The 28-year-old has netted seven goals in total for Tottenham, but with five of those strikes coming against Pacos Ferreira and NS Mura in the Europa Conference League, the jury is still out regarding the Spurs star this term.
After seeing rival Messi completing a huge move to Paris Saint-Germain, Ronaldo made it his mission to secure a move away from Turin and grabbed back pages all over the world by securing a move back to old club Manchester United.
That return to Old Trafford got off to a dream start with a brace on his debut against Newcastle, before also finding the net in his next league fixture against West Ham.
However excluding his efforts in the Champions League, it’s now been over a month since Ronaldo struck in the top-flight.
Kane and Ronaldo: What’s gone wrong?
Enduring a dry spell in front of goal is not a crime for a striker by any means, but the concern around both players has been to do with their overall contribution.
Kane has made his name as one of the most ruthless finishers in the Premier League but as well as failing to find the net, he’s come in for criticism due to his apparent lack of interest.
Speaking at the end of September, Adrian Durham said: “Tottenham Hotspur isn’t working.
At the start of the summer, Harry Kane said he wanted it done before the Euros.“He wanted to sit down and have an honest conversation with the chairman and Harry Kane is still there. He doesn’t want to be there!
“I heard the commentary team on TV yesterday saying, ‘has he got the desire?’ No, he hasn’t got the desire, because he had no desire to be at Tottenham Hotspur.
“He literally does not want to be there, why on earth would you want to give a manager a player that doesn’t want to be there?
“The best idea was what a lot of pundits on talkSPORT were saying all summer; sell him early, then use that money wisely in conjunction with the new manager.
“Have a really, solid, sound, joined-up thinking recruitment policy. Use the Harry Kane money to rebuild at Spurs, but they’ve not.”
For Ronaldo the issue is about his suitability to thrive in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
Man United fell to a 5-0 defeat against Liverpool last weekend in a match that saw the Norwegian boss set up to press Jurgen Klopp’s side from front to back.
However the 36-year-old has come in for criticism for his lack of work ethic in helping the team, something that he vehemently denies.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Ronaldo said: “I know when the team needs my help defensively. But my role in the club is to win, help the team to win and to score goals – [the defensive side] is part of my job.
“The people who don’t want to see that is because they don’t like me but to be honest I’m 36, I win everything so am I going to be worried about the people who say bad things about me? I sleep good at night. I go to my bed with my conscience very good. Keep going with that because I will still close mouths and win things.
“Criticism is always part of the business. I’m not worried about that. And I see it as a good thing to be honest. If they worry about me or they speak about me, it’s because they know my potential and value in football still. So it’s good. I’ll give you an example: if you’re in a school and you’re the best student, you ask the worst student if he likes the best, they’ll say they don’t like him.
“I think the main word is that I’m still happy and enjoying football. It doesn’t matter how many things I won in my career. I win everything but I’m still motivated. I’m in a new chapter of my life, even with my age, and this is why I am here – to try to win and I think Manchester needs to be at this level of winning and thinking to win big things so I’m here to help.”
Are Kane and Ronaldo undroppable?
The thought of dropping Kane and Ronaldo ahead of Saturday night’s contest would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago, but some are starting to wonder if the time has come for the duo to be dropped from their respective teams.
Jamie O’Hara is a close observer of former club Spurs and the ex-midfielder believes that Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have looked better without the England skipper.
Speaking to talkSPORT, O’Hara said: “It’s tough one for me as Harry Kane is Mr Tottenham, in my opinion, but I look at his body language and look at the way he’s playing and he’s not playing very well.
“I kind of enjoyed Spurs at the beginning of the season when he didn’t play. I know that sounds bad because he is a great player and he is someone who you need in your team, but he’s come back into the team and we can’t win.
“When it was [Steven] Bergwijn, [Lucas] Moura and [Heung-min] Son up front, we sat in, we were composed, we soaked up the pressure and tried to hit teams on the counter attack.
“Harry Kane has come back and he’s trying to do everything. For some parts of the game he’s playing as a holding midfielder!
“They are doing too much, we need you to play up front and where things can happen.
“I feel like he’s slowing things down for us a little bit at the minute.
”You can’t criticise him for what he is and what he’s done for the football club, but at the moment he’s not playing very well for us.”
It’s a similar situation regarding Ronaldo.
Upon moving to United this summer, the general consensus was that the 36-year-old was the missing talisman that the club would need in order to challenge for title.
However according to Darren Bent, Solskjaer could be better served without the forward as he looks to aid the all-round performance of his team.
Bent told talkSPORT: “I think for Ole, he’s got some big decisions to make.
“If he wants to play this whole pressing game then he might have to bite it a little bit and go ‘you know what, Ronaldo has been good but Cavani in terms of energy, pressing, working hard from the front, is a far better option than Ronaldo, because whenever Cavani comes on, he runs around, he works.
“Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, if he wants to survive much longer in this role he’ll have to start making some big decisions and that includes leaving big players out.”
Kane and Ronaldo: What does the future hold?
Form is temporary but class is permanent – something that is more than fitting in regards to these players.
Kane is a player who does often score in patches; it’s not uncommon for him to go on a run of games without scoring before hitting the goal trail once again and getting a bucketload in a short space of time.
The same has to be said for Ronaldo who is arguably the greatest goalscorer of all time with his ruthless tenacity and unflappable confidence meaning that he’ll continue doing everything right as he looks to start scoring more regularly.
However the concern is for the long-term future of the natural number nine.
Both players are seen as out-and-out strikers who have one objective in a match – to put the ball in the back of the net.
Unfortunately in the modern game we’re seeing more and more teams steering away from the use of a traditional attacker and opting for use of a slightly more hybrid option that benefits the overall function and fluidity of a team.
Roberto Firmino at Liverpool as a good example of a forward who has the responsibility of working tirelessly to close down defenders and drop into spaces where he can play the ball to the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane who will run in behind.
Man City are doing similar with no natural striker at all.
Instead, they’ve used players such as Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan as extremely advanced playmakers who will occupy a false nine role and feed the orbiting attack talents of players like Gabriel Jesus, Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez who will attack from wide areas.
Kane and Ronaldo are perhaps seen as more ‘old school’ options due to their ruthless nature in and around the penalty area.
There’s no doubt that the respective Tottenham and Man United stars will score plenty of goals this term due to their world class talent, but perhaps their struggle so far this term could be the start of a changing culture in elite level football.