Why It's Vital Tottenham Ensure Harry Kane Does Not Suffer a Euro 2016 Hangover

Harry Kane's 2015-16 season was pretty darn good for a 22-year-old. The Tottenham Hotspur striker confirmed his status as one of the division's best and helped fire his club to a best league campaign since 1990, falling short in their title challenge late on but impressing immensely along the way.

Then came Euro 2016.

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England's dismal summer at the European Championship—uninspired in the group stage, knocked out in the last 16 by the far more assured Iceland—was a notable nadir individually for Kane. Heading into the new season, Tottenham's coaching staff will be looking to do their part in ensuring it does not turn into a prolonged hangover.

It is tempting to view Kane as an unstoppable force in recent times. From his first substantial opportunities in the Spurs first team in 2013-14, via the name-making heroics a season later that earned him international recognition, it feels like he has rarely looked back.

In reality, there have been some tough times in this period, too.

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The European Under-21 Championship last summer was not the youth-level swan song he hoped for as Gareth Southgate's team struggled to create for their centre-forward. The three-month scoreless run that followed at the beginning of last season—punctuated by a goal against Manchester City and a couple more for England—required him to show perseverance amid frustration and doubting voices.

What has carried Kane back to where he wants to be is not some ineffable force but rather a simple, quiet self-belief.

Speaking to Spurs' official website at the end of last season, the player explained:

"

After last season (2014-15) there was a lot of talk about if I could do it again but I always believed in myself, always knew I was capable of doing it again and getting better. That’s the thing. It wasn’t just about maintaining my form, it was about trying to get better and better. I’m glad I’ve done so and I’ll look to build on it again next season.

"

Not just about generalities, there is more specific logic underpinning it, too. Take Kane's approach to the aforementioned goal drought.

He did not grow hysterical when his failure to find the net extended beyond a few games; he continued to focus on doing the different aspects of his job, be that coming off the bench and setting up Erik Lamela's goal against Qarabag in the Europa League or continuing to try his luck against Arsenal in the Capital One Cup.

Things fell into place with a somewhat scrappy but no less valuable hat-trick away at Bournemouth at the end of October. Back in form, Kane finished the season with 28 goals in all competition, 25 of which were enough to secure him the Premier League Golden Boot.

Again, via the same interview, he said:

"

I knew I was playing well. If I wasn’t getting chances I would have been worried but I was getting into the positions, getting shots off, I was a bit unlucky and it was just about staying mentally strong and continuing doing what I was doing. As a striker, you need a bit of luck every now and then and I finally got that and pushed on. I had to keep working hard, doing my best for the team and the rewards followed.

"

Tottenham's relatively quick progression under Mauricio Pochettino since 2014 has benefited enormously from having a talented player who is also so grounded.

They do not have to contend with Kane being a passenger up front, an enormous relief in a predominantly used 4-2-3-1 formation that requires a substantial forward presence. He will have bad games (he was not exempt from the struggles that undermined their title challenge late on), but he will not hide. When they do occur, a more productive effort is not far away.

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Nevertheless, bouncing back from Euro 2016 will be a challenge for Kane.

The experience was so unusual in recent times for being one that left him like a player looking unsure of himself.

Kane initially taking corners (and to a lesser extent free-kicks) rather than positioning himself in the box to try to convert them was more of a drama than it should have been, but it was undeniably one of several smaller issues that added up to a bigger problem.

Although lacking his usual zip when he dropped deep against Russia and Wales, the lack of service for the team's attacking focal point was more troubling. When he came on as a substitute versus Slovakia and started in the defeat to Iceland, things improved, but he was still looking to force things. Cognisant of England's situation in the latter knockout match, he played as if concerned so little would come his way he had to make something happen every time the ball reached him.

At Spurs, Kane knew others could take up the slack or that they at least knew what they were doing. Roy Hodgson's England became such an increasingly dishevelled mess, it virtually suffocated any individual initiative.

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"To be an international striker you have to be prepared to play in different systems and if that's what the manager wants, I'm ready to do it," Kane told Tottenham's website before the start of Euro 2016. "Of course, we do what the manger wants, we play where he wants us to play and we've just got to do our best there."

Adaptability is a must for all but the most excellent of teams.

England's changes more reflected an unwillingness on Hodgson's part to make tough decisions over the involvement of certain players (In hindsight the writing was on the wall when he said, "It's a good problem to have, shoehorning in attacking players," per the Guardian's Daniel Taylor). The selfless Kane's desire to do right by his manager and team ended up counting against him.

Getting back to club duty should be a relief after all this, but it may not necessarily be that easy.

Kane will, like his fellow England internationals, be looking to impress new manager Sam Allardyce ahead of qualification for the 2018 World Cup beginning. Added to the pressure of trying to get Spurs' season off to a strong beginning, it is feasible a similarly slow start to last year could not only be replicated but exacerbated.

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The emotions related to the job and responsibility of finishing are as extreme as they come in football. Just see the difficulties suffered in recent years by Radamel Falcao, Fernando Torres and ex-Spur Roberto Soldado when, for varying reasons, good form gave way to the yips.

Spurs boss Pochettino will already have been wary of asking as much as he ultimately did of Kane last season. Yet he knows at the same time how valuable his hard-working frontman is and how much better they are for him leading the line confidently.

Pochettino's attempts to lessen the burden on Kane have been led by the signing of a new forward in Netherlands international Vincent Janssen. He will also be counting on the likes of Christian Eriksen and Lamela (the latter particularly impressive against Juventus in a friendly this week) to keep the chances flowing and again pitch in with goals of their own, too.

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Spurs will be hoping all this—plus obvious encouragement, motivation and preparation—will be enough to help Kane through if his England struggles do become a crisis of confidence.

However, if there is any hangover, perhaps just in the form of some easily remedied post-tournament rustiness, you would back Kane to clear it sooner rather than later.

This week he announced on social media he and his partner are expecting their first child. There are things more important than football, and for a player already as much of a minimalist as Kane is, that understanding should only refocus him in his day job further.