Shadowing Practice: Harry Kane: Everyone Gets This Wrong About Strikers - Learn English Speaking with Video
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It's so easy to say, stay high, you're going to score, but it doesn't work like that because staying high just means you're easier to be marked.
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So many of my goals have come from me being deep.
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Last season it was the prime example.
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I scored almost double the amount of goals I've scored in any season.
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Hi Harry, welcome to Game Changers.
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I kind of wanted to talk through some finer details
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and almost for the people highlight things that they might not notice watching you play your game.
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Yeah, OK.
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I think when we're watching football nowadays, the tactical landscape's changing so much and you've had a long and successful career.
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How do you see those changes, the rise in man-to-man pressure, the increase in sort of 1v1 battles across the pitch?
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Yeah, for sure, something in the last five, six years has become bigger and bigger.
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I think the physical nature of European football, of course, Premier League, when I was playing for Tottenham, but then also now with Bayern Munich,
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you've seen the top teams especially are trying to win the ball back quick, trying to win the ball back high and then kind of trusting, you know, a lot of their defenders,
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midfielders to defend man for man and trust themselves to win the battles.
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So, yeah, it's definitely evolved, obviously.
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I think it depends what type of manager you have as well and how they like to play.
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You know, I've had many top managers throughout my career
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and the boss now at Bayern is for sure one of the best.
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And I love the style.
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I love the way he gets us playing.
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So, yeah, I try and evolve to each coach.
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I try and bring out the best for the team in each different situation.
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Obviously, as a striker, I know I'm expected to be the one to score goals, but it doesn't always mean you have to be the highest at the pitch
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or you have to be the one in the box.
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And I think, yeah, that's where maybe my game's evolved.
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And from my point of view, I feel on my day, I can be dangerous against any system, against any player.
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And whether it's 1v1 or 2v1, I'd always find different room or different space.
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So, ultimately, a lot of it comes down to backing yourself and winning your individual battles that you have on the pitch.
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Obviously, I'm not the fastest player, but in terms of in my head, I know where I need to be, I know where I can receive the ball and then obviously,
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rather play wide or play through the middle and then arrive later into the box.
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So, so many different situations and I think that's kind of where my, I guess, number nine role has changed in recent years,
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is having that freedom to dictate yourself on the pitch.
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In all of those different situations, you say you know, but how do you know?
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I think just a mixture of instinct, just using my football brain that I've built up throughout my whole career.
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And then just getting the feeling on the pitch.
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If, for example, I want to drop and see if the centre-back really wants to commit, he might commit into midfield, but is he going to commit if I drop all the way to the edge of my box?
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And after the first five, ten minutes of the game, you really get an understanding of how the opposition are going to play.
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So you watch clips leading up, but then ultimately, until you hit on the pitch, you're not really going to know, so you just have to adapt as you go.
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Your central partner sometimes less feels like an attacking midfielder-striker partnership, but more like two 10s at times.
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How does it feel almost to play in that front two, knowing that you've been a pure number nine for large parts of your career?
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Yeah, I enjoy it a lot.
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I think sometimes when you're just the number nine on your own, you can get marked by two centre backs
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and you struggle to get touches on the ball
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and you're kind of really relying on everyone else to find you the ball.
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I feel like the position right now is kind of two nines, two 10s and you kind of work together, you kind of can double up on one side to overload.
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I think it causes the centre-backs from the opposition team a bit of a problem from who to mark.
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If you want to mark both, you've got to kind of go man-man and then
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that leave space for maybe the wingers to run or the full-backs to run.
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So I guess it's just posing all these questions to the opposition but me personally, I love having someone close to me who I can link with and and also work off.
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If he's dropping deep, I can go longer and vice versa.
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How do you adapt your game to different partners?
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Because Lenny Carr plays differently to how Nicholas Jackson played when he played alongside you,
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it's not only the central player but the wingers come inside and sometimes they're your partner in there.
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You have your style of play but you're also playing alongside somebody so how is that adapting to that?
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Yeah I think you've got to see what their strengths are, especially with Jamal and Lenny for example, they're so good at receiving the ball and dribbling and making
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so there'll be times where I will stay higher
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and let those guys kind of get on the ball a bit deeper
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or in the pockets and I'll try and make runs in behind.
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There's times where Michael wants to kind of come in as well on his left foot
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and sometimes running deep or sometimes giving him the option.
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Lucho's more of someone who's just up and down.
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Without changing my game too much and my strengths, I try and compliment the players around me as well.
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Yeah, I've got an example actually, since we're talking about Luis Diaz and his sort of contribution
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and it ties a lot of the themes that we're talking about together.
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So I'm going to show you the clip and if you can talk through some of these ideas with you.
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That's the thing with our formation, as long as there's someone in each position, it doesn't really matter who it is.
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Serge making the running behind, which takes the defenders back, allows Lucho that space in between.
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I come off to try and create a bit of space, I guess, and Lucho's gone through the centre.
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Once he gets the ball there, there's not many options he can play to Michael.
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I think he just sees me in the corner of his eye
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and he kind of just lays it off
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and whenever I'm in this position around 20-25 yards out I'm always looking if I can get my shot off.
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Anyone who plays across
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that front four can kind of play in all four positions at any stage
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and Lucho in this clip will be almost playing as one of those 10s, 9-10s, then it's just about kind of making sure you're in the right areas to get your goals.
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When I'm watching that clip and when I'm watching all of your goals
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and trying to analyze sort of the patterns throughout there I also hear people talk about Your position and say Look,
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you're a number nine.
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We want you to score more goals Why don't you stay in the box?
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And when you watch this you realize why you don't stay in the box as much
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because there's that space behind the last line How has it been developing that?
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Has that been an innate thing throughout your career?
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Because you are scoring more goals by playing deeper it feels paradoxical almost.
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Yeah and I think until you really understand football and you understand what we're talking about there, it's so easy to say stay high you're going to score, but it doesn't work like that
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because I touched on a bit earlier staying high just means you're easier to be marked
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and so many of my goals have come from me being deep and then the play kind of develops.
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I'd rather than end up coming into a number 10 spot
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when everyone's dropped I'll get my shots off from the edge of the box
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which is a big strength for mine or it's running
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and coming on the back of crosses where no one's picking me up
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because the midfielder finds it hard to pick me up
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because I shouldn't be there and there's so many things that go into it but last season, if you watch, was the prime example.
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I scored almost double the amount of goals I've scored in any season
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and a lot of that was kind of from being in build-up and driving and arriving later.
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I think it has evolved.
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I think, again, certain managers, certain teams, you have a different a different role.
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I think this one suits me best
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because it you know it magnifies all aspects of my game I guess
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and yeah I think last season proved that more than anything.
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Yeah just one final clip that I'd love for you to talk through.
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Normally you're tracked by the central defender
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but against Club Rouge you were tracked by the midfielder and it led to Lenny Karl scoring a goal through the middle.
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I was just really impressed by you weren't directly involved
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but I think you contributed to this goalie in a big way and perhaps people didn't notice it.
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What's going through your head in that moment?
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Yeah, so these are all little runs again, I'd say not everyone sees but you know, it's kind of touched on when I said about who you're playing with,
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obviously Lenny, I know he's so good in those pockets and
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when he hits there I'm more thinking of running him behind because one, he can play me in and I can go through on goal or two,
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he can dribble with the ball and exactly what happened here, you know, the midfielder's marking me, the centre-back's not sure whether to come with me but he sees I'm marked by the midfielder,
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so he's like, OK, I'm going to go to Lenny here.
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And then as soon as Lenny gets into that pocket, you see me making the run, but always making the run, not always to get the ball,
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to sometimes just drag the defender away.
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And now he's 1v1 with a centre-back in the middle of the pitch, and that's dangerous for any centre-back.
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So Lenny does great, obviously, he's still down to a lot of technical ability and the finish and the dribble was amazing.
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I was speaking to a few people in the game, people who know you, somebody who's worked with you directly as well, and two people made a comparison with your game,
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your style of game, to Di Stefano, who was a forward who dropped all the way deep, got the ball from the central defenders and sort of dictated the speed and direction of the game.
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He's obviously won two Ballon d'Ors, the only super Ballon d'Or ever as well,
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so one, to be put putting those conversations with somebody of that legacy and that style in the modern game, how does that make you feel?
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And to know that the Ballon d'Or conversations are going on in the next month or so in light of that,
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how do you reflect on that at this point in your career?
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Yeah, whenever you're compared to some of the greats, it just means you're doing something really well, which is great.
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In terms of the Ballon d'Or, yeah, again, it's the same thing, you know, it's a consequence of putting in performances, performing at the highest level and doing it on the bigger stage.
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Last year was great from that point of view and like I said, those conversations will be had.
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We'll have to wait and see.
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From my point of view, last season is last season.
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It was incredible but we're on a new one now
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and this is the start of next year's Ballon d'Or or the things ahead.
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That's what I get most excited about.
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Throwing it forward to this season going forward, what are your ambitions?
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What would you like to try and achieve?
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Yeah, again, always to improve.
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I think, you know, 73 goals is a big number to try and improve on, but that's the aim.
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And I think when I talk about improving, it's not just the goals and things, I think it's all the little aspects around the game, on the pitch, off the pitch.
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Yeah, from a physical point of view, I feel great.
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I think my numbers are as high as ever.
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I just reached my new top speed in the game against Dortmund, which is always a plus.
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So it'll be the same as that, see if I can maintain my level, but also just keep pushing and see what else is possible.
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Well, Harry, thank you so much for sharing your insight, the finer details, the things that I really like to look into,
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but also that fans will really appreciate you going into and all the best for the next couple of games.
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Thank you very much.
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Cheers.
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Thank you.
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Speaking Goals for This Clip
Practice conversational fluency in discussing sports tactics and personal experience—perfect for intermediate learners aiming to sound natural in casual or semi-formal discussions. You’ll master explaining how and why behind actions, a key fluency milestone. Use the shadowing technique here: repeat Harry Kane’s calm, clear delivery to build confidence in structuring longer responses.
Phrase Bank
- "It's so easy to say... but it doesn't work like that because..." – Great for countering common beliefs.
- "I think when we're watching... the landscape's changing so much" – Useful for setting context in discussions.
- "a mixture of instinct, just using my football brain" – Natural way to explain decision-making.
- "vice versa" – A handy phrase to show mutual relationships (e.g., "If he drops deep, I go high, and vice versa").
- "posing all these questions to the opposition" – Creative way to describe creating challenges.
Fix Your Weak Spots
This video is ideal for improving rhythm and stress in longer sentences. Notice how Harry pauses slightly before key points (e.g., "So many of my goals have come from me being deep"). Use a shadowing site to mimic this: pause, stress the right words, and match his pace. Focus on reducing "ums" by listening to how he connects ideas smoothly. For pronunciation, practice words like "tactical" (tak-ti-kuhl) and "evolved" (i-volvd) – repeat them using the shadowing technique until they feel natural. You’ve got this! Every repeat brings you closer to sounding confident and clear.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have come · I've scored · you've had |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | be marked · were tracked · was just really impressed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | Anyone who plays · people who know · well, which is |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.