Twelve months on from their FA Cup fifth round humiliation at Middlesbrough, Tottenham once again exited the competition in embarrassing fashion at the hands of Championship opposition. Their late 1-0 loss at Sheffield United was unacceptable and ultimately it was a major opportunity missed in their quest to end their silverware drought.
Heading to Sheffield on the back of successive Premier League wins against West Ham and Chelsea, Spurs appeared to be travelling to Bramall Lane in the perfect moment but again they just never got going. It was very much a carbon copy of their 1-0 defeat on Teesside one year earlier.
Following a flurry of Premier League teams crashing out of the competition, the FA Cup and a place at Wembley appeared to be opening up perfectly for Tottenham as they eyed up a first final appearance since 1991. Antonio Conte and Cristian Stellini, as expected, made changes to their side, with the headline news seeing Harry Kane, Cristian Romero and Dejan Kulusevski dropping down to the bench to give those on the periphery of the first team a start.
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Spurs still had more than enough in their XI to get the better of the Blades but they did very little of note to leave Sheffield United goalkeeper Wes Foderingham with hardly anything to do. It was no surprise to see Kane introduced with 25 minutes to go following Richarlison's woes up front, with Kulusevski and Oliver Skipp entering the fray nine minutes later and Arnaut Danjuma shortly after Iliman Ndiaye's 79th minute winner.
Getting Spurs out of jail time and time again, the England captain couldn't repeat the trick in South Yorkshire as little fell his way and his header from Ivan Perisic's cross in the dying seconds was weak and wide of the target. The defeat again highlighted the importance of Kane to the side and the big drop off when he's not in there, as well as the harsh reality facing Conte and Daniel Levy when Spurs' in-form players come out of the side.
Kane's omission from the team was only the second time this campaign when he has missed out on the starting XI, the previous occasion coming in the FA Cup fourth round away at Preston North End. This season he has played every single minute in the Champions League and the full game in every Premier League fixture bar the last 12 minutes in the 2-1 win over Fulham in September.
Injuries to his fellow attackers have meant that he has been unable to have a breather at times, but on the whole Tottenham have needed him on the pitch to try and ensure they get the job done. Wednesday's showing in South Yorkshire very much demonstrated that point.
"It is not a regret," said Stellini on the decision not to start Kane when speaking to the media in his post-match press conference. "We need to look in the medium period, we have many games. Harry Kane played in the last six games, one time with fever, one time with a problem, we have to take care of our best player.
"It’s not about Harry because we played with Richarlison, Lucas Moura and Sonny. I think it is good enough to play in this competition and against this sort of team."
Even if Kane had started the FA Cup fifth round tie, Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom believes little would have still fallen the striker's way if the Blades had repeated their performance.
When asked if he was quietly pleased that the 29-year-old did not start, he joked: "Yeah, until you realise how many goals Richarlison scored in the World Cup and for Brazil!
"I thought Kane would start. But if Harry would have started, if we put in the same performance, he would have been feeding off scraps."
Kane, of course, would have made a difference to the Tottenham team had he started at Bramall Lane but Heckingbottom's point about him "feeding off scraps" shines a spotlight on the struggles of others in a Spurs shirt and not only the success of his own team. It is not solely down to Kane for the team to function and others must step up to the plate.
One way or another Tottenham need to find an answer to their dilemma as their latest FA Cup embarrassment has only raised further questions about Kane's long-term future at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Out of contract at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, Wednesday night will have done nothing to convince the player that Spurs is the place to be if he wants to win trophies.
A game, on paper, Tottenham should have progressed from, the Sheffield United loss was the latest in a long line of examples that so much more has to be done to bring the squad up to required level to ensure these shocks are a thing of the past. Levy now has to make sure that Kane is still a Spurs player come the next time they feature in the FA Cup in January 2024.
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