If you think back to Mauricio Pochettino's first season at Tottenham -- when the bridges burned by Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood were still smouldering and Pochettino was still viewed with suspicion -- it's not hyperbole to suggest that Harry Kane saved the club. Pochettino initially put his faith in the wrong players and by November, optimism was already turning to frustration. Few supporters felt Daniel Levy, the chairman, deserved to pick another manager. Then came Kane, and who knows what might have happened if his remarkable breakthrough hadn't helped to change the mood.

Since then, Kane has met every new challenge. He quickly went from the symbol of Pochettino's new Tottenham to their vice-captain and only striker in a maiden Premier League title race. It's a similar story now; Kane is 23, but he's shouldered the responsibilities of someone older.

"In football, you have to grow up quickly and you're generally more mature than other people your age. I'm 23; I feel older than that but I feel comfortable. I'm assured of myself and it's not a problem," Kane tells ESPN FC.

Kane is growing up away from football too, particularly since the birth of his daughter, Ivy, last month. Footballers aren't immune to the challenges of fatherhood, but like every significant step to date, Kane is taking it in his stride, with help from Pochettino.

"We talk about [fatherhood]. He's yet to meet her, so he'll have to come and meet her soon," Kane says of his manager. "He's got two sons, so he knows what it's like. He hasn't got a daughter, though, so he can't give me advice on that front. He's a great guy; if I've got problems off the pitch or personal issues, he's there to talk to.

"I'm getting into a new routine; there's not as much time when I come home from training now because of all my dad duties. It's a bit surreal still but it's been great. I'm still getting used to her being there and a new way of life.

"It's harder to be angry at home when we lose," he admits. "When it was just me and the missus, she didn't mind. She'd take the wrath of the loss! But it's harder when there's a little baby now. And I still want to win games, I'd say even more so now -- for her.

"It's important to have time away from football, though. Now we've got a little daughter, me and the missus won't talk about football as much," says Kane, who is speaking to ESPN FC at the Lucozade Sport Made To Move campaign, which aims to get a million people moving by 2020, on the day after the Super Bowl.

"I'm a big golf fan -- whether it's watching or playing -- and I'm a big NFL fan. I've got two dogs I like to take out. When I'm at home, I'm a family man and I stop thinking about football."

Back at work, nothing reflects Kane's maturity more than his determination to take responsibility on and off the pitch. He missed a penalty at Southampton but was determined to put it right, and did, scoring the winner from the spot against Middlesbrough on Saturday. And after the 5-1 defeat at Newcastle on the final day of last season, it was Kane who emerged from a shell-shocked dressing room to explain the result to journalists. Spurs had valiantly challenged Leicester for the title, before the now-infamous 2-2 draw at Chelsea, but they imploded, losing to Southampton and capitulating at St. James' Park to slip into third.

Spurs were comfortably the youngest team in the league last season and an inexperienced squad appeared to crack. This season, they boast more points, more goals and more clean sheets than at the same point of last year but they are chasing the runaway leaders again. Pochettino, though, has repeatedly said his team is more mature this time around, and Kane agrees.

"If we'd finished second, everyone would have said 'OK, Leicester won the league but Tottenham had a good year'. But it ended up with them saying 'Leicester won the league and Spurs had a disappointing year'. But it wasn't, it was a great stride and progression.

"We're definitely more mature this year," he says. "Last year was the first year in the Premier League for a few of our players. This year we've had another year of playing together -- we know each other better on and off the pitch -- and we have a better relationship. I think that will carry on the longer we play together.

"Whenever you lose, you want another chance, you want to prove people wrong. That's what we've got in our team. Personally, whenever I lose, I want an opportunity to do it again. The Premier League is something we all want to win. Our team is very ambitious. This season is a chance to put last season right. We did learn from it. At the moment Chelsea have got that lead but all we can do is keep winning games."

Spurs and Kane are also being spurred on by a sense of injustice. Leicester's fairy tale captured the imaginations of even their Premier League rivals, and Chelsea's Eden Hazard and Cesc Fabregas were among those to publicly will Claudio Ranieri's team to the title.

"We understood why everyone wanted Leicester to win. They were the underdog for the neutrals," Kane says. "We did feel like every team wanted Leicester to win, so when they were playing us they went that extra bit further. Chelsea didn't turn up all season but all their players were so up for that game (at Stamford Bridge) to make Leicester win [the title]. It was frustrating but that's football, that's a part of it."

Spurs' own fairy tale may have been overlooked last season, but Kane is in no doubt about how far the bar has been raised under Pochettino. He credits the manager completely and points to the recent 0-0 draw at Sunderland, which moved Spurs into second place in the table but left the players as frustrated as supporters.

"We went up to second but it was two [points] dropped in our eyes. We want to win every game, fight for the title and we can't drop too many points. Games like that are disappointing but it shows how far we've come," he says.

"You can see how well we've progressed, we're one of the best teams in the league. Before [Pochettino] we were playing for Champions League places, whereas now we're trying to win the title. The manager has done what needed to be done. He had an idea in his mind of how he wanted to play and he knew he was going to get that from certain players. He brought some players in, he brought a few of us up from the youth team and he got the balance spot on. We've got a very young team, a very strong team, we're hungry and we want to win some titles and trophies.

"When I first met him, I knew he was a respectful guy, straight away I knew he was someone I could get on with but only if I was working hard, respecting him and being part of the team.

"A lot of the time he's calm, but he's very passionate. If he feels the problem isn't the game but is about our attitude, he'll just tell us we need to work harder or play harder. He's emotional. And that's what we want -- we all feel the same. We all want to win, we've all got the same goal. He's got two sides to him. He's very respectful; if you respect him, he'll show you respect back. If you work hard for him, he'll give you his time. But he's ruthless if you cross him. If you don't want to work for him and you don't want to be a team player, you won't be part of the team."

For all their progression under Pochettino, there are still some big steps to take. A trophy, a win at Chelsea and a first league finish above Arsenal since 1995 together would banish the perception of the old Spurs for good.

"Of course we want to finish above Arsenal. But we want to finish above every team," says Kane. If they do that, he and Tottenham will have finished growing up.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by DAN KILPATRICK, TOTTENHAM CORRESPONDENT

If you have any stories or news that you would like to share with the global online community, please feel free to share it with us by contacting us directly at [email protected]