In this football language post we look at a headline from the Daily Mirror newspaper about Tottenham’s win on the opening day of the 2021-22 Premier League season. You can see more explanations of newspaper headlines here and don’t forget we have hundreds more explanations of football language in our football glossary. If you have questions or comments about this or any other phrase then email us at: admin@languagecaster.com.
Football Newspaper Headlines: Who Needs Harry?
This football headline is all about the first game of the 2021-22 Premier League season at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium between Spurs and Manchester City in which the home team won 1-0 thanks to a Son Heung Min goal. The Tottenham strker Harry Kane has not played for the club this season as he is holding out for a transfer to Manchester City so many fans were not optimistic about the game or indeed, the whole season. But the result, and the performance, was a very positive one leading people to now ask whether Tottenham actually need Kane (of course they do).
The phrase ‘who needs ‘someone (anyway)’ suggests (in a humorous way) that this person might be more trouble than is worth especially if there is someone else to take their place (in this case it’s Son Heung Min for Spurs). So, in this headline from the Daily Mirror, the first part, ‘Who Needs Kane?’, is placed beside an image of goalscorer Son and suggests that the club don’t really need ‘troublesome’ Kane as they have someone else instead. The second part of the headline, ‘We Do!‘ is placed beside images of disappointed Manchester City players which of course suggests that City need a striker after they missed many chances to score in the game yesterday; they are the ones who need Kane.
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