KEEP WINDING ’EM UP
JOSE MOURINHO says Harry Kane should be renamed “Hero Kane” after his return from injury.
And the Tottenham boss hit back at Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson for claiming Kane would not be able to score many goals under Mourinho because of his style of play.
Striker Kane played his first game in six months against Manchester United last Friday after an injury lay-off and the lockdown, and Mourinho was full of praise for his centreforward, before taking aim at Merson (top right).
Mourinho said: “It’s not easy now for a striker to be completely sharp and Harry Kane played one game after six months. How long it will take, I don’t know.
“The only thing I know is that Harry had an incredible effort. He played 90 minutes, 94 or 95. He was training again today and is ready to play against West Ham. He is an amazing professional. He is super committed with the team.
“But, for me, Harry Kane is ‘Hero Kane’ because he’s a guy that had a big surgery and lockdown stopped the perfect rehabilitation.
“With all the difficulties, he then comes to normal training only for a couple of weeks and for me he is ‘Hero Kane’. If he gives the same against West Ham, as he gave me against United, I will be more than happy.”
But Kane’s performance against United, as he struggled to get into the game due to lack of match fitness, prompted Merson’s comments, the ex-arsenal star also suggesting the England captain may consider his future.
Merson said: “He’ll have a serious think at the end of the season. I don’t see him getting 25-30 goals a season the way Jose will want to play.”
Mourinho says his own record with the world’s best strikers, while in charge of Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Inter Milan, proves Merson wrong, even if he got his Didier Drogba (middle right) stats wrong, as he read from the appearances column rather than goals scored.
Mourinho said: “Take a balanced approach.
Harry doesn’t play a game for six months.
The record of goals
Harry has for me is easy.
Go to your data and it’s easy to see how many matches he played with me and how many goals he scored before his injury.
“I had a few strikers that played for me and they’re not bad. Didier Drogba played for me in four seasons, he scored 186 goals – an average of 46 goals per season.
“I had another guy, Ronaldo (above), who is also not bad – plays for Juventus now. He played for me three seasons, he scored 186 goals, which gives him an average of 56 goals per season.
“I had another guy, who is also not bad, called Karim Benzema. He played for me for three seasons, but was not always starting because he was quite young at the time. He scored 78 goals in three seasons, which gives him a 26-goal average per season.
“Diego Milito played one season and scored 30 goals, won three titles. I had another guy, he played for one-and-a-half seasons, in the other half he had a big injury. A tall guy called Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He scored 58 goals, which gives a 29 average per season. So, dear Paul, I have lots of respect for you.
“Harry has no problem at all to score goals in my teams, especially when he’s fit and fresh, and has the routine of playing. That’s my message to Paul Merson.” top-scorer Maupay of recklessness as he went off, and Matteo Guendouzi grabbed the Brighton man round the throat at the end.
But Potter does not want to put a hold on Maupay’s fiery qualities.
The Brighton boss said: “That competitive attitude is part of Neal’s game. He has that competitive side, that edge, which is important. He is a fighter, he fights for the team.
“There is a line he has to try and keep around, which I think he does well. People forget that he is only 23 and adapting to the Premier League.”
Maupay has been booked four times this season, but Potter added: “I don’t think this incident will play on his mind. He doesn’t care what people say or think about him.
“The Leno incident was unfortunate. Neal doesn’t go out there and injure people on purpose.”