SPURS REALLY ARE THE HARRY KANE TEAM
Star’s dedication and desire have dragged club back into mix
JOSE MOURINHO moved swiftly to ease fears but the sight of harry Kane icing a knee ahead of a derby at Arsenal was a reminder how the hopes and ambitions of one club appear to hinge so heavily upon the fitness of one man.
Anything seems possible when Kane is rattling in the goals. Tottenham have a more pleasing rhythm. They have patience. Confidence spreads. In his absence, a mild form of terror grips.
On the eve of Sunday’s 4-1 win against Crystal Palace, Kane was ruled out, and was not in Mourinho’s team until a late test, just hours before kick-off. There was a change of plan, he started, scored two, created two and came off in the 80th minute.
he played another 84 minutes on Thursday in a bruising Europa League tie against Dinamo Zagreb. he scored both goals in a 2-0 firstleg win, finishing the match on the bench with a huge bag of ice pressed against his right knee.
‘he had a little knock the day before,’ said Mourinho, clearing up the pre-Palace mystery.
‘We have everybody fit. We don’t want to risk players. We want a 100-per-cent guarantee that playing wouldn’t affect the near future. We did a little test to make sure he was right and he was. With me, players make these decisions. I trust the player more than anything.’
Kane wants to play every single minute of every single game. his dedication and desire are never in question.
Mourinho, of course, wants him to play. Not only as a source of goals but as an example to those who might not share his appetite to go through pain barriers, suffer in pursuit of the dream, to endure poor patches of form until the goals flow again.
‘I have been lucky enough to work with players with great ambitions,’ said the Spurs boss. ‘It is not possible to have a career like mine without players with ambition. he has that. No doubt he wants to win matches, score goals and win trophies.’
At 27, Kane has matured from pure goal machine into a creative role likened by his boss to one played so successfully for many years at Real Madrid by Karim Benzema.
‘These players get better with time, experience, understanding of the game,’ said former Real manager Mourinho. ‘When the striker is the kind of goalscorer who can only play in that position it is more difficult because when they lose that intensity of the young people, then they have nothing.
‘harry and Benzema — who is 33 now — are very intelligent so they can drop back and assist, transform their game. Later in their career, instead of being the number nine target, they become a nine-and-ahalf, between a nine and a ten, and they can play football until they want.’
Kane’s ten-day absence with minor ankle injuries in January coincided with three successive defeats. upon his return, Spurs tried to manage his workload and crashed out of the FA Cup at Everton with him on the bench until they were 3-1 down.
Defeats at Manchester City and West ham sent them sliding away from the top four. Three months after climbing to the Premier League summit by beating Arsenal and the fragility of the Mourinho project seemed to be exposed.
Tottenham have recovered, stabilised and it has been a collective effort.
Gareth Bale has exploded into form out of the blue. Erik Lamela and Lucas Moura are starting to impress again. Davinson Sanchez is emerging from his error-strewn struggles of early season. Tanguy Ndombele and Pierre-Emile hojbjerg are looking good.
Yes, there is more to Spurs but Kane’s presence seems more vital than ever under a head coach for whom every defeat invites a backlash and an instant crisis.