ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Kane absence costly as United see off Spurs

IT may be an insult to describe Tottenham Hotspur as ‘The Harry Kane Team’ but a match that they might have won against Manchester United at Old Trafford yesterday served mainly to illustrate the point that when the current England captain is not in the side, they miss him terribly. Spurs had the chance to prove the Kane doctrine wrong and they blew it.

A fiercely-contested clash that hinged on one missed chance by Dele Alli and an expert finish from Anthony Martial demonstrated once more that Kane is the difference between Spurs being title contenders and a team that is no more than nearly men.

Time and again, Spurs are hailed as the coming force in the Premier League and, time and again, they fall short. Their exit from the Carabao Cup in midweek was used by many as an excuse to remind them how long it is since they have won a trophy of any sort. Results like this underline the sense that, when it comes to the crunch, they are still not equipped to win a trophy.

And so as the seconds ticked down, the United fans taunted the opposition supporters with chants of ‘Have you ever seen Tottenham win the league?’ With ten minutes to go, their side had been staring down the barrel of a third match without a victory but they will feel that the momentum they lost with their drab 0-0 draw at Liverpool and last week’s defeat at Huddersfield has been regained.

United, in contrast to Spurs, are a team with potent options up front and while Spurs looked hamstrung without Kane, Jose Mourinho used the wealth of attacking talent available in his ranks to turn the game as it entered its last ten minutes and wrest back some momentum for a team whose early season form had been faltering.

Spurs had looked, frankly, shorn of a focal point when Heung-min Son was playing alone up front in Kane’s role. Spurs were the better team for much of the first half but lacked a cutting edge.

And when they did finally prise Mourinho’s back four apart in the closing stages of the game with the sweetest of drifted passes from Christian Eriksen, it was not Kane who was there to apply the finishing touch but Dele Alli. And Alli contrived to hook the ball wide.

United rammed the point home immediately when Romelu Lukaku, who had hit the post with a header a couple of minutes earlier, flicked on a long ball from David de Gea, and Martial ran on to it, drumming his left-foot shot into the turf and past the wrong-footed Hugo Lloris.

That was enough for United. It was always going to be that type of game. Stung by criticism of his team’s underwhelming displays of late, Mourinho celebrated at fulltime by putting his finger to his lips in a gesture that told everyone: “I know what I’m doing”.

Asked what he meant by the signal, the United boss retorted: ‘Calm down, relax a little bit. Don’t be so nervous, relax.

‘I don’t understand some reactions when people question “Are they Red Devils?” Our two strikers were up against amazing central defenders today, some of the best in Europe.

‘Martial plays the same position as Marcus (Rashford) but is more comfortable dropping in between the lines and driving with the ball as well as attacking space. I told him to do that when he came on and to play from Lukaku. He was against three good defenders but they’d had a hard match.

‘Maybe it was a lucky shot but his desire was good and the goal gives us two more points than 0-0.’

The match was cagey and often uninspiring. It was going to come down to one piece of quality in attack — and United provided it.

Mourinho had condemned his players for their attitude at Huddersfield last weekend but there was no mistaking their hunger in the opening exchanges.

But even though they exerted some early pressure, United could not translate it into clear chances. Their only hint of an opening came after Lloris had failed to clear the ball properly and the Spurs defence had to clear from Rashford as he tried to set up Lukaku.

Once Spurs had negated that spell of United dominance, they began to look the more assured side.

The first real alarm for United came midway through the first half when De Gea advanced to the edge of his six-yard box to collect a harmless cross from Ben Davies. De Gea caught the ball but then collided with Phil Jones and spilled it at the feet of Moussa Sissoko, who lifted his shot over the bar.

The game burst into life. Alli sidefooted a shot too close to de Gea and the United keeper then plucked a shot from Eric Dier out of the air.

Spurs were the better team up to the interval but it was hardly a feast of football. The game was crying out for a spark of inspiration.

It finally came ten minutes after half-time when Henrikh Mkhitaryan wriggled away from his man and drilled a low shot which Lloris spilled. Lukaku was lurking but Davies intervened with a superb clearance.

Less than a minute later, Mkhitaryan was a danger again, sprinting on to a through ball and fizzing it across goal but Lukaku could not apply a finishing touch.

When Antonio Valencia hit a blistering rising drive just over the bar from 25 yards, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino reacted to the increase in pressure by bringing on Fernando Llorente for Son and his side came back into the match.

United’s warning came when the ball was worked to Eriksen in space on the edge of the area but he hit his shot high over the bar.

Then, after 77 minutes, Eriksen created the chance for Alli, who somehow missed from yards out.

Spurs paid dearly. With nine minutes left, de Gea’s long ball was flicked on by Lukaku and Martial, on for Rashford, raced through to finish beyond Lloris.

‘I’m very disappointed,’ said Pochettino. ‘It is very painful for our players, for everyone.

‘I said before the game that always you are going to miss your main striker — and Harry Kane is one of best strikers in the world, of course.

‘But it’s not an excuse. We didn’t lose the game because Kane wasn’t here. It is a collective sport and always you must adapt.’