Harry’s gameplan doesn’t involve rivals Arsenal
As Spurs feel Pochettino has given them the steel to help win the title, Kane says...
HARRY Kane says Tottenham have moved beyond wanting to beat Arsenal and finish above them and that the club has bigger goals in mind now than mere parochial rivalries.
Tottenham can end their 22-year run of finishing behind Arsenal, which has spanned the entire 21-year career of Arsene Wenger at the club, by last-ever north London derby at White Hart Lane.
But Kane says that Tottenham, under Mauricio Pochettino, need to think bigger than beating Arsenal as they focus on a four-point deficit and wresting the Premier League title from Chelsea.
‘I think there’s a bigger picture,’ said Kane. ‘Of course for the fans it would be a great moment actually to win against Arsenal (and finish above them) – that would be fantastic. But from our point of view we’ve got bigger things to look forward to. We don’t know what Chelsea are going to do, we’ll see what happens when they play (at Everton) on Sunday early. We’ll probably watch it while we’re waiting for our game. But we’ve got to keep winning our games. It’s a massive one.’
Kane says that the fact that finishing above Arsenal is no longer an obsession for Spurs demonstrates how the club has grown.
‘Over the last few years, since the gaffer has been here, he’s changed everything and he’s been fantastic.
‘You see the belief in the squad, the way we play. Sometimes we win 4-0 and play fantastically, then there are nights like Wednesday (at Crystal Palace) when we have to battle, to work hard to keep a clean sheet, dig deep and get a 1-0.
‘Now we’ve got to do that until the end.’
TOTTENHAM have waited so long for this moment they must have always imagined it would be a day of unbridled celebration. For 22 years they have been inferior to Arsenal. Young fans have had nothing else but a lifetime of being dominated by their biggest rivals.
Yet now the moment is finally coming for them to surpass Arsene Wenger’s team with a win against them today, it does not seem nearly as important as it once was.
Not because it is not significant but simply because Tottenham’s improvement is such that petty parochialism is not really high on their agenda. After all, there is still a league title to chase.
Harry Kane puts it succinctly. ‘There’s a bigger picture,’ he said. ‘Of course for the fans it would be a great moment to do it by winning against Arsenal — that would be fantastic. But from our point of view, we have bigger things to look forward to. We have to try and win that game and just keep the pressure on as much as we can.
‘We don’t know what Chelsea are going to do [against Everton], we’ll probably be watching it while we’re waiting for our game. But we’ve just got to keep winning our games. And this is a massive one.
‘It shows how far we’ve come in this short amount of time. Over the last few years, since the gaffer [Mauricio Pochettino] has been here, he has changed everything and has been fantastic.
‘You see the belief in the squad, you see the way we play. Sometimes we win 4-0 and play fantastically, then there are nights like Wednesday [against Crystal Palace] when we have to battle, work hard to keep a clean sheet, dig deep and get a 1-0. That’s what we did and that shows we can do both sides of the game. Now we have to do that until the end.’
And in the new order of north London hierarchies, everything has been turned on its head. Selhurst Park on Wednesday night was a case in point. It was not a pretty game but somehow Tottenham found a way to win — through a lovely Christian Eriksen strike — and keep their title hopes alive.
‘If we hadn’t won, it probably would have been game over,’ said Kane. ‘But somehow we found a way. It would have been a big boost for Chelsea, with them watching the game, if we had drawn or lost.
‘They would probably have got the momentum, so the fact we found a win from somewhere, when at times in the game it looked like it was going to be a 0-0.
‘Christian, the magician, popped up with an amazing goal and we just snuck over the line.’
It was most un-Spurs like. They have for years been a pretty team that disliked ugly games. They still remain attractive but they no longer seem lightweight. Something has changed. ‘Since the gaffer has come in he has installed his philosophy with the way we play, the pressing and getting the ball down. But he has also installed that steel in us that we’ve just got to win, we have to find a way to win.
‘He’s a very passionate manager and that kind of bleeds into the rest of the team. We want to do well for him, for the club and we want to do well for each other. Nights like Wednesday are sometimes that little bit sweeter than a four or five-nil win because it was tough out there, very physical and so to come out on top was fantastic.’
Of course, there remains work to do. Making up the four-point gap on Chelsea still looks unlikely. And that FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea again illustrated that there is still a gap between this team and the trophy-winning clubs. But the fact that Tottenham have managed to respond to that disappointment feels significant.
And it feels different to this time last year, when they were chasing Leicester. Then, they faltered against West Brom at home, then collapsed as they threw away a 2-0 lead at Chelsea, to draw and hand Leicester the title. The sight of Spurs players physically clashing with Chelsea, with Mousa Dembele banned for eye-gouging, suggested a team which could not hold their nerve under pressure. These last few weeks suggest they are now mentally stronger.
‘I feel like we are,’ said Kane. ‘But until we finish the last five games and see where we end up, we won’t really know. From our point of view we’re going to have to win all five if we’re going to have a chance. It’s a big game against Arsenal but we have so many tough games coming we just have to take it one by one.’
And that is the true measure of their achievement. Finishing above Arsenal is not the goal. It will be satisfying but it will not define their season.