WE KANE
Pochettino in raptures as Harry double rocks battling West Ham
TOTTENHAM were able to hang on but for how long will Slaven Bilic do the same? That is up in the air after Harry Kane’s two goals here left West Ham’s manager treading water and had Mauricio Pochettino purring three little words.
‘I love Harry,’ said Tottenham’s manager. And then he said it again, just moments before Bilic sat in the same chair and attempted to make sense of a fourth defeat in six games.
They are two managers in very different situations but both of them kept returning to the same subject of Kane, a striker who is making a numerical masterpiece out of his career.
His pair of first-half strikes here took his tally to six in four games in all competitions, or 11 in his last five away fixtures, or 20 in 29 London derbies in the Premier League. Almost any way you cut it, Kane has proved a grandmaster of his art and his contribution in this match had Tottenham cruising before Christian Eriksen made it 3-0.
That is when the wobble came, with Javier Hernandez pulling one back and Serge Aurier getting sent off for abject stupidity, with two yellow cards collected in the space of five minutes. Playing with only 10 men for the last 20 minutes, Tottenham then conceded again to Cheikhou Kouyate before falling across the line. The relief was written all over Pochettino’s face as he explained the brilliance of Kane for the umpteenth time in recent years. ‘I love Harry,’ he said. ‘I am in love, like the fans are in love, like the team-mates are in love. He is so humble, he keeps all the values that managers like me appreciate a lot. That is why I am in love with him, for different reasons. ‘I think in the world Harry is one of the best. It is too hard to find words to describe him.’ But it was not just about Kane. Dele Alli was excellent, a playmaker with a magnificent intuition for Kane’s movements — their link-up for the first goal here was the 11th time Alli has assisted him since the start of the 2015-16 season, making it the most destructive relationship in the Premier League in that time. Jan Vertonghen was also excellent, while Eriksen did what he usually does in his role of puppet-master.
Combined, it meant three straight away wins at the start of this season, picking up the slack of Tottenham’s Wembley form, as well as exorcising the curse of the past two seasons, when losses at West Ham have wrecked Spurs’ title bids.
‘I am very happy,’ said Pochettino. ‘It means more than three points. We played for our pride and the emotion of our fans and I’m happy for my players. Now we need to make our home at Wembley. That is our next challenge.’
Bilic’s own challenge is considerable. Just about the only consolation he could take was the resilience his side showed in getting back to 3-2.
When futures are decided in times of pressure, the response of players to their manager is usually one of the final points of judgement, so he has some credit there. At the very least he is not expected to fall before the home game against Swansea next weekend, but no doubt the pressure is reaching a critical point.
It will not have helped that a big issue with this performance came from his decision to bring on striker Andy Carroll when Michail Antonio suffered a recurrence of his groin injury after 28 minutes.
Prior to that moment, West Ham were in charge and subsequently their shape and system was not nearly so effective with Carroll involved. Far more damningly, the striker dropped a clanger for the opener on 34 minutes and he was less than impressive in the build-up to the second four minutes later. A tough day.
Bilic said: ‘I have mixed emotions about the game — disappointed but proud of the fight the players showed.’
On Kane, he was almost bemused, saying: ‘The best compliment I can give him is that we played with three centre-backs and they all had a really good game. Yet Kane still decided the game.’
The first Kane goal was beautiful, but started with Carroll coughing up possession on the left with a pass that went straight past Kouyate to Eriksen. The Dane threaded to Alli, who crossed for Kane and with a diving header of some brilliance, Spurs were ahead.
The second Kane strike also reflected badly on Carroll, who was easily out-muscled by Vertonghen in contesting a Joe Hart punt. That triggered the counter, with Eriksen looping a pass to the overlapping Vertonghen, who sent Alli clear. Hart saved but the rebound went to Kane, who rolled a volley into the open goal.
Eriksen side-footed the third through a congested area and then came the comeback, with Hernandez heading his third of the season and Aurier stupidly scything down Carroll six minutes after his first booking. ‘In football this can happen,’ said Pochettino.
The pressure on Spurs grew when West Ham substitute Arthur Masuaku crossed for Kouyate three minutes from time and the midfielder buried the header, but the damage was too severe for a full recovery.
Time will tell if Bilic can find the fix.
West Ham (3-4-3): Hart 6; Fonte 7 (Masuaku 73mins, 7), Reid 6.5, Ogbonna 6; Zabaleta 6, Kouyate 7, Noble 6.5, Cresswell 6; Antonio 6 (Carroll 28, 4), Hernandez 6.5, Arnautovic 5.5 (Ayew 66, 6). subs not used: Adrian, Sakho, Byram, Rice. Booked: Ayew, Reid, Carroll, Hernandez. TOTTENHAM (3-4-2-1): Lloris 6.5; Alderweireld 7, Sanchez 6.5, Vertonghen 7.5; Aurier 5.5, Sissoko 7 (Trippier 78), Dier 7, Davies 6.5; Eriksen 8 (Winks 73, 6.5), Alli 7.5; Kane 8.5 (Llorente 89). subs not used: Son, Vorm, Nkoudou, Walker-Peters. Booked: Dier, Llorente, Aurier. sent off: Aurier. Referee: Michael Oliver 7.