‘SPURS NOT A ‘ONE-MAN TEAM’
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR need striker Harry Kane to deliver goals on a regular basis but that does not make them a one-man team, former Spurs defender Sebastien Bassong has said.
Last month, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola referred to Tottenham as the “Harry Kane team” when assessing their title rivals but Bassong offered a different view.
“Tottenham without Harry Kane is not the same team, it doesn’t mean they’re a one-man team, but he’s playing a big part in the game,” Bassong, who featured for Tottenham between 2009 and 2012, told Sky Sports.
“For Harry Kane to score as many goals as he does he needs to have confidence in his teammates. The offensive player is going to help you win the game because they are the one scoring goals.
“The defenders have a job that is just as important, you’re just not under the light as much, what matters the most is the team.”
Kane, the league’s joint-top scorer alongside City’s Sergio Aguero with eight goals this season, has found the net six times in Tottenham’s previous five League meetings with Arsenal.
“I think it is (essential he plays against Arsenal). He’s their man striker, he’s their goalscorer and he’s like a talisman in the team,” the Cameroonian added.
“Especially in a game like the derby, because he’s a home-grown player and you can add his spirit into the game and that makes it really important that he features in the game.”
THE MOOD was eerie, simmering from disbelief towards anger and the result was unthinkable.
But no noise the San Siro could produce was capable of willing Italy to a goal, and the four-time World Cup winners have missed out on their first World Cup finals since 1958 after a 1-0 aggregate defeat to Sweden.
The Azzurri, led by the hapless Gian Piero Ventura, couldn’t muster a goal over 180 minutes of football, meaning Jakob Johansson’s first-leg winner was enough to send the Swedes to Russia.
Ventura had the unenviable task of replacing Antonio Conte as Italian coach, and the unenviable challenge of getting past Spain in an unforgiving qualifying group.
But questionable team selection and curious tactics saw Italy miss out on a top spot and consigned to a play-off spot, where they were bested by the Scandinavians.
For what remains of Italy’s 2006 World Cup winners, this was a shameful and distressing way to exit international football.
Gianluigi Buffon, who roared with passion, tears in his eyes before kickoff was crying again at fulltime for altogether more unhappy reasons.
Daniele De Rossi, one of the key under-performers in this agonising two-legged defeat, also announced his retirement from international football.
Much of the blame will focus on Ventura, and in the immediate aftermath of such a monumental defeat for a football-obsessed nation it feels