BAM’D AND DAMNED...
It’s all gone Spursy again for dejected Kane
TOTTENHAM waved goodbye to any Champions League ambitions – and maybe to their talisman Harry Kane.
The England skipper and Spurs goal machine, who gives everything to the cause, cut a dejected figure as he sloped off down the Elland Road tunnel knowing the chase for a place amongst Europe’s elite is almost certainly over.
Not only will Spurs supremo Daniel Levy have to secure a new manager in the summer, he will no doubt have to ward off raids on his main man.
And who can blame Kane if he ups sticks and seeks new pastures after this limp surrender against a team who this time last season were in the Championship?
Spurs were never able to feel at home even on a surface which was technically their own – Leeds paying £300,000 to install Tottenham-grown turf in January and replace a troublesome pitch.
Leeds are growing in confidence and stature too. None of the so-called ‘Big Six’ have managed to win here.
Few though have looked as inept as Spurs when the pressure was turned up, with these Leeds players prepared to run through a brick wall for much-adored manager Marcelo
Bielsa. Interim Spurs boss Ryan Mason still insisted his players had put in a shift.
“They showed that they wanted to win,” Mason said.
“We started well with plenty of energy but this was a massive game for us and to lose it hurts.
“They are the fittest team in the Premier League and we knew it would be difficult.”
Lunchtime kick-offs have a tradition of being slow burners – many never coming to the boil.
Not this one, especially with Leeds flicking the high-tempo switch right from the start with their exciting brand of attacking football which has lit up the Premier League this season.
Tottenham had no option but to try and follow
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We started well with plenty of energy... but this was a massive game for us and to lose it hurts
suit or risk being blown away in their quest to land a Champions League place.
In the end they were just hanging on in this win-or-bust affair.
Leeds only took 13 minutes to place a dent in Tottenham’s defensive barrier. And it was the home side’s man of the moment Stuart Dallas who struck to add to his growing collection of goals.
One of the Premier League nominees for April player of the month, he capitalised as Spurs pressed the self-destruct button.
Jack Harrison crossed low only for Sergio Reguilon’s touch to put his side in danger.
It needed an instinctive stop from Hugo Lloris to prevent an own-goal but Dallas was on hand to slam the ball into the roof of the net.
Spurs were shaken but at least they stirred through Heung-Min
Son’s 22nd goal of the season – one for which he’ll be thankful of Dele Alli’s return to the fold.
Only starting his fourth league game of the campaign, Alli advanced from the halfway line and fed Son, who fired past Illan Meslier.
Kane was denied by his big toe in a tight VAR decision after clipping over Meslier following neat work between Alli and Son.
Mason said: “I think this was the wrong decision and
I’m shocked by it.
“I’ve seen it back four or five times, and it’s not offside. It was a big moment.”
Kane had another effort disallowed for offside and also clipped the bar with a free-kick.
But Leeds deserved to retake the lead on 42 minutes, Patrick Bamford side-footing in his 15th goal of the season from Ezgjan Alioski’s pass.
Spurs were caught out again six minutes from the end, a swift counter-attack led by Raphina unselfishly setting up Rodrigo for a close-range finish.
By then you sensed that Kane, watched by England boss Gareth Southgate, had seen enough.