BIG QAT FEAR FOR GARETH & LIONS
Kane form eases Southgate nerves after Pickford blunder
GARETH SOUTHGATE’S weekends must feel like 48 hours spent on football’s equivalent of Death Row.
Just 37 days remain before England kick off their World Cup against Iran – and the players Southgate would like to encase in bubble wrap will now be kicking seven bells out of each other virtually three times a week.
This is the time when the nation’s manager is putting ticks against the 26 names who will go to Qatar.
He probably spends much of his working day watching games through his fingers.
Southgate sent assistant Steve Holland to White Hart Lane last night.
Holland has to decide whether to give the boss the good news first – or the bad.
Two of Southgate’s shoe-ins for the desert came through unscathed – and skipper Harry Kane scored his 10th goal of the season. But Kane’s strike after 59 minutes came courtesy of a slip by No.1 keeper Jordan Pickford.
Pickford spilled Matt Doherty’s cross and then bundled Kane over in his desperation to retrieve the loose ball.
Blunder
Think of Nick Pope’s blunder in handing Germany an equaliser last month when Pickford was ruled out by injury and you will get the gist.
After Everton’s protests that the England captain had dived had subsided, Kane rammed home an unerring shot from the spot.
There were other positives for
England. Eric Dier has been a little erratic since Southgate handed him a recall, but that appeared to be behind the Spurs defender.
And Everton’s Conor Coady once again showed why Frank Lampard’s defence has been one of the tightest in the division.
Coady’s performance alongside James Tarkowski meant Kane barely got to look into the whites of Pickford’s eyes until it really mattered.
One burst, which saw the Tottenham talisman embarrass Idrissa Gueye with a nutmeg, was thwarted when Pickford saved at his feet.
And when the England captain met
Ben Davies’ far-post cross with a meaty volley at the start of the second half, Everton’s keeper was equal to the task.
Not that Tottenham were banging constantly on the visitors’ door.
‘The Game is About Glory’ is one of the messages shown on the stadium’s electronic advertising boards.
Pragmatic
But Antonio Conte turns a blind eye. For the Italian, it is all about winning – and he remains as pragmatic as Machiavelli.
He will invite any critics to look at a Premier League table which now shows Tottenham level on points with the second-placed reigning champions.
Demarai Gray should have scored when his blistering turn of pace from the halfway line left Rodrigo Bentancur looking like he was carrying home his shopping.
But Gray then lost his composure and blazed his shot over Hugo Lloris’ bar. Amadou Onana squandered an even better chance.
Everton paid £35million for the Belgian midfielder’s defensive attributes – but the fans who made the 200-mile trip to London had every right to expect better when he charged onto a mistake by Pierre-emile Hojbjerg to go clear.
Onana steadied himself as Lloris came to close the angle, but then took an ugly swipe to send the ball over.
Hojbjerg would later make amends for his error by scoring Tottenham’s second goal four minutes from time.
Conte might have raised an eyebrow when the midfielder burst forward to collect Bentancur’s cross.
But he was happy enough when Hojbjerg picked the right moment to find the top corner with a measured finish that flew past Pickford with the help of a deflection off Alex Iwobi’s knee.