Pochettino admits to fears for Kane over ankle injury
Tottenham striker faces scan after twisting joint Revived Pogba acclaims new role under Solskjaer
Tottenham Hotspur are facing a potential striker crisis after Harry Kane suffered a major injury scare at the end of the defeat by Manchester United.
Kane, who was denied by United goalkeeper David de Gea several times, was injured by a challenge from Phil Jones in the final seconds.
An injury to their top scorer could not come at a worse time for Mauricio Pochettino, the Spurs manager, who is also losing Son Heung-min to international duty with South Korea at the Asian Cup.
Pochettino confirmed Kane had suffered a twisted ankle and would have a scan to determine the extent of the damage. The 25-year-old has a history of such injuries.
“He suffered a big tackle and twisted his ankle,” Pochettino said. “We need to assess him. It wasn’t the intention of the United player, but it was a bad tackle and now he [Kane] has swelling on his ankle and he was limping after the game.
“We are going to lose Son for the Asian Cup and if Harry Kane suffers an injury, it is going to be massive for us.
“The last years have been a test of the squad and I never complained. We’ll recover players and we’ll be competitive, like we have been. We’ll try to find the way to play if we lose both of them. Hopefully, it won’t be a big issue.”
Moussa Sissoko was forced out of the defeat at the end of the first half but Pochettino sounded more optimistic over the fitness of the midfielder, saying: “Moussa was not serious, a small thing in his groin.”
Having seen his team beaten by a first-half Marcus Rashford goal, Pochettino hailed Tottenham’s sec- ond-half display as the best of his time in charge.
Spurs were denied by 11 secondhalf saves from De Gea, who described the six successive victories and improved performances under caretaker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as “the real Manchester United”.
On the performance of De Gea, Solskjaer said: “He should’ve held a few of them! There were one or two fantastic saves and the rest of it was about concentration. We’ve had some great goalkeepers and he’s challenging Edwin [van der Sar] and Peter [Schmeichel] for the No1 spot historically.”
Paul Pogba, who has been rejuvenated under Solskjaer, appeared to take a swipe at former United manager Jose Mourinho by revealing he was now enjoying his football again.
“I like to be more attacking, I had to defend too much before and that is not my best attribute,” Pogba said. “This is my position. The manager tells me to get into the box and score goals. The best example is Frank Lampard.”
The game against Tottenham had been billed as the first real test of Solskjaer’s management and an indicator of whether United should consider him as a permanent successor to Mourinho over top target Pochettino.
But both managers dismissed any wider significance to the result, with Solskjaer saying: “This game was never about me and him. For us, it’s three points.
“We had to beat them today if we had a chance to catch them. Seven points is catchable, 13 would have been impossible. I’m just doing my job every single day until my contract runs out at the end of June.”
Pochettino added: “Today was Tottenham against Manchester United, it’s not ethical to talk about what he’s doing or what I am doing. You can only talk about the game.
“It was a battle between Tottenham and United. If not, we have to play him and me, one on one. Then me against [Claudio] Ranieri and then me against [Maurizio] Sarri! Come on. It’s about the quality of the teams.”