The Tottenham captain, Harry Kane has outlined Jose Mourinho’s blueprint that enabled them to grab victory over Manchester City.
Harry Kane is developing far beyond being a goal-scorer for the week 9 Premier League leaders, Tottenham. The captain is now more than a striker and without his commitment, tactical know-how, and flexibility, it would have been difficult for Spurs to execute Mourinho’s game plan against Manchester City.
Tottenham were comprehensive winners against City who had their moments of flair and craft coupled with struggles to penetrate Spurs’ forceful defense. Crucial to everything, Kane who started as the central striker was all over the pitch.
He was either dropping deep as a playmaker or auxiliary defensive midfielder. This was exemplified by the fact his three tackles were second in Spurs team behind defensive midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and right-back Serge Aurier.
Just like Kane revealed after the match, Spurs set up a frustrating 90 minutes for Manchester City.
He said, “fantastic performance. We knew obviously it was going to be a tough game and City is a great team who use the ball really well”.
“Holding up the ball, especially when you’re under the cosh a bit; winning fouls, being strong and trying to bring others into play. On the counter, if I’m the one dropping deep then I know I’ve for runners in behind”.
“We had a game plan to defend as a unit, in that mid-block and sometimes it went into a low-block but I thought everyone worked their socks off”.
“We took our chances. Sonny-with a great finish early on and we knew then in the second half that the chances would be available. Thankfully, we tool one towards the end. We knew if I was going to drop quite deep then the center-halves would come quite tight and Sonny and Stevey could run in behind. And that was the perfect example of the first goal”.
“We probably defended a little bit too deep than what we would have liked. We spoke at half-time and then took our chances on the counter-attack”.
“There Is Plenty of Room for Improvement”
Tottenham may be unbeaten in the Premier League since the opening day of the season. However, Kane still insists there is plenty of room for improvement as momentum and confidence builds in the team.
He said, “it’s a season where you’ve got to do all it takes to win the games. Part of my job is to work hard for the team, win tackles, score goals, and get assists. But I enjoy defending”.
“The feeling now after the game once you’ve put in a great shift, there’s no better. We’ll enjoy it but we know we’ve got a long way to go”.
“We’re doing well. I still think there are parts of our seasons that we can improve on. It’s not just the top six who are going to be tough. Leeds, Wolves, Everton and Leicester are teams we are yet to play. Whoever can put a good spell together has a chance of winning it”.