‘Not an insignificant thing’ – Postecoglou comments on the impact of Harry Kane’s exit at Tottenham
Ange Postecoglou has praised his players for stepping up and delivering in front of goal so far this season to ensure that the loss of Harry Kane is not acutely felt.
When Tottenham lost their record goalscorer in the summer, many fans were concerned about where the goals would come from.
Some pundits suggested that the Lilywhites would even struggle to finish in the top half of the table this season without the England captain (Sky Sports).
However, Spurs have had no issues creating chances and finding the back of the net so far this season with their new-look, fluid, attack proving quite menacing.
Postecoglou admitted that the loss of a world-class striker was quite significant and praised the squad for not using that as an excuse.
(Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images)
No Harry Kane, no problem for Tottenham Hotspur
When asked about the impact of losing Kane, the Australian told Football.London: “Credit to the players for that because it’s not an insignificant thing. You can just see that Harry has gone and done it already. He’s a world-class striker.
“If he’s not the best he’s in the top three you know. So, when you lose somebody of that significance, it can have an impact, but the players have not used that as a crutch or an excuse.
“They’ve embraced it and said ‘Okay, we’ve just got to get on with it, our supporters are still coming to support us. They weren’t here supporting Harry, they were supporting Tottenham’. That’s for every football club. Fans support the club and clubs move on quickly and we have to move on quickly.
“There’s no point feeling sorry for ourselves. There was no doubt that the area that was gonna get highlighted if we struggled was if we didn’t score goals, because that was the obvious one. So it’s helped that the lads have embraced that part of our game, certainly being a part of the way I set the team up with threats in all different areas.”
Postecoglou admitted that it has been especially pleasing to see his side score different types of goals and for the goals to come from different sources.
He added: “It’s been great to see that our goals have come from different avenues – set pieces, counter-attacks, build-up play in the last minute to come from behind.
“So I think that’s been great, because it doesn’t allow that narrative that could have been very easy for it to run to say, well, if we hadn’t started well, and it was because of a lack of goals, they’d be saying, well, you know, we haven’t replaced Harry, but I think people are saying in the team that we’re playing in a certain way now where they’re more interested in seeing how this team develops rather than what’s missing.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Given the number of chances that we create each game under Postecoglou, I have no doubt that we will end up scoring more goals than we did last season despite losing Harry Kane.
