‘A real tough time’ – Spurs legend claims Kane is not ‘leading by example’

Teddy Sheringham has claimed that Tottenham need other leaders in their midfield and backline to step up now that Harry Kane is not leading by example.

Spurs fans would have been hoping that Kane had put his poor run of form behind him after he scored his first Premier League goal of the season in Tottenham’s 3-2 win over Newcastle last week.

However, the striker’s struggles continued against West Ham as he hardly threatened the Hammers backline during the ninety minutes.

Tottenham’s 1-0 loss on Sunday was their fourth straight London derby defeat this season after previously being beaten by Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Arsenal. The performance and results leave plenty of questions for Nuno Espirito Santo to ponder over.

Sheringham believes that the main issue at Spurs has to do with a lack of leadership throughout the team, particularly now that Kane is not firing.

The 52-year-old suggested that he is not a fan of having centre-forwards as a side’s main leader as they cannot influence the game in the same way midfielders and defenders can.

Speaking on behalf of 888Sport, Sherwood said: “I think it’s a real tough time for Tottenham.

“When you have a striker who is also the captain like Harry Kane, he leads by example rather than telling everyone what to do, like a centre-half would or a central midfielder. That’s a very different scenario.

“They need a leader at the back or in midfield to dominate and dictate and tell people what they’re doing wrong.

“I’m really not a lover of a centre-forward being the captain and he’s not performing at the best of his capabilities either at the moment. So he’s not even leading by example.”

Spurs Web Opinion

While Lloris is of course the Tottenham captain, Sherwood’s point is a reasonable one. In fact, even Hugo is not the most vocal of captains and prefers to lead by example.

Hojbjerg and Dier are the only other natural leaders we have in the side and they certainly need to take control and help the team come out of this tricky spell.

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