Journalist reveals which youngster Hart was constantly talking to during Birmingham win

Football.London’s Alasdair Gold was one of the few journalists in attendance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last Saturday as Jose Mourinho’s men went up against Birmingham City in their third pre-season friendly.

Spurs struggled to break down the Championship outfit for the majority of the match and needed a moment of magic from Steven Bergwijn in the final few minutes to keep their 100 per cent record alive in pre-season.

Gold has revealed a couple of interesting tidbits from the game which fans streaming the match would have likely missed out on.

Firstly, he divulged that Joe Hart tried his best to get Jack Clarke’s confidence up by constantly encouraging and talking to the youngster.

Clarke was one of a number of young players who started the game for the home side but the winger struggled to get into the game during the first half.

Gold said that the experienced goalkeeper at one point shouted at Clarke: “Show them what you can do Jack”.

Meanwhile, the journalist also revealed that Harry Kane did not emerge from the tunnel after the second half.

The striker has not been involved in any of Tottenham’s pre-season friendlies so far after he had needed to isolate following his holiday to the Bahamas.

However, despite being named among the substitutes on Saturday and warming up with his teammates, the striker did not get any minutes under his belt and did not even take his place on the bench after half-time.

Spurs Web Opinion

The situation with Kane does not seem to be anything serious. In fact, given that he has not withdrawn from the England squad unlike Winks, it is not likely to be an injury. Regarding Joe Hart, it is extremely noticeable how vocal he is when compared to Paulo Gazzaniga. His tendency to constantly communicate with the backline is perhaps one of the reasons Jose could use him as the second choice ahead of the Argentine, although it remains to be seen how his shot-stopping matches up.

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