Mauricio Pochettino has had a go at TV pundits Ian Wright and Alan Shearer in the wake of Harry Kane’s injury setback according to an article in The Express
Poch believes Spurs’ punishing schedule is taking its toll with Kane the latest sidelined ahead of today’s trip to Manchester United with a hamstring injury.
However Pochettino also turned on Match of the Day pair Wright and Shearer who have routinely criticised him for replacing Kane late on in games.
Kane was rested in the 87th-minute of Spurs’ 4-0 win at Huddersfield last month, when he was on a hat trick, to leave former strikers Wright and Shearer bemused, however Pochettino bit back saying: “A few games ago, 10 minutes before the end, against Huddersfield at 4-0, I told him, ‘You must rest because you’re going to play two games on international duty.’
Poch continued “He said, ‘But gaffer, why am I not playing the last 10 minutes when I have scored two.’?
“I said you need to rest, you’re not a machine.
“Some people then said, ‘If I was Harry Kane, I’d go to see the gaffer and complain, I want a hat-trick, I’m competing with [Sergio] Aguero, [Romelu] Lukaku.’
“That adds more pressure to a player. It’s so difficult to make everyone happy.
“And then when something happens, who suffers? The player, the team and in the end, us. Because we’re now going to miss one of our best players.”
Pochettino will hope Fernando Llorente is ready to step out of Kane’s shadow after the Argentinian’s worst fears over his star striker’s fitness were confirmed. Kane will miss today’s game at Manchester United and now faces a fight to be fit for Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
Its actually nice to see a manager defend his decisions. Pundits analysis is good but the criticism sometimes borders on the disrespectful.
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