Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has urged everybody to stop talking about Harry Kane’s dip in goalscoring form.
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“The striker sometimes needs confidence and trust and maybe he has lost his confidence a little bit”, Pochettino said.
Harry Kane, Ryan Mason and Danny Rose have all received debut call-ups under Pochettino’s guidance, but the Argentine has warned against rushing Alli to follow suit.
“I think he is the same person and he has the same mentality as last season“.
After his 21-goal Premier League campaign, the 22-year-old played for England at the Euro Under-21 Championship, where he also failed to score. “It’s (England manager) Roy Hodgson’s decision if he wants to call up Dele Alli“. He has a great personality and good character.
“It was easy when he scored to talk about him but now maybe the confidence he needs…but this is football”.
“This is why last season towards to the end we always in our press conferences tried to explain that last season for Harry Kane was very, very hard”, said the head coach.
The striker is yet to score in six outings in the Premier League, and despite registering a shots-per-game ratio of 3.5 (more than last season) he has appeared lethargic and somewhat short of the quality that saw him make such an excellent impression last term.
However, Pochettino is not a big fan of such a suggestion and stressed the importance of handling the progress of young players carefully, so that they are not under too much pressure, too early.
But his ratio dropped a little as he added two goals in his last nine games of the season for Spurs, and he has struggled for the Lilywhites at the start of the current campaign. “All strikers need to score but it’s only [a matter of] time, I think the goal is coming”.
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Pochettino also revealed that Alex Pritchard had continued to feel the effects of the serious ankle injury he suffered when playing for England at the Under-21 championship. Manchester City will be lifted by the return of inspirational captain Vincent Kompany as they bid to reassert their authority this weekend. You can improve and realise who are your people and the people who can help you. There is not just one reason for it. “That is why I say it is important to have a squad because you are going to win or lose the title by just one or two points”. It was a very bad injury. “Normally the difference is not more”.
