Antonio Conte heaped reward on Harry Kane for the essential function he performed in guaranteeing Tottenham completed the primary half of the season within the Premier League prime 4 and revealed he will probably be backing the England captain to go all the best way in Qatar.
World Cup-bound Kane struck his thirteenth purpose of the marketing campaign to assist Spurs edge a seven-goal thriller with Leeds, which noticed them return to successful methods on dwelling turf for the primary time since October 15.
A tough interval of 13 matches in 43 days has seen Tottenham largely wrestle for consistency however Rodrigo Bentancur’s late double ensured they concluded this gruelling spell with a dramatic 4-3 win.
All eyes had been on Kane forward of kick-off given this was his twenty second consecutive begin of the marketing campaign and his membership boss had revealed he was “very, very drained” throughout Wednesday’s Carabao Cup exit at Nottingham Forest however the hitman added one other purpose to his tally and performed the complete 90 minutes.
Conte insisted: “I’ve to be trustworthy and I believe on this interval, particularly the final 13 video games, Harry performed a extremely essential function.
“If we end this era within the prime 4 and to have qualification for the subsequent spherical of the Champions League, we have now to position lots on Harry as a result of on this interval we had many accidents however accidents up entrance.
“We misplaced (Dejan) Kulusevski and he solely performed this recreation. Then we misplaced Richarlison and with out Lucas Moura from the beginning was troublesome. Sonny additionally struggled a bit at the beginning of the season. I believe Harry actually deserves nice reward.
“He’s all the time an essential participant, however on this interval I believe a whole lot of weight was on his shoulders and he performed in a unbelievable means. Now he’s arriving to play the World Cup with nice enthusiasm, in bodily situation and in my view he’s mentally stronger than earlier than.
“I see a participant that’s prepared and I see in his eyes the need to be a protagonist in the most effective competitors on the planet within the World Cup.”
Kane fired dwelling within the twenty fifth minute after turning Tyler Adams inside the world to cancel out Crysencio Summerville’s early opener earlier than a back-and-forth second interval occurred.
As soon as the mud had settled, former Italy worldwide Conte was capable of reveal he would turn out to be an England fan for the subsequent month.
“I believe Harry feels a whole lot of accountability as a result of he’s the captain of England,” Conte added.
“I contemplate England to be probably the greatest groups on the planet, one of many candidates to have an essential match. Because of this, I do know he needs to play a tremendous match.
“I want for him the most effective and for England as a result of Italy isn’t taking part in within the World Cup and because of this I can turn out to be a supporter of England!”
Reverse quantity Jesse Marsch was livid Kane’s effort was allowed to face after Illan Meslier had collided with Richarlison and Clement Lenglet from Ivan Perisic’s nook.
Rodrigo’s wonderful double had put Leeds 3-2 up with 14 minutes left in N17, after Ben Davies’ effort had compelled an personal purpose from Meslier after half-time.
Marsch was pissed off that, not for the primary time this season, his aspect weren’t capable of maintain onto their benefit after squandering three leads at Tottenham.
He admitted: “I’d say we have now encapsulated our 16-game season in a single match.
“Moments that had been actually good the place we had been on prime and in management. Then moments the place we had been weak and make straightforward errors that at this degree you possibly can’t make since you get punished.
“Clearly, I all the time strive to take a look at the positives and I actually like a whole lot of the issues we’re capable of accomplish however it’s simply in a whole lot of moments after we’re in charge of the matches, we simply can’t appear to remain in management.”
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