IIt feels like a small point in the story of Tottenham’s increasingly volatile season, in which the successes seem to buy only temporary breathing space and the setbacks immediately fall for any momentum, but it’s one that speaks to the apocalyptic fear among the fanbase.
What does Harry Kane make of it all? The answer is that we do not know and that is because the team’s talisman has stopped talking to the media.
It’s not meant to sound like a journalist’s bickering. The reason for mentioning it is because it is so out of character. In every season of his career so far, Kane has regularly thought his mind before or after the game. In essence, he is a good person who likes to make contact with fans in the press, even in difficult times – which is always a sign of character.
Not anymore. The matter was clearly seen when Kane evaded the duties of the media during the international break in November, which is very unusual for an English captain. And so it went on at Spurs. The pandemic affected the access granted to journalists, but it did not give Kane any success. Surely he should break coverage during the upcoming international window?
It was impossible to ignore the suspicion that Kane had maintained a low profile because he did not want to be asked on the spot, to face questions he might be struggling to answer honestly. Or, more precisely, a specific question. This is the one that has been watching him this past season, but is now pushing with greater urgency and discomfort. With his 28th birthday in July, does he think he should leave Spurs to realize his ambitions?
The club’s position is that Kane is not for sale. In addition, the chairman, Daniel Levy, is in charge with a contract until 2024. Everyone knows that an agreement with Levy was virtually signed in blood. But, at least, there was enough for Kane to think about when he stepped off the field on Thursday night after 120 mental illness minutes in the Europa League extra time off at Dinamo Zagreb. Ditto, José Mourinho.
There is a reason why the crisis always comes faster for Mourinho than other managers. This is because the result can often feel like the only thing with him. Mourinho immediately brings trophies to clubs and then he leaves. There is never the idea that he will form a group for the longer term, possibly with young players. He borrowed most of it from Spurs.
The style of play is built to win first and entertain second, although it is honestly optional. The way Mourinho analyzes matches is clinical. He does not care about possession statistics, areas of action or expected goals. For him, it is purely about great opportunities being created. If his team can do it once or twice at the right time – and ideally score – then nothing else matters.
The result is that when the result is not there, Mourinho has little to fall back on and when the attitude is also not there, as in Zagreb and in the derby defeat on Sunday at Arsenal, it leads to questions about the end. of the road has been reached.
Kane remained silent Thursday night, but the captain, Hugo Lloris, did not. In a touching interview with BT Sport, he exposed his frustrations and two things stood out. First was Mourinho’s message to attack Dinamo and not sit back on the 2-0 lead on the first leg. “But the opposite happened,” Lloris said. And secondly that there are players, mainly from the team, who do not give everything, presumably because they are disillusioned.
This has led to a damaging lack of togetherness, to players hiding – to borrow the word Mourinho used after the Arsenal game – and to leaving the responsibility to only a handful of stalwarts.
“One thing is to come in front of the camera and say, ‘I’m ambitious,'” Lloris said. ‘The other thing is to show [it] every day in training sessions and to show up on the field every time. If you follow the team only when you are in the starting XI, it causes big problems for the team because you are paying. We had a wonderful moment in the past because we could trust the togetherness in the team. Today I’m not sure about that.
‘On the bench there is an influence to push the other. In workouts the same. Everyone should be ready to help the team when the moment arrives. It’s not just about staying on the sidelines and complaining. ”
It’s very worrying to think that Mourinho’s message does not get through because players do not listen, or to take it to the extreme, they do not want to hear; they do not want to play for him. When this happens, it tends to lead to only one thing.
Managing a group rather than just a start-XI is fundamental and it’s a constructive feeling when a reserve can increase. Evidence of Thomas Tuchel’s joy and the joy of everyone at Chelsea when Emerson Palmieri was on the points ladder as a substitute from the 89th minute to score in their Champions League victory against Atlético Madrid on Wednesday night. Every player has to find the motivation from within, but it is the manager who sets the tone.
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Spurs go to Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday night, but the match that surrounded Mourinho in his diary is the final against Carabao Cup on April 25. Win it – no matter how unlikely it seems at the moment – and he would have delivered again. However, would that be enough, especially if the Champions League qualifier eluded the club again?
And so the tension bubbles. Kane wants more than that, so does Son Heung-min, who has yet to sign his new contract, so does Levy, so does everyone. It was left to Joe Hart, the reserve goalkeeper, to provide a moment of slight relief when he had to apologize for a post accidentally sent from his Instagram account. ‘Job done’, reads the aftermath of the 3-0 defeat against Dinamo. If only it were that way.