Roy Hodgson was left to rue ‘exceptional’ strikes from Harry Kane and Gareth Bale as Crystal Palace were swept aside 4-1 by Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday night, as he told Football London.
Spurs may have been fearing that they would suffer the same fate as Brighton two weeks ago when Christian Benteke headed home a soaring equaliser on the stroke of half-time, completely against the run of play.
But while Brighton lacked the requisite ruthlessness to turn their dominance into goals, the same could not be said about a Spurs side who, for the first time, can call upon Gareth Bale, Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura at the peak of their powers.
Jose Mourinho’s side put Palace to bed seven minutes after the interval, with Bale powering in from Kane’s lay-off before the England international whipped a stunning, 25-yard rocket into the top corner.
“We did well to get back into the game – undone by two exceptional goals at the start of the second half,” Hodgson said at full-time.
“(Kane was) really good. The third goal that really killed us to some extent and took it beyond our reach – not that we didn’t keep trying.
“Harry has improved enormously, but that’s not surprising. In 2016, he and Dele Alli were stars but didn’t have the games, the experience, the international and Champions League experience.
“And Kane has added strings to his bow with this sort of retreating centre-forward role.”
Every single one of those strings was on show on Sunday, Kane scoring twice himself while serving up Bale’s second brace in three Premier League games on a silver platter.
In 36 games, arguably Europe’s most complete centre-forward has 24 goals and 16 assists to his name this season.
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