Jose Mourinho has hit back at Paul Merson after the Arsenal legend questioned whether Harry Kane was capable of producing his brilliant best in an underperforming Tottenham Hotspur team.
To compare the respective managerial styles of Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho is what the phrase ‘chalk and cheese’ was invented for.
On paper at least, England captain Kane might find chances harder to come by under a coach known around the globe as the Godfather of Pragmatism.
Arguably the most lethal striker in the Premier League certainly endured a day to forget in Friday night’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United, managing just one shot on goal and 36 touches.
In fact, you’d be forgiven for forgetting Kane was playing at all.
“When Jose took the job I worried for Harry Kane,” Merson told Soccer Saturday the next day. “He played under Pochettino and Tottenham sort of had a go wherever they went. There were goals, there were crosses, there were shots.
“[But now] he’s going to be playing up front on his own and it is going to be hard work. In the end he’s trying to hit 60-yard passes just to be involved in the game. That’s not Harry Kane.”
To say Mourinho disagrees, however, would be an understatement.
The two-time Champions League winner has used his pre-West Ham press conference to point out the perceived holes in Merson’s argument.
“So, dear Paul, I have lots of respect for you. I think Harry Kane has no problem at all to score goals in my teams, especially when he’s fit and fresh and has routines of playing,” Mourinho scowled.
“That’s my message to somebody I have lots of respect for.”
Mourinho has certainly made some rather baseless claims in recent years – who can forget the day he handed out a rather questionable list of 49 players he had apparently ‘promoted from academies’ during his managerial career, including an already fully-fledged Arjen Robben?
But maybe has a point here.
With seven goals in ten games, Kane was as lethal as ever in Mourinho’s Tottenham team before suffering a serious injury at the start of 2020. And perhaps Friday’s no-show was a fitness problem, rather than a tactical one.
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