Gary Cahill has leapt to defend Harry Kane amid criticism of the striker’s use of his body, ahead of Tottenham’s meeting with Crystal Palace tomorrow.
The England international has come under scrutiny for the way in which he shields the ball.
Quite a few times, the Tottenham No.10 has backed into opponents while they’ve jumped for the ball, which results in them occasionally landing in awkward fashion.
We recently covered some Liverpool fans wanting Kane banned for this supposedly dangerous act of play.
However, Cahill – a vastly experienced Premier League centre-back – sees nothing wrong with it.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the former Chelsea man said: ‘I think that’s just part of football. Again I think an element of that is being clever and experience and knowing when you can maybe draw a foul in.
‘I’ve seen it numerous times when I was with England and training with Harry, that he just uses his body well. I think (Heung-Min) Son does the same – they use their body very well. They put their body in between the ball and yourself and any sort of contact, they know that potentially there could be fouls in and around the box.’
In truth, the Eagles defender is spot on.
Using your body to shield the ball and win fouls is part of football. Of course, it would be very unfortunate if an opponent fell awkwardly and injured themselves.
However, that simply couldn’t be blamed on Kane, who is doing nothing that isn’t already in the rulebook.
It will be interesting to see if the Spurs talisman tries his trademark trick on Cahill tomorrow when Jose Mourinho’s men travel to Selhurst Park.
If the 34-year-old happened to get injured after falling awkwardly himself as a result of the much-criticised act, it would be intriguing to hear his thoughts on the same situation after full-time!
Let’s see what the Tottenham fans on Twitter have been saying about Cahill’s comments…
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