José Mourinho praised the “special” impact of Harry Kane after the striker’s second match-winning performance of the week brought two goals against Leicester and gave Tottenham a significant boost in their chase for a Europa League spot.
Kane had scored twice at Newcastle on Wednesday and his latest pair came alongside a marvellous ball to Son Heung-min for the opening goal in Spurs’ 3-0 win. Kane has now scored 23 goals in club football during a season that appeared to be over when he tore a hamstring at Southampton on New Year’s Day.
“Everybody thinks – I think, you think – he’s a fantastic player, and Tottenham is so lucky to have him because he is the player and the person and the Tottenham boy,” Mourinho said. “All this together makes him a really special player for us who probably wouldn’t be so special playing for another team. He’s really special for us and we want him to be happy. He wants victories and he wants to score goals.
“I’m so happy that after such a difficult injury it’s going in a direction where he will end this season perfectly, and he will take that into next season.”
Spurs have now taken 13 points from five games and the 3-1 humbling at Sheffield United on 2 July appears something of a watershed. “The team is being a team,” Mourinho said. “Even against Sheffield we were a team – a bad team but a team. I think the team is understanding better the principles of playing how we want to do, and I think it is a good step.”
Mourinho explained in detail that he had sought to allow Leicester’s centre-backs, in particular Ryan Bennett and Wes Morgan, to advance with the ball and move out of their “comfort zone”, with the expectation Spurs could exploit the space behind. It worked perfectly and Brendan Rodgers, who may yet lead Leicester to the Champions League with a victory against Manchester United on Sunday, was left to lament a performance he felt was “a little bit leggy” at times.
“There was an opportunity for us and we didn’t quite take it,” he said of a match in which Leicester had 71% of possession. “There’ll be disappointment but we go into a game next week with a shot at qualifying for the Champions League. If we don’t do it there’ll be bitter disappointment but there’ll always be gratification for what the players have given.”