Tottenham may have made a dashing start to the season despite the soap opera surrounding Harry Kane but students of fable all know it is the tortoise and not the hare that wins the race in the end.
Which is just fine as far as Nuno Espirito Santo is concerned as the Spurs manager is convinced that he and chairman Daniel Levy have between them created a protective “shield” under which his team can prosper.
Tottenham host Watford tomorrow having already beaten spurned Kane suitors Manchester City and their manager’s former club Wolves in the Premier League as well as reaching the Uefa Europa Conference League group stages.
City manager Pep Guardiola was sarcasm personified in admitting his club could find no way past “big master of negotiations” Levy over Kane, and Espirito Santo stated he was “very, very happy” to be protected by such a carapace.
“That’s what the shield is used for,” he said of Levy’s single-minded stonewalling. “We have been able to deal well with outside things by creating a shield that protects us,” he added. “We did it by creating a simple rule: common sense.
“Common sense says that what is happening outside you cannot control. Common sense says your expectations cannot be based on what other people think. This is creating a shield that respects dialogue but keeps what we think and what we say here.”
Kane has already been welcomed back into the fold with two goals against Paços Ferreira on Thursday fewer than 24 hours after he declared himself committed once again to “helping the team achieve success”.
Lifting a freshly-moulded Conference League trophy would be a success of sorts, if not the kind that Kane craves, but a group stage draw that paired Spurs with Rennes, Vitesse Arnhem and Slovenian champions NS Mura, whose ground capacity is 3,782, did not seem to excite Espirito Santo particularly. “We will compete,” he said.
The new competition hands the winner automatic entry to next season’s Europa League group stages unless they have already qualified for the Champions League.
The protracted wrangling over Kane, Romelu Lukaku’s triumphant return to Chelsea and the sudden availability of both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo this summer has set up a narrative that this will be the season of the superstar striker, and Tottenham, in keeping Kane, certainly have one of those. Espirito Santo would not be drawn on the prospect of a top-four finish in his debut campaign however.
“I don’t make any kind of predictions,” he said. “I’m a very, very simple person – I go day by day.”
Defenders Joe Rodon and Cameron Carter-Vickers are injured and Tanguy Ndombele remains unavailable as he seeks a move elsewhere. Moussa Sissoko has moved to Watford in a £5m deal and could even face his old team on Sunday.
Kane, a new contract offer having been dangled in front of him and then withdrawn, will start for the first time this season. “It’s not only about Harry, it’s about our squad,” said Espirito Santo.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3yjAtpz
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