With Harry Kane ruled out against Man United, Shaka Hislop sifts through the other options at Mauricio Pochettino's disposal. Don Hutchison discusses how Spurs will cope at Old Trafford without their main man, Harry Kane. Mauricio Pochettino believes that whilst Harry Kane's injury is a huge loss, Tottenham have enough quality in the squad to beat Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Earlier this month, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola referred to Spurs as "the Harry Kane team". It's fair to say that these comments weren't well received by those at the club and Tottenham now have the perfect opportunity to prove them wrong. Their star striker will miss Saturday's trip to Old Trafford to take on Manchester United with a hamstring injury picked up in the dying minutes of the 4-1 win against Liverpool.
Kane has been in sublime form of late and there's no getting away from the fact that Spurs will miss him. When fit he's the first name on Mauricio Pochettino's team sheet. But Tottenham have been here before. Last season, Kane was out for 10 games early last season and during that period Spurs lost just two. Not a bad run for a so called "one man team".
Manchester United Tottenham Hotspur 11:30 AM UTC Game Details Home: 23/20 Draw: 12/5 Away: 14/5 Odds from bet365 bet365 PickCenter GameCast Lineups and Stats
Dele Alli, Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksen stood up to supply the goals in Kane's absence and the manager will be expecting more of the same from them this time round. This year he also has the firepower of Fernando Llorente as backup. Even though the striker has yet to score for Spurs, he has already looked a bigger goal threat than Vincent Janssen did last season.
Even so, the Spaniard is not guaranteed a place in the starting XI. Though Kane's injury being more serious than was originally reported might explain Pochettino's seemingly baffling decision to substitute Llorente when Spurs were 3-2 down against West Ham in Wednesday night's Carabao Cup game, the manager may well prefer to start with the fit-again Mousa Dembele alongside Harry Winks in midfield instead. After three consecutive losses at Old Trafford, Pochettino won't be taking any chances.
Kane's injury has understandably rather overshadowed the dismal second-half performance against West Ham. For a team that wants to be taken seriously as Premier league title contenders, to concede three goals so abjectly to a team that was struggling with form and confidence is unforgivable. The only small comfort is that the defeat happened in a game of comparatively little importance. If you're going to have a bad game, it's best to get it out of your system in the least important competition.
Yet Spurs would do well not to minimise the significance of the loss to West Ham. It should come as a salutary wake up call to both the manager and the team that they do have weaknesses. In recent weeks, it's seemed like every decision that Pochettino has made has turned to gold. Against Real Madrid in the Champions League, his unexpected decision to play Llorente confused the home team and helped secure a valuable draw. Against Liverpool in the Premier League, the manager picked Serge Aurier to play out of position at left-back to combat the pace of Mohamed Salah. After an awkward first half, Aurier played Salah out of the game in the second.
Spurs will miss Harry Kane on Saturday but can draw on the positive that they coped fairly well without him last season.
But Pochettino came up short against West Ham. While he was always likely to make a large number of changes in the side for a Carabao Cup game, he still picked a team that looked plenty good enough to win on paper. Indeed up 2-0 at half-time, Spurs were doing so comfortably enough on the pitch. The second half, though, exposed the manager's one familiar failing. When things are going wrong on the pitch, Pochettino is all too often too slow to react.
The fans could see that changes needed to be made when West Ham equalised. The manager for some reason couldn't. It was clear to everyone that Danny Rose was a passenger for much of the second half. Though it had been in Pochettino's mind to give the left-back some easy game time by slotting him in out of position in midfield, Rose needed to be withdrawn long before the 80th minute as he was clearly far from match-fit. Bringing on Eriksen on the hour mark would both have given the Dane more time to make an impact and given Spurs some much needed power and creativity in midfield.
The West Ham defeat should also give the players pause for thought. They believed they had the game won and started cruising. Their football became casual and their intensity dropped. And once the game started slipping away from them after Michel Vorm had failed to hold on to a sharp shot, they were unable to reverse the slide. Concentration isn't something that can always be switched on at will. It is a skill that has to be learned. When a team starts chasing the game, its play often becomes even more ragged as players become edgy. The secret is not to switch off in the first place. Something that Spurs were reminded of to their cost.
Tottenham go to Old Trafford with something to prove. That they are not "the Harry Kane team" and that their midweek defeat was a one-off blip. It won't be easy but Spurs should be relishing the opportunity. Far better to prove a point against a top club that will want to play football than face lesser opposition intent on putting 10 men behind the ball. Manchester United have a 100 percent home record. Spurs have a 100 percent away record. Something is going to have to give on Saturday.
John Crace is one of ESPN FC's Tottenham bloggers. Follow him on Twitter @JohnJCrace.
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Source: espn.co.uk