FA chief Glenn blames Spurs for Kane drought
Date published: Sunday 27th September 2015 4:00
Tottenham’s end-of-season tour was the culprit for Harry Kane’s goal drought at Spurs, not his participation in the European Under-21 Championships, says FA chief executive Martin Glenn.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino said on Friday that Kane’s slow start to the new season could at least partly be explained by him representing England Under-21s over the summer.
“I think Harry is the same person and he has the same mentality as last season,” Pochettino said. “But at the end of the season, he rested, he went to the Euros and he didn’t score at the Euros in three games.
“He came back late for pre-season and then you need to recover the time. Sometimes you are not in the best scoring condition when you start to play and you don’t score and your confidence goes down.”
Kane ended his Premier League goal drought with the third in
Tottenham’s 4-1 win over Emirates Marketing Project on Saturday, with England boss Roy Hodgson watching on from the stands.
Glenn believes Tottenham, who included Kane on an end-of-season tour to Asia and Australia, should look closer to home when looking for an answer to the striker’s early-season struggles.
“It was great to see Harry score and the performances I have seen have certainly merited that reward,” Glenn said.
“A number of our young players are thriving in the league, having played in the summer Under-21 tournament, although they didn’t all embark on commercial tours of the Far East with their clubs, as Harry had to with Spurs.
“International tournament experience is vital for our young players. Every nation to have won a major tournament can trace their success back to their development teams. We need to respect and recognise the importance of playing for England and the great benefits it can bring to young players.”
Kane was delighted to get back on the scoresheet against City but insisted he had never lost confidence during the lean patch.
“There’s been a lot of talk that I haven’t been scoring but I am a confident young man and I have faith in my ability,” Kane said.
“The ball bounced just in front of me and I just tried to get good contact; it wasn’t the easiest chance. You need a bit of luck and it’s just nice to get on the scoresheet.
“As a striker you want to be scoring. When you aren’t you get a bit moody but I stayed professional and there’s a bigger picture than just me; it’s the team.
“Some people wrote us off because we are a young team but a lot of us were here last year and with a few new faces we are really excited. But we can’t get carried away.”
The FA want to have their cake and eat it. Used him in the under 21 tournament then also for senior squad. Who cares about burn out. Seeing as he was our stand out player last season of course we will want him to do promotional work for the club that pays his wages.