Former Ireland captain Kenny Cunningham has claimed that Harry Kane is ineffective in pressing the opposition and suggested that the Tottenham striker is physically incapable of closing down defenders.
Kane has scored 21 goals in the Premier League this season, but Tottenham once again failed to see out the win against Southampton. The Spurs were up 3-1, but the Saints came back to salvage a draw. Following the game, Tottenham manager Antonio Conte did not hold back in his post-match press conference, accusing his players of being selfish and playing for themselves instead of the team.
There are reports that the Italian could lose his job on the back of that rant, with Daniel Levy expected to ask the 53-year-old to leave the club this week.
Cunningham believes that Kane may have been one of the players that Conte was talking about in his press conference. The pundit noted that the striker was walking around instead of closing down the Southampton defenders during the game.
Cunningham said: “It’s too easy to look at Kane and say that he’s doing his stuff. He does his stuff in and around the penalty box, but is he doing his stuff out of possession when Spurs don’t have the ball? I would argue he’s not, and he hasn’t been for quite some time. I’m not sure physically he can do it.”
The former Ireland captain believes that Kane’s ability to press defenders has dropped off, and he thinks that it has been happening for some time now. He said that Kane was walking around instead of closing down defenders, and he has seen this behavior all season and last season as well.