MY ACCOUNT
Tottenham head coach Antonio Conte is desperate to help Harry Kane win a trophy with the club because he believes success will give his records more validity.
Kane scored Spurs’ winning goal in Monday’s 1-0 victory at Fulham, with his strike seeing him equal Jimmy Greaves’ goals record for the club.
The England striker now has 266 for Spurs, with just one more enough to write his name in the club’s history books.
But, Kane, 29, is yet to win a trophy with Tottenham, who last enjoyed success in the EFL Cup 15 years ago.
The atmosphere around Spurs has been poor lately following chastening defeats to Manchester City and rivals Arsenal, but Conte is trying to focus on the positives.
“For sure, I would like to help him and me, also his team-mates, to try to do something important, to win something with Tottenham because he loves Tottenham,” Conte told reporters.
“Tottenham is in his heart and it should be good if together we were able to win something, because then it is important to have this record, but I think it could be more important if you win a trophy.”
Conte also revealed Kane’s match-winning display came despite him not being 100 per cent.
“Today he was amazing,” Conte added. “I think he scored a fantastic goal, the execution, to control the ball, then to kick it in that way, only a world-class striker can score this goal.
“About the spirit that I spoke before, I want to underline Harry played with a fever and he was not so good [in terms of condition], but he wanted to play because he understood the moment.
“He understood he is a point of reference for us, for me, for the other players and, with Hugo [Lloris], they are the two players who are a point of reference for the dressing room. Today I am really happy because I think he was rewarded with a goal.”
Conte’s hope of winning a trophy with Kane remains a fair way off, however.
While they are into the last 16 of the Champions League, success in Europe would be a massive shock.
Domestically they are 14 points adrift of Premier League leaders Arsenal, whom they have also played two games more than, and they were knocked out of the EFL Cup in November.
The FA Cup – which pits them against Preston North End on Saturday – represents their only realistic hope of a trophy this season, and Conte is urging his players to have belief.
“I think that we have to be dreamers,” he said. “I spoke to the players and said today has to be a starting point for us.
“Often in the defeats you can learn more than in a win. After the games against City and especially Arsenal, it was important to make good reflections with my players and know that we lost something from last season, not offensively but we lost something defensively.
“When I pick defensively, I want to involve the whole team, so for this reason I spoke to all the players to show me the resilience, the desire to defend the result. I have intelligent players, smart players and good men and I think today that they gave me a good answer. It has to be a starting point.
“On Saturday we want to go to the next round [of the FA Cup]. To go away to a Championship team is not easy, but to be a dreamer we have to know this is an important game for us.
“The FA Cup can be important for us, and the Champions League and 17 games to go in the Premier League. If I see this unity, we have time to have another good season.”
