OPINION
Mauricio Pochettino is rightly a feted and in-demand manager whose transformation of Tottenham has made him a hero among fans.
But the Argentine should look in the mirror rather than up towards the heavens when reflecting on who is to blame for Harry Kane’s devastating ankle injury.
Spurs confirmed on Tuesday evening their goal king will not return to training until early March as he faces two months out with damaged ligaments, a repeat of an injury sustained in each of the previous three seasons.
Kane’s breakdown at Wembley on Sunday was an absolutely inevitable one.
He has been overplayed by Pochettino this season and run into the ground, when he needed occasionally resting for his own good.
The England skipper has started 21 of Spurs’ 22 league matches (he came off the bench in the other one), all six of their Champions League games as well as his first League Cup start in three years.
Perversely, in a move that had even Lilywhites raging, Kane was brought on as a late substitute in Spurs’ FA Cup hammering of Tranmere Rovers when his side were already 6-0 up.
Pochettino has now paid the price for baffling and counter-productive over-use of his main man after failing to follow the example he set with his other senior players, all of whom have been rested and taken out of the side at various points to recharge their batteries.
The manager clearly feels Kane is the one player he can’t do without.
Well, Spurs will now have to get accustomed to not being able to call upon their talisman as their season and chances of glory hang by a thread.