talkSPORT host Adrian Durham has slammed Mauricio Pochettino and accused him of “bad management” over his treatment of Harry Kane.
Talking on Drivetime (talkSPORT, Tuesday, 6pm) Durham said that Pochettino should never have started Kane in the Champions League final, adding that Man City manager Pep Guardiola would never have played him if he wasn’t 100% fit.
“He’s put him straight back in the Champions League final and it’s just bad management,” Durham said.
“There’s a reason why Tottenham lost these games and it’s bad management. Do you honestly think that Pep would have treated Kane like Pochettino did?
“I’m not desperate for him [Kane] to leave. I’m just thinking in terms of getting the best out of him and prolonging his career, isn’t it better for him to have more recovery time? It’s the same for England as well. He shouldn’t even have gone to Portugal.”
OPINION
Harry Kane is a unique player and when he’s fit he plays, it’s as simple as that. For what it’s worth we don’t think that Kane should have started in the Champions League final, but for Pochettino it was a case of damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. The only way that Pochettino would have come out of the Champions League final without criticism is if they’d beaten Liverpool, and that was always going to be a tough ask, Kane or no Kane. However, a semi-fit Kane is generally a negative force on the Tottenham team. There’s even an argument that Spurs might be better off cashing in and using the money to fund some new purchases. Pochettino could get two world-class strikers for the money he’d get for Kane, but it probably wouldn’t go down well with the fans, unless Spurs went on to win the Premier League. It’s a problem that other managers would love to have but Pochettino must find a way to crack the problem.