OPINION
Mark Lawrenson is spot on to suggest that Mauricio Pochettino making a mistake by starting Harry Kane against Liverpool wasn’t to blame for Tottenham’s 2-0 loss on Saturday.
The BBC pundit analysed Spurs’ disappointing defeat in the Champions League final and admitted that he thought the Argentinian had made a mistake with the Tottenham forward.
“Starting Harry Kane was a mistake because he looked a long way short of sharpness,” wrote Lawrenson on BBC Sport’s website.
“You can be injury free but you are still not match fit if, like him, you have not played a game for more than seven weeks.”
However Lawrenson then explained why playing Kane wasn’t the reason why Spurs missed out on lifting their first piece of silverware in years.
“You cannot pin Tottenham’s defeat on the decision to play him, though. The whole team did not deliver in the final third, and Kane had no service whatsoever,” added the pundit.
“Even if Lucas Moura had started instead, I don’t think it would have changed the outcome. If you can’t pass the ball, then it doesn’t matter who is on the end of it.”
Would anyone disagree with this?
Tottenham had the lion share of possession against the Reds, 65% according to BBC Sport, but managed 16 shots.
While 16 shots at goal seems like a lot, only eight hit the target and if you asked the average fan to recall these chances; they’ll struggle as the majority of them never really caused Alisson Becker to worry between the sticks of Liverpool.
This was a reflection of the fact that Spurs weren’t passing the ball well and when they did find a teammate with their passes, it was to someone in a terrible position.
If Lucas Moura had started upfront instead of Kane, the Brazilian would have struggled as much as his teammate as the ball simply wouldn’t have reached him due to his faltering teammates.
So with that in mind, Lawrenson is completely right to end the debate about Kane starting; as the issue on Saturday was that a lot of Spurs players struggled to deliver the goods; which means Pochettino didn’t cost Spurs the Champions League final.