Speaking on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, Anne-Marie Batson discussed whether or not she believed that recent criticism has ‘stung’ Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane.
Kane came under fire for the manner in which he won a penalty in a collision with Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Adam Lallana during a Premier League clash between the two sides at the start of November, when the 27-year-old appeared to intentionally back into the Seagulls player, who was knocked off balance rather dangerously while jumping for a header.
However, the England captain recently spoke out defending his part in the challenge, stating his belief that the incident was a ’50/50 call’ by the referee, and that he had ‘no doubt’ the free-kick would have been given in his favour if it had happened in another area of the pitch.
The subject was one topic of discussion on a recent episode of the Football Writers Podcast, in which Michael Calvin questioned Batson as to what her opinion was on the incident, and whether or not she felt the criticism aimed at Kane had ‘stung’ the forward.
She said: “The way that I look at it is that, for me, Kane backed into Adam Lallana and then went down and won a penalty – that’s all I can see. I’m not in Harry Kane’s head, I don’t know what he’s thinking. I don’t know if he’s thinking that he’s trying to foul Adam Lallana on purpose, or it was just a fluke, or what, I don’t know – I can just take it how I see it. I’m hoping that he didn’t do it to cheat. That’s not what Harry Kane is all about.
“I’m struggling with this concept in my head that Harry Kane is somebody who would make something happen for the sake of it. I don’t want to think badly of him. I just don’t want to think of him in that way. But the question needs to be asked.
“I think potentially he was stung by it. I’d like to think if he was, he would use that as motivation that would fuel him. But it’s such a hard one because I don’t like to try and speculate what’s going through somebody’s head at that moment because I’m not that person. I can only say what I see, and that’s what I saw. People will probably disagree with me, they have disagreed with me on it, [saying] ‘he’s a cheater’. It’s a really hard one, for me, I’m not sure.”
Do you believe that Lallana's apparent foul on Kane should have been given?
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TIF Thoughts on Anne-Marie Batson’s comments regarding Harry Kane…
From Batson’s comments, it is clear that the journalist is caught in two minds as to whether or not she believes that Kane would go into the challenge with Lallana intentionally to win a foul, or if she feels that the 27-year-old is not that sort of player.
However, considering Kane does have a bit of previous in these types of challenges, such as in Tottenham’s 3-3 draw with West Ham United, when the striker clearly backed into Aaron Cresswell intentionally when he was jumping for the ball, it is our opinion that Kane perhaps knew what he was doing in the incident with Lallana a little more than he is letting on.