A lot of Tottenham Hotspur fans have been responding to a tweet that was recently posted by Spurs-focused Twitter account @TheSpursExpress which relayed Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson’s claim that Barcelona’s Lionel Messi ‘cannot go up front, hold the ball up, bring people into play, and then score bundles of goals, and then go and play No 10 in the same game’ – but Harry Kane can.
Merson made this claim in an article that was recently published by Sky Sports in which he waxed lyrical over Kane, claiming that no other player in the world is like the England captain.
So, how did these Tottenham Hotspur fans react to the pundit’s claim on Harry Kane and Lionel Messi?
Paul Merson on comparing Lionel Messi to Harry Kane:
“Lionel Messi cannot go up front, hold the ball up, bring people into play, and then score bundles of goals, and then go and play No 10 in the same game. He’s a No 10. Kane can do both.”#COYS #THFC pic.twitter.com/cchzXM2ByA
— The Spurs Express (@TheSpursExpress) November 30, 2020
The Spurs forward has certainly been enjoying a positive 2020/21 campaign thus far, as he has provided more assists (nine) than any other player in the Premier League so far this season and only four players in England’s top-flight have scored more goals (seven). Kane has also earned the second-highest overall WhoScored rating (8.08/10) of any Premier League player at this stage of the campaign.
With that in mind, perhaps it’s understandable why some Tottenham fans reacted positively to these comments and shared some pride in their club’s striker.
Merson’s ball knowledge is improving ?
— RC ? (@ReeceAC_) November 30, 2020
How dare they compare Messi to Sir Harry Kane pic.twitter.com/cplXisYNV4
— Thfc_Jacob (@JacobArcher253) November 30, 2020
Perhaps Merson would be right in saying that Messi doesn’t play exactly the same way as Kane does, in the sense that Kane does use his physicality to hold up the ball and bring others into play while Messi is not known for his physicality.
However, that has never prevented the six-time Ballon d’Or winner from thriving at either the centre-forward position or in slightly deeper positions and perhaps it would be fair to say that he makes up for his lack of size and physicality through his well-known dominance in holding onto the ball via his dribbling ability and maybe it would be fair to say that he can bring others into play via that strength in his game.
It would certainly be fair to say that Messi’s dribbling ability exceeds Kane’s, with the Spurs man’s dribbling not even listed as a strength of his on WhoScored, and so perhaps you could also say that Kane can’t do what Messi does either, as they are different players, so would it be fair to say that Merson’s claim is not well thought out? It would certainly seem as though many of these Spurs fans believe so.
It’s like Merson has woken up one morning,realised what ridiculous things he’s been saying about us and Kane and is trying doubly hard to put that right,not realising it’s just making things worse.
— Martin Reynolds (@martinreynolds9) November 30, 2020
Impressive that he can be so wrong about something, perform a complete 180 on his opinion and still be just as wrong as he was before.
— Kevin Moran (@kevthfc88) November 30, 2020
According to Merson, Kane is now better than Messi…this concerns me https://t.co/vlxiwnI8EK
— Andy C (@all_spurs) November 30, 2020
Is Paul Merson becoming a Spurs fan
— Greenfinger (@KruisDries) December 1, 2020
Do you think Merson made a good point?
YES
NO
This quote from Paul Merson is the worst football take I’ve seen since… *checks notes*… his last one https://t.co/SYAi3WbIxH
— Damo (@DamoW95) November 30, 2020
it’s going a bit far now
— luis (@strapuccino) November 30, 2020
Ok too far
— MG (@Tangan_goat) November 30, 2020
So, it’s clear that while some Spurs fans liked Merson’s positive comments about their club’s player, many more Tottenham supporters seem to think the pundit doesn’t have much of a point.