Tottenham Hotspur insider John Wenham admits he was surprised to see Harry Kane play the full 90 minutes in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Spurs seized control of Group D in UEFA’s leading competition with a 3-2 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the week.
Kane netted in between strikes from Heung-Min Son to overturn a one-goal deficit in the first half.
Antonio Conte made five subs on a night where the German side was reduced to ten men but left Kane on the field with the Englishman missing a penalty in the dying embers after Frankfurt had pulled one back late on.
Speaking to Football Insider, Wenham couldn’t believe that the club’s talisman was left on the field considering the fixtures ahead.
He said: “He also played the whole game again. This was 3-1 on about 60 minutes with 10 men, and he still played [the whole game].
“I couldn’t believe my eyes when Richarlison was the one subbed off when he’s the one, if we could afford for one of the three to get injured, it would be him, obviously.
“Because now with Kulusevski back as well for Everton, Lucas back, we’ve got options there. But he came off on 60, I couldn’t believe it.
“I appreciate he’s played a lot of minutes for Brazil, but I just thought it was surprising that he was the first one to come off rather than Kane and Son when you’re leading 3-1.”
TIF Thoughts on Kane and Tottenham…
Is Son more important that Harry Kane?Yes
No
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Only Hugo Lloris has played more minutes (12) than Kane this season so far while only four outfield players have been on the field longer than Son.
The return game with Frankfurt was the first of three games in seven days for the Lilywhites and with nine in total before the mid-season break, Conte has a job on his hand managing the minutes of top stars like his no.9.
The 29-year-old is the club’s leading scorer with nine goals, and having played a hand in almost half of the goals the side have scored this season, his availability is paramount, so it was indeed a surprise to see him risked despite Spurs ultimately walking away with a narrow victory.