Jose Mourinho explains Tottenham's surprising tactical strategy without Harry Kane at Brighton
Kane suffered injuries to both ankles in Thursday’s defeat against Liverpool, but it is the one to his left joint which could keep him out for a number of weeks, depending on the results of a scan this weekend.
It is an almost annual event for the England captain to be injured at this time of the season as 12 months ago he ruptured a hamstring which threatened to end his campaign before coronavirus struck.
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Hide AdSpurs then lost Son Heung-min, Erik Lamela and Steven Bergwijn to deplete their attacking options, but Mourinho can take comfort in that not being the case this time.
Although he has used his other options sparingly in the Premier League, he has striker Carlos Vinicius at his disposal as well as Gareth Bale, while Son, Lamela and Bergwijn are all fit.
“One thing is to have like last season three or four attacking players all injured at the same time. And Another thing is to have just Harry Kane.
“Because of course we have Carlos Vinicius, Steven Bergwijn, Lucas Moura, Erik Lamela, Gareth Bale and if I forgot anyone, I apologise for that. Of course it’s a different situation, because we have attacking players.”
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Hide AdMourinho will be without Kane at Brighton on Sunday, but he has confirmed defender Joe Rodon will start.
Rodon put in an impressive performance against Liverpool, before making a mistake which allowed Sadio Mane to kill the game.
But Mourinho saw enough from the Wales international to commit to playing him again.
“Next game he plays for sure,” Mourinho said. “Against Liverpool he showed good personality, good concentration, was good on the ball.
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Hide Ad“First half building well and going for duels. Not a coward for not to assume the duels, a brave boy to go for every duel, even against difficult opponents like they are.
“For me his performance was very, very good, very solid. He made one mistake. Unlucky that it leads to their third goal, the goal that basically kills the game.
“When I have a player who makes one mistake, it doesn’t matter how big the mistake was, but completely out of the context of a very good, solid performance I only have to support the player and protect the player and the best way to do that is to play the next game for sure.”