Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has officially ruled his star man of all star men, Harry Kane, out of tomorrow’s massive clash at Manchester United. Pochettino told his prematch news conference on Friday:
“For tomorrow, we cannot take a risk. It’s a minor injury, very small, but we cannot take a risk. We’ll see after for Wednesday against Real Madrid. Tomorrow, it’s impossible.”
The injury keeping Kane out is a minor hamstring strain that he sustained against Liverpool last weekend.
Kane became a doubt for this match late Wednesday night when the young Englishman missed Tottenham’s 3-2 upset to West Ham in the tournament’s fourth round, and Pochettino later revealed that the absence was due to injury.
Asked today if the injury was a major blow for his team, the Argentine naturally responded: “Yes, you always want all the players available. It’s a problem. We want them available to play.”
“We always believe in the collective, the squad. During the season, problems happen and you must trust all the players, all the squad. I told the players are not machines and its so difficult to cope with international duty, play every three days.
“It’s lucky it’s not a big problem but he’s not going to play tomorrow.”
Mauricio Pochettino also fielded a question about Pep Guardiola’s infamous “that Harry Kane team” comments, saying:
“We don’t need to prove that we’re Tottenham. Maybe people expect that but for us, no!”
“Last season, in the period he was injured, you can see the stats, the games we played. We didn’t lose with Harry or without Harry. Of course, I’m not happy, I’m disappointed because Harry is our main striker and one of the best players in the world, one of the best strikers in the world. You’re always going to miss your best striker.”
“I’m not stupid. That is football.”
Jose Mourinho prematch news conference: go to this link
Man United Injury Report: go to this link
Tottenham and United Combined XI: go to this link
MUFC starting XI prediction: go to this link
Odds via BetFair: United 5/4, Draw 23/10, Tottenham 23/10
Prediction: United 1, Tottenham 0
As always, feel free to post your own starting XI and/or score prediction in the comments section below, and feel free to comment on other starting XI, score predictions that you’ve seen elsewhere online.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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