Swansea’s Bob Bradley Wary of Tottenham’s Harry Kane
When Swansea City travel to White Hart Lane to face off against Tottenham, Swans’ manager Bob Bradley will be looking to make sure Harry Kane is marked at all times.
After seeing Crystal Palace off in stoppage time and winning 5-4, Swansea City will look to win a second consecutive time as they try to keep Tottenham’s dreadful form intact.
To maintain any sort of advantage over Spurs, Swans’ manager Bob Bradley has urged his players to keep their eyes out on Harry Kane. The 58-year-old American manager isn’t wrong in taking away Mauricio Pochettino’s current in-form player since returning from a seven-week absence due to injury.
Ever since Kane was stretchered off against Sunderland, Spurs’ offense has stumbled. While they have scored 13 goals in 10 games in all competitions. A decent tally without their star striker, those numbers look worse when compared side-by-side to what Harry Kane has done.
Upon returning to action on November 19, the 23-year-old has already scored four goals in three games, in all competitions. That’s about a fourth of what Tottenham accomplished, in eight less matches played.
So Bob Bradley is right to keep the England striker in check.
“He [Kane] is a very good striker,” Bradley said at his pre-match press conference (via Spurs’ official site). “Most of all he is a terrific finisher – give him any chance and he has a really solid record of hitting the target and scoring goals.”
“Everybody has to concentrate in every moment against a player like him because he will pounce on the slightest slip.”
When looking at other things to watch out for, Bradley noted that Spurs find ways to open up space during games. The word “interesting” was used to describe it.
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“Like many teams, Spurs have interesting ways to try to open up space.” Bob Bradley continued. “They push their full-backs very high, they bring Christian Eriksen inside, Dele Alli is good at finding space and Harry Kane is a top striker.”
“They are going to press and make it difficult for us to find a passing rhythm, so we have to look to play quickly and move the ball into space, as we have done at times in the last few weeks.”
“It’s a good test, they are a good team but it’s an important opportunity for us to build on a good result against Crystal Palace. It’s an opportunity to go after Spurs in the right way and play for three points. That’s our mentality.”
“In our preparation work, we have talked about some of the things we will be up against, but we have really gone out of our way to remind the players that what’s important is our football, our mentality and who we are.”
Mauricio Pochettino shares the same mentality of allowing his players to play freely. To express themselves. Dele Alli is one such example that benefited the 20-year-old last year in his debut season on his way to the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
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Against a Swansea side who is second to last in the Premier League table, this is a great opportunity for Tottenham to take three points at home.
Pochettino will be get a big boost with the return of Danny Rose after a one-game suspension due to yellow card accumulation. Harry Kane as mentioned up top is in-form after just returning from injury. Christian Eriksen scored a goal last weekend, so his confidence should be on the rise.
All of this is to say that while Swansea City will no doubt present a challenge for Spurs, there should be no reason why the hosts don’t win this match if you look at the Swans’ form on the road and how they typically concede plenty of goals.