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There are plenty of reasons to display any number of negative emotions after Tottenham Hotspur got football’d by Manchester United 1-0 at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
But if you want to get WORRIED, well, here’s a pretty damn good reason on its own. Harry Kane was limping very heavily as he walked off the pitch at the conclusion of the match. He was favoring his left leg, which suggests he might have injured his left ankle. Moussa Sissoko also left the match in the first half after picking up what looked like a groin strain. And in the immediate aftermath, Pochettino seemed to be very concerned.
Not good at all. Pochettino on Kane, who was limping heavily at the end with an ankle problem: "I am worried. This could be a big problem for us.”
— Phil McNulty (@philmcnulty) January 13, 2019
YEAH, YOU THINK?
Here’s what Poch told the BBC after the match:
“Sometimes you win a game and you are disappointed, like when we won 3-0 at Old Trafford. They were better than us that day. Today the result should be different and I am happy. That is the way that we want to grow and play. Taking risks, playing football that we are going to play. The team was fantastic, that is the best 45 minutes I have seen Tottenham play since I took charge.
”There were 11 saves from De Gea who was outstanding. He fully deserved to be man of the match.
”It was a clear foul on Harry Kane, a big hit, Mike Dean said he didn’t see it. Kane twisted his ankle and we hope that it is not a big issue.”
In his press conference, Poch seemed to take a step back, however:
️ Mauricio on @MoussaSissoko and @HKane: “We need to assess Moussa tomorrow and see what happens. Harry suffered a big tackle, we hope it’s not a big problem but we will also need to assess him tomorrow.” pic.twitter.com/uaI2w8WiPV
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 13, 2019
Kane being injured for any length of time, combined with Son Heung-Min leaving for international duty and Fernando Llorente heavily linked with a return to Athletic Bilbao leaves Tottenham with...
...Well, that’s the real question, isn’t it? If Kane is out, and assuming Llorente is sold, Spurs are down to basically Lucas Moura and youth players as their strikers. If it comes down to it, Poch might need to start experimenting with “strikerless” formations, or utilize a false 9 of some kind. Or maybe he rolls the dice and calls up someone like Kaziah Sterling or even — and this would be wild — 16-year old Troy Parrott. (He won’t call up Troy Parrott.)
And no, before any of you asks, don’t expect the return of Thicc Vin.
Last question: @AlasdairGold gets halfway through asking about Vincent Jansen's future before Pochettino shuts him down him with a terse "he's not in my plans".
— Seb Stafford-Bloor (@SebSB) January 13, 2019
This is very cart-in-front-of-the-horse stuff here, but this sure is looking like a situation that you can’t hand-wave away. There are reports that Kane’s ankle is “swollen” and that probably means a strain of some kind. This is NOT the ankle that he injured last season, so there’s a slight hope that he could bounce back from it quicker than before, but considering it took him a good 8 months to start looking like Harry Kane again after the last injury, it might be time to start panicking. Buying some players in January would be nice, too.