Kane: “It’s important to stay in that mindset of continuing to improve”
Thu 05 January 2023, 18:19|
Tottenham Hotspur
Harry Kane believes Wednesday’s win at Crystal Palace will serve as a confidence boost for the whole squad going into a crucial spell of games.
The striker netted twice shortly after half-time to put us firmly in control at Selhurst Park, before further goals from Matt Doherty and Heung-Min Son rounded off a 4-0 victory.
Coming off the back of a draw at Brentford and home defeat to Aston Villa in our first matches since the World Cup break, Harry underlined how important the result could prove to be, with an FA Cup tie against Portsmouth up next (Saturday, 12.30pm UK) before back-to-back Premier League clashes with Arsenal and Manchester City.
“Coming away to tough places like Palace, the first goal is so important and can really break open a game,” said the front man, who moved to within two goals of Jimmy Greaves’ all-time Spurs top scorer record with his brace on the night.
“The first period was half-and-half – we had spells, they had spells – so we said at half-time to be more clinical in the final third and we were able to do that. It’s a really important win going into a tough run of games. To score the second so quickly after the first definitely helped settle the nerves and we finished the game really well after that. We can take a lot of confidence from this – the clean sheet, the way we played – and hopefully it will kick-start a strong second half of the season.”
Asked about what was said among the players and staff in the wake of our 2-0 loss to Villa on New Year’s Day, Harry continued: “Whenever you lose games, especially at home, it always makes you ask questions, makes you talk among yourselves and see where we can improve. The only way to do that is on the training pitch, in the tactics room, have meetings, watch clips and look at where we can get better. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Wednesday’s match marked Harry’s 300th appearance in the Premier League – 297 for us, three on loan at Norwich City – while he’s now up to 198 top-flight goals, meaning he’s set a new record for most goals in 300 appearances in the competition, toppling the previous best of 196 from the Premier League’s all-time record goalscorer, Alan Shearer. In addition to being two goals away from Greavsie’s all-time Spurs goalscoring record, he’s also two off becoming the third player in history to reach 200 Premier League goals along with Shearer and Wayne Rooney.
What does it mean to Harry himself? “It’s always nice,” he said. “Like I’ve said before many times, it’s great to be up there with those sorts of names, and it’s just about the next one – the next game, the next goals. I’m working extremely hard to try to help the team as much as possible and, thankfully, I was able to do that (at Palace).
“Hopefully I’ll keep scoring and we’ll see how many I can get. In football, you will have highs and lows, and there will be times you have to dust yourself down, work hard and get on with things, and there are also times where things go your way and everyone is happy. It’s important to stay in that mindset of continuing to improve – that’s what I try to do. I’m really looking forward to the second half of this season – hopefully this result can help push me and push the team to where we want to be.”
