Kane, Son and Bale have dynamite potential

Kane, Son and Bale have dynamite potential

Jose Mourinho has been speaking this week about fans having patience to allow their potentially dynamite front three of Harry Kane, Son Heung-Min and Gareth Bale to build up a working relationship.

Mourinho says Bale brings new options to the Spur’s striking force because he is a different type of player. He likes the ball delivered to his feet and to run at defenders, beating them and shooting at goal. Son, on the other hand, runs behind without the ball and takes defenders with him and thus creating space for Kane. The key to the new threesome is finding the right balance and Mourinho has been working on that all this week.

Kane has been watching Bale make runs down the right, as instructed by Mourinho, and judging whether the Welshman will go down the line or cut inside. They have also practiced Bale making cross after cross for Kane and Son to meet in the middle and therefore creating scoring chances.

Mourinho is also deciding if he should make Bale more of a charging wing-back. He might not have the speed of old but is now a much more mature, thinking player. He doesn’t just charge forward but looks up, assesses his options and has the ability to make incisive passes.

Mourinho thinks he is the missing creative element Spurs need. One thing is for sure; Mourinho’s favoured strategy where his team drops back, draws in opponents and then strikes with a counter-attack will suit Bale perfectly. Bale’s previous team Real Madrid never played this method and Bale suffered because of it as their defence sat much deeper.

Spur’s assistants and the medical team tell me that neither Mourinho or the trainers are expecting the best from Bale for about a month and then, after intense training with Kane and Son we should expect fireworks from a team many are tipping as title contenders.

Update on Van Dijk

Jurgen Klopp was very quiet on Monday morning after learning that Virgil Van Dijk would undergo surgery for an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Van Dijk contacted us and said that he would return fitter and stronger but Klopp knows he has a big problem because he relied too heavily on his world class defender.

Normally it takes at least six months to recover from this type of injury but the Liverpool medical staff think that Van Dijk’s exceptionally positive attitude and his strong fitness level and mental strength indicates he could return earlier than expected. Surgery however has been delayed because of the swelling and until this has gone the surgeons cannot get to work.

Van Dijk will also undergo a knee strengthening process I am told. Klopp, who has been angry all week because of Jordan Pickford’s tackle will apparently turn to his trusted partnership of Joel Matip and Joe Gomez but he knows that Van Dijk is the key to holding his defence together.

There is a worried air of despondency around Anfield and Klopp’s team know that this latest turn of events could be a season changer as they try to hold on to their title.

Lessons learned for both West Ham and Spurs

Three things stood out last weekend as we watched in disbelief as West Ham robbed Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham of three points.

First, the second debut for Spurs demonstrated that the Welsh wizard Gareth Bale can still walk through defences as he did only minutes after coming on to the pitch in the 72nd minute. Second, that West Ham manager David Moyes should always be in his technical area whereas many critics said he should stay at home as he had done because of coronavirus and West Ham played their best football for thirty years!

Finally, that Moyes has to start the gifted Manuel Lanzini from the kick-off because I suspect his screamer of a goal from 30 yards out could well be the goal of the season and shows what he can do.

Mourinho went back to the magnificent Tottenham training facility on Monday morning and spent an hour talking about mental strength and performing with a tougher psychological attitude. He said, once again blaming his players as he always does when things do not go right: “My guys were not strong enough to cope with it psychologically and in the last few seconds we lost two points. I have to analyse the second half and I have to do it internally.”

“That meant a strong message from the manager and some harsh words for his defenders this week.” The trip to Burnley on Monday will prove how effective his team talk has been this week.

Lampard’s organisational abilities questioned

There has been much praise and criticism this week surrounding Frank Lampard’s selections both in attack and defence. The highlight for Frank was the success of new signings Timo Werner and Kai Havertz.

Both were outstanding in their last Premier League match with Werner scoring a couple and Havertz the other in Chelsea’s three goals.

However, this week in Cobham at the training ground Frank was concentrating on his defence which was awful and let in three goals in a match the Blues should have won.

Both Kurt Zouma and the under pressure goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga were responsible for the goal gifted to Southampton’s

Che Adams and Lampard blamed individual errors for the loss.

However, it was a poor collective effort in defence which resulted in throwing away the match. Even N’Golo Kante and Jorginho were guilty of poor positioning. Despite the midweek draw with Sevilla in the Champions League, Lampard has come under severe criticism questioning his ability to organise a team of highly talented and expensive individuals and whether he is capable of moulding them into one collective fighting force.

Aguero returns in triumph

It was the moment Manchester City has been waiting for. The return of their world class striker Sergio Aguero and he proved that the wait was worth it. After four months out with a knee injury Sergio came on to cheers from the few people allowed into the ground and was a vital part of Raheem Sterling’s winning goal. The club is well aware that Sergio could walk away in the summer when his contract expires and this week they began negotiations with his agents to organise another deal. Pep Guardiola said this week: “We know what he means for us, we know how we appreciate him, but for now he has to show like everyone of us, including me — that we deserve to continue here and are playing well and winning games. When he is playing at this level we don’t have any doubts that he is a player we want to stay until he wants to go because he is unique. He is so important for us and the fans.”

De Gea working harder under pressure

It is amazing what a little competition will do. Ole Gunner Solskjaer brought back on-loan goalkeeper Dean Henderson as cover for David De Gea who has not been Mr Reliable this season. Since Henderson arrived back at Old Trafford De Gea has put more into his game and the training staff have noticed a definite improvement in his whole approach.

United goalkeeping coach Richard Harris has even changed De Gea’s warm-up routines and he has been working on passing out to the wing backs with Henderson on one side of the pitch and third choice keeper Lee Grant on the other. Solskjaer has remained loyal to De Gea during a rough period however he was criticised for his positioning when on international duty for Spain recently and Ukraine won. On Tuesday night in Paris, De Gea rewarded his manager’s faith by making two outstanding saves and he was solid throughout the match.

Sergio Romero was second choice to De Gea for five years but he has not reported for training this week because he is angry that the club did not agree to a transfer on the final October 5th deadline day.

Fofana impresses on Leicester debut

Leicester are facing three months without their central defender Caglar Soyuncu who sustained a groin injury whilst on international duty with Turkey. Fortunately 19 year-old substitute Wesley Fofana looks like the real deal and impressed during his debut match against Aston Villa earlier this week despite losing 1-0. Fofana sent out an instagram saying how proud he was to have worn the Leicester shirt and played his first game. This drew responses from his former teammate William Saliba, now with Arsenal, who replied with five hearts and James Maddison who said what a great debut Fofana had played. Manager Brendan Rogers also heaped praise on the youngster saying: “He has got huge potential. His anticipation is so good and for someone so young he reads the game well. If you are a centre-half you need to be good in the air and I thought that side of his game was very good. He’s also quick and defends forward and shows composure on the ball. He’ll be a big player for our future.”

Newcastle fans show how to behave

I was so proud of Newcastle fans last Sunday. The generous nature of these brilliant people was on display for everyone to see. The greedy TV companies decided to charge £14.95 as a pay-per-view fee to watch the match against Manchester United. The fans, quite rightly in my opinion, decided that was an insult as they have already paid Sky TV their weekly subscription charge to watch football matches. Instead of supporting their team thousands of the fans sent the money, not to Sky TV but to Newcastle’s West End Food bank which received more than £16,000 in match day donations! The food bank programme supports struggling  families during the coronavirus pandemic.