LONDON, England - Harry Kane told his Tottenham team-mates to keep playing as they did in their Europa League exit to KAA Gent on Thursday night for the rest of the season.
Spurs are now just left in the FA Cup and Premier League but Kane saw enough to be proud of in the 2-2 draw with Gent at Wembley. Spurs played for most of the game with 10 men but continued to create chances. With better fortune they would have scored a third goal and now be planning to another trip to Belgium to face Genk in the last-16.
Now Spurs prepare for four home games in a row: Stoke City this Sunday, Everton on 5 March, their FA Cup quarter-final against Millwall on 12 March and then Southampton in the league on 19 March. Kane said that if Spurs play with as much hunger as they showed even in failure on Thursday, their season can still end well.
“I think if we play with that attitude and togetherness for rest of the season we will be OK,” Kane said. “We have a big quarter-final in the FA Cup next month and then we are fighting for places in the Premier League. We need to keep focused and do our jobs and see what we can do. We have to show this attitude again on Sunday and every game between now and the end of the season”
Kane said that Alli had apologised to his Spurs team-mates for a dangerous red card tackle that brought heavy condemnation from everyone who saw it. “Dele is obviously gutted and feels like he has let us down a bit,” Kane said. “We fought hard for him to turn it around for him. It is something he will learn from and get experience from for the future.”
Toby Alderweireld denied that it was a “blessing in disguise” to be out of the Europa League at this stage and said that Spurs were committed to taking as many points as possible over the final stage of the season. “It is not a blessing in disguise, of course not,” Alderweireld said. “A club like Tottenham has to go through.”
The Belgian centre-back said Spurs’ priority was now to make sure they do not end the season empty-handed. “We have to fight for every game and that is what we said after the game,” he said. “We have still the FA cup and the league to fight for so we will do everything to fight for them.”