Fatigue: Antonio Conte admits Harry Kane is tired
(Picture: Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)Antonio Conte has revealed Harry Kane is battling fatigue less than a week before England jet out to the World Cup in Qatar.
Spurs boss Conte hailed captain Kane as “a really good man” for pushing through the tiredness barrier to start at Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
Kane pulled up in training on Monday due to extreme fatigue, but Conte conceded he had little choice but to field the talismanic striker at the City Ground.
The England skipper was withdrawn midway through the second-half as Spurs suffered a wretched 2-0 Carabao Cup third-round loss.
Conte insisted neither Richarlison nor Dejan Kulusevski were fit enough to start at Forest, while Son Heung-min was out of action with an eye socket fracture.
Asked if Kane had any kind of injury, Conte replied: “No, it was a problem of tiredness. Really, really tired and yesterday we had a soft training session and at one point he stopped himself to recover energy.
“But he’s okay, it’s only fatigue but it’s normal because Harry played every game. When you have a player like him it’s difficult to decide you don’t play with him.
“Other players maybe they could tell me, ‘I’m tired and don’t want to play and help the team’. When I speak, I have a group of players who are men and then good players, and because of this.
“Another could be selfish and think for himself because in one week they have to play the World Cup. Instead, Harry Kane showed to be a really good man.
“But the same for Hojbjerg and Bentancur and Perisic and Dier, another who played a lot of games. We faced a really bad situation with injuries and arrived at the end in real difficulty. Now we try to rest, to recover injury.”
Kane will be named in England’s World Cup squad on Thursday afternoon, but will now face a battle to find opportunities for rest ahead of linking up with Gareth Southgate’s squad.
Spurs take on Leeds at home in Saturday’s final Premier League game before the World Cup, where Kane will doubtless again be involved.
England open their World Cup campaign against Iran on November 21.
Renan Lodi and Jesse Lingard struck to condemn a slipshod Spurs to a poor defeat.
“The performance, I have to be honest, I think maybe tonight the energy was really poor for us; don’t forget it was the 12th game in a really short period,” said Conte.
“The games we played in the past, every game was really, really difficult and we lost a lot of mental energy in the Champions League and in the Premier League physical energy.
“In our minds and hearts we came with the desire to overcome the opposition and for this reason if you ask me if something was wrong about my players I tell you not; because I have only to say thanks to my players.”
