Antonio Conte has revealed that Harry Kane is running into the World Cup on empty.
Spurs’ boss claimed England ’s skipper is fatigued after a hectic club schedule finally took its toll on the country's No. 1 striker. Kane pulled himself out of a training session ahead of last night’s trip to Nottingham Forest and produced a lacklustre show as Conte’s men slumped to a 2-0 defeat.
And the Italian praised the striker’s commitment to Spurs’ cause - but suggested that he’s tired ahead of the trip to Qatar. He managed just under an hour at the City Ground but looked a pale shadow of the player who lifted the Golden Boot at the last tournament in Russia.
Conte said: “We waited until this morning to see if Harry could start, or not. He was our only striker. Other players could tell me that they were tired and don’t want to play and help the team. But I have a group of players who are men. They could be selfish and think for themselves: ‘In one week, I’m playing in the World Cup.’
“In this, Harry showed himself to be a really good man. But he is really, really tired. Yesterday, we had a ‘soft’ training session and at one point he stopped to recover his energy. He’s okay, it’s only fatigue, but it’s normal because Harry has played every game.”
Conte suffered on the sidelines as Steve Cooper’s men - buoyed by a revitalised Jesse Lingard who grabbed a goal and an assist - took advantage of a limp Spurs’ display. The Spurs boss added: “The energy tonight was really poor from us - don’t forget it was our 12th game in a really short period.
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“We lost a lot of mental energy in the Champions League and physical energy in the Premier League. I can only say ‘Thanks’ to my players. They are really tired.”
Conte went on to say of his team's under-par performance: "It's very frustrating. We tried to play the game in the right way and I can't complain about the commitment of my players. Now we need to end in the right way on Saturday because we have an important game against Leeds and we want to end this tough period with a win."
It was a contrasting night for Cooper, who heaped praise on Forest's display. "It’s a really pleasing night," the City Ground gaffer affirmed. "But, as I have reminded the players, we’ve got an important day of preparation tomorrow, followed by another on Friday, before we play again on Saturday."
