Harry Kane has claimed that it was important for Daniel Levy to know where the players' heads were at following their 6-1 humbling at Newcastle United. In a poor run of form prior to their trip to St James' Park after falling out of the top four, Spurs were put to the sword by their European rivals and found themselves 5-0 down after 21 minutes.
The result culminated in Cristian Stellini's dismissal as Tottenham's acting head coach, with Ryan Mason duly replacing him in the role until the end of the current campaign. In Levy's statement to the fans following the managerial decision, he stated that he had spoken to Tottenham's player committee, which comprises of Kane, Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, and that the squad are determined to finish the season strongly.
Pressed about his meeting with the chairman, the Tottenham striker admitted that it was an "honest conversation" and that things "had been building up since the international break" after surrendering a two-goal lead at Southampton.
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"The chairman asked for a meeting. Obviously I won't go into what was said but I think it was important [for him] to understand where the players' heads were at at that moment," he outlined. "Obviously coming off the back of that result. And it wasn't just that result. It had been building up since the international break when we conceded the two goals against Southampton. It was an honest conversation of where everyone is at and what we need to try to do to give us the best possible chance to finish the season with something.
"We're still fighting for fourth place but if it's not fourth we'll try to finish fifth or sixth, as high up as we can. In this league, it's so competitive, you can easily end up 8th or 9th if you're not careful. That's what it was - to give us the best chance. And I'm glad we reacted like that [vs Man Utd]."
Getting a point in Mason's first game in charge of the team against Manchester United, Spurs showed plenty of character after coming from two goals down to secure a 2-2 draw following Pedro Porro and Son Heung-min's goals. Knowing Mason extremely well after coming through the academy with him to now playing under him, the striker has heaped praise on how the 31-year-old has handled taking on the Tottenham job.
"I think he's been great. He's come in at a really difficult time after that defeat and he's not had long to implement any style. So it's all been about motivation and getting some belief back in the boys," said Kane.
"I've known Ryan a long, long time. He's a great football brain. He sees the game in a really good way, he's worked under some fantastic managers so far. So look, we're all fully behind him. We really want to work for him and try to finish the season as strong as we can. And he's a great guy and a great manager. Hopefully we can finish strong and see what happens."
Despite trailing 2-0 against the Red Devils at the break and with their bad run of form looking set to be extended, Kane has revealed that it was actually very calm in the dressing room at the break.
"To be honest, like I said the first half could have gone totally different," explained the frontman. "We had two big chances and they were just more clinical. So it was quite calm. Ryan said not to try to get back in the game in the first five minutes of the second half. He said there's another 45 minutes, be compact, be ready to hurt them like we did in the first half but now we have to be more clinical.
"We all said once we get one, we know we can really put pressure on them and that's what happened. A shame we couldn't then get the third but overall, when you're 2-0 down it was good to get a point out of it."
Coming up against the side he has been heavily linked with given all the question marks surrounding his Tottenham future, Manchester United fans made their feelings clear as they could be heard chanting "Harry Kane, we'll see you in June" during the first half of the contest. It was something that the striker did hear very clearly indeed.
"I heard what they were saying but I'm just focused on this team and trying to finish strongly," he admitted.
Attention now switches to Sunday's Premier League clash away at Liverpool as Tottenham look to add to their point against Manchester United with another positive result. So can they claim all three points on Merseyside?
"I think so. We spoke about these two games this week, just getting results: finding a way to win, finding a way to come away with something. Liverpool's going to be the same," explained the 29-year-old.
"Anfield is a very tough place to go. They're in a similar position of fighting for the spots we're fighting for so there's a lot riding on it. It's down to us to recover and show the character we did in the second half and be brave away at Anfield."
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