Tottenham: Antonio Conte says Spurs no longer ‘Harry Kane team’ despite Paul Merson jab | Football | Sport

Antonio Conte thinks Tottenham are stronger now that they no longer have to rely on Harry Kane for goals – despite Paul Merson’s suggestions Spurs are still a one-man team. The England captain has been on the pitch to see no fewer than six of his team-mates hit the back of the net since his last goal against this weekend’s opponents Brighton a month ago.

The last time that happened was in 2014 during what seems like a bygone era, when Younes Kaboul, Danny Rose, Paulinho, Emmanuel Adebayor, Nacer Chadli and Eric Dier were the ones to get their names on the scoresheet ahead of Kane.

That’s in spite of Arsenal legend Merson’s claims on Sky Sports News, in which he said: “If Harry Kane don’t turn up, Tottenham ain’t winning no game.” Spurs were also famously labelled the “Harry Kane team” by Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola four years ago.

Yet with the race for fourth hotting up, Tottenham have found form at the perfect time, rattling 12 goals past West Ham, Newcastle and Aston Villa. And Conte is convinced they’re a more well-rounded team now.

“It is important for us to have many solutions to get three points and to win,” Conte said. “Also because this way you are unpredictable.

“If you only have one player to score it could be simple for your opponent to stop him with two or three men and then the game has finished. Instead, we have created a good idea of football, with many solutions for different players and to be unpredictable.

“And Harry is the first person to enjoy other players scoring, especially if it means we can win and get three points. It is good to score, but at the same time it is really good to make assists and he has an important vision of football and for us he is an important player.

“The only final target for us is to try and reach the best possible position at the end of the season.” Dejan Kulusevski, Steven Bergwijn, Emerson Royal, Matt Doherty and Ben Davies have all weighed in but it is the six goals from Heung-min Son in that run which have really caught the attention.

Conte is particularly pleased with the way Son has responded to injury problems which kept him out for most of January. “I was sure that it was normal after an injury to need a bit of time to recover his best possible condition and get back again into our idea of football again,” Conte said.

“But I was also sure, because Sonny for us is a really important player and at the peak of his form. He can improve, and that is my expectation – and that he gives us from now until the end of the season a big push to try to finish this race in the best possible way.”