Gareth Southgate’s search for a permanent England captain may be over after Harry Kane’s pedigree shone through in denying Scotland victoryIn the end, Harry Kane did almost everything Gareth Southgate had hoped he might. This game had gone, the visitors apparently broken by Leigh Griffiths’ pair of free-kicks, when Raheem Sterling cut inside and flung over one last desperate cross from the left and there, opening up his body in mid-air to meet the delivery as sweetly as he could, was England’s captain to guide home a first international goal in 13 months. The manager leapt into the air, his manic celebrations born as much of relief as delight. He had been at pains to point out that talent, eventually,...
The 2016-17 season still had its drama – moments of brilliance and booming narrative arcs to be resolved – but it was less title race than well-ordered title jogFarewell, then, to the year that almost was. This was a Premier League season that sparked with a controlled excitement, never quite caught fire but still dished up another digestible slice of high-end product.Things kept on almost happening. Leicester City almost completed the most dramatic title-plus-relegation act of all time. But then it was all sort of OK. Marco Silva almost pulled off a minor managerial miracle – but somehow not quite. To great fanfare Tottenham Hotspur pulled to within one victory of being quite close to creeping up on Chelsea’s shoulder at...
Tottenham’s attacking duo epitomised their side’s youth and vigour in contrast to their opponents’ soft centre and absence of heart in Spurs’ 2-0 winAt the end of this vigorous but ultimately quite straightforward 2-0 victory for Mauricio Pochettino’s focused and muscular Tottenham Hotspur team a large knot of home fans refused to leave their seats, staying instead to dance and sing and hug, gorging themselves on the moment.Half an hour later they were still crammed into the exit walkways of this disintegrating stadium and still singing, appropriately enough, about Dele Alli, who scored the opening goal, who was spiky and incisive when it mattered, and whose partnership with Harry Kane embodied, on the day and beyond, the striking gulf in...
Striker is now Premier League’s outright top scorer and his brace – alongside his workrate – against Ronald Koeman’s attritional team showed whyTwo minutes into the second half of this tight, bruising, full-body collision of a football match the poor old beleaguered orange ball spun out of a tackle and into a pocket of space between Ben Davies and Séamus Coleman. Both players reacted instantly, flying into that square of green and producing a startling thud, the sound of flesh and bone colliding, that drew a gasp from the crowd on the near side of this steadily disintegrating stadium.It was just that kind of afternoon, a match of 55 tackles, relentless contact and three goals in the last 11 minutes...
Hat-trick for Spurs against Stoke was another sign of a rapid development that has confounded scepticsAs Tottenham Hotspur completed yet another 4-0 victory against Stoke City, the mind drifted towards Vincent Janssen. Put yourself in his shoes for a moment: you have arrived at a new club in a new country as a £17m centre-forward and two thirds into the season have scored only four times and not once from open play. You are desperate to prove your worth and as you sit on the bench on a grey afternoon in north London you see the man keeping you out of the team score his third hat-trick in nine games. It is enough to make a Dutchman pine for a...