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‘It helps’: Crouch says Conte has already changed what Mourinho did with Harry Kane at Tottenham
Peter Crouch has heaped praise on Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte for playing Harry Kane high up the pitch, very much unlike Jose Mourinho.
The self-proclaimed Special One, when he was at Spurs, always used Kane in a deeper role. The Englishman was asked to drop into midfield to pick up the ball, which allowed the likes of Son Heung-min to exploit the space up top.
Kane was absolutely brilliant in that role. Under Mourinho, he scored 45 goals and provided 18 assists in 62 games in all competitions, which is a fantastic record. However, Kane dropping deep often left Spurs too short in attack, which is never ideal.
Conte has changed that now and Kane plays a lot higher up the pitch like a traditional striker usually would. Crouch absolutely loves that and he believes that this will bring the best out of the Englishman and another Spurs player.
Crouch: Unlike Mourinho, Conte is making Kane play high up the pitch
He said on in their coverage of Tottenham v Crystal Palace yesterday, as quoted by : “It’s definitely been better since Conte’s been in and I just want to highlight Harry Kane playing higher.
“I think it helps, as good as he is dropping deep, I think if you play Harry Kane high you give Ndombele the chance to play from deep. He can pick his pass look to feed Kane which is where you want him.
“What you want is Harry Kane in the box, being an attacking threat.”
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Every manager has different philosophies and Mourinho will definitely argue that he got the best out of Kane in a deeper role. The Portuguese tactician even has the numbers to prove that, but unfortunately for him, he didn’t quite have the results to back that up in the end.
Conte prefers his striker to be in and around the box and that is proving to be effective as well. The Englishman is slowly getting back to his best and he could become the superstar he once was very soon.
Crouch definitely has a point with respect to Ndombele. With Kane higher up the pitch, the Frenchman can make the midfield his own and when he has the freedom to express himself with the ball, he can become a very dangerous player.
It will be interesting to see how big of an impact Kane and Ndomebele can have under Conte in the coming weeks and months.
