Premier League

HARRY KANE says finishing in the top four alone is no longer good enough for Tottenham.Qualifying for the Champions League again is the best Spurs can hope for this season after a nightmare week in which they have crashed out of two major cup competitions.
Tottenham were dumped out of the FA Cup by Sheffield United last weekendCredit: GETTY
Champions League heartache followed for Spurs on WednesdayCredit: ALAMY
Skipper Harry Kane has slammed the team’s collapse and their season as a wholeCredit: REX
Last Wednesday saw them suffer an embarrassing defeat at Championship side Sheffield United in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
That was followed up seven days later by a 1-0 aggregate defeat to AC Milan in the last 16 of the Champions League, with a 1-0 Premier League loss at Wolves sandwiched between.
There was a time when securing a top-four spot would have looked like success for Spurs.
But when asked if that is still the case now, Kane, who has famously never won a trophy, replied: “No, I don’t think so.
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“Where we’re at as a club, we should be winning trophies. That’s always the aim.
“The top four [being our only target] is a consequence of not playing as well as we want to play.
“Now that’s all we can fight for so that’s going to be the goal and hopefully we can achieve that come the end of the season. But for sure, it’s not enough for this club.”
Spurs were poor in their second-leg home tie against Milan, which ended up goalless.
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They had only two shots on target, with Kane’s header in injury time the closest they came.
Boss Antonio Conte revealed afterwards that he feared he may be sacked before his contract is up in the summer as a result.
Though the Italian is expected to take charge of Nottingham Forest at home on Saturday, where Spurs will hope to get back to winning ways to boost their top-four chances.
Asked to explain why Spurs have come up short over the last ten days, Kane responded: “It’s hard to put a finger on it.
“Especially over the last week, we’ve lacked quality in key moments against teams that we’ve had good opportunities against.
“Not just opportunities where you’re one-on-one with the keeper but opportunities where you’re in a good position on the pitch and we need more from all of us.
“To be more direct, more clinical. The last three games we haven’t scored a goal and that’s not good enough.
“Over the two legs, we can’t really say we did enough to get through. That’s just the reality of it. We need to improve in a lot of aspects and that’s the bottom line.”
There were a fair few boos at half-time on Wednesday and many more come the final whistle with fans facing up to a 15th consecutive season without a trophy.
Many are fed up with Conte’s pragmatic playing style and questioning whether the manager still even wants to be there.
Kane added: “I totally understand it (the fans’ frustration). Top four [alone] is not good enough for anyone at this club, especially the fans. They have the right to voice their opinion.
“The last week especially just hasn’t been good enough.
Spurs boss Antonio Conte believes he could be axed before the end of the seasonCredit: REX
“Before the Sheffield United game, the season could have been a whole lot different.
“You go through there, you take that momentum into the league game [at Wolves] and this game.
“But I feel like that loss last week put a dagger in our hearts and as you can see we haven’t really recovered from that.”
Many Spurs fans will worry that the events of the last week will have convinced Kane that his long-term future lies away from his boyhood club. His contract expires in the summer of 2024.
The uncertainty surrounding Conte’s position is unlikely to help the squad either.
But when that exact question was put to Kane, he remained diplomatic.
The 29-year-old said: “That’s his decision, he’s going to be the one that makes that choice.
“All we can do as players is try to perform for him, work as hard as we can.
“That’s what we’re doing. I said after the Wolves game at the weekend, you can’t fault the effort of the players.
“We’re trying, we’re training but we’re just lacking something.
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“We’ve talked about mentality before and that ruthless hunger to be better, to be the best, to be one of the best teams in Europe.
“We just haven’t quite found that yet.” More