Monday 13 March 2017 10:45, UK
Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has concerns about how long Harry Kane will be sidelined with an ankle injury he sustained against Millwall but says FA Cup quarter-final hat-trick hero Heung-min Son can step up in his star striker's absence.
Kane hobbled out of Spurs' 6-0 thrashing of their League One opponents on Sunday after just seven minutes, following a tackle from Jake Cooper. However, Son's treble, plus further strikes from Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Vincent Janssen, sealed the north Londoners' progress to the semi-finals.
Kane was out for 10 games earlier this season with what Pochettino described as a similar injury, and he says he will need to consider alternatives if the England ace is ruled out long term.
"When you lose a player like Harry Kane, you miss him," said Pochettino. "But it's important for the players in his position, like today Son or Vincent, to feel the net, score goals. We talked in the past about the squad. Now they are important.
"Harry Kane is our main striker, one of the best in England, but we cannot cry, we need to try to be positive. We have enough players to try to replace him and win games. It won't be an excuse if we don't win games or achieve our aims because Kane isn't in the team.
"It's about the team performance with different names. We need to try to win every game and I have to select 11 players every game. I'm very happy with Son. He can play like a striker. One of our best performances was against Manchester City and he was the striker when Harry was injured.
"I think we have different possibilities, to play different formations. Of course I'm disappointed by Harry's injury but now we have to find solutions and see which is the best player to replace him."
Kane's injury could also provide an opening for Dutchman Janssen, who scored his first goal from open play for the club against Millwall. Pochettino says the summer signing is improving and ready to take his chance.
"Yes of course [this could be turning point for Vincent]," he said. "In the last few months he's stepped up and started to work better and I was happy in the way he was performing on the training ground.
"In football you need to be ready to show your quality. Janssen was working very hard, today was a great opportunity to score and he scored."
Tottenham's quarter-final win sets up a return to Wembley, where they have been playing their European fixtures this season and Pochettino is excited by the prospect of another trip to the national stadium.
"It was a game we took very seriously," he said. "We knew it would be a difficult game because they beat three Premier League teams and we were aware about that. But we played very well, we were very focused, we gave our best on the pitch.
"I think we did well. I'm very pleased, very happy to be in the semi-final and play again at Wembley."
