Harry Kane has confessed that the Tottenham squad held a meeting ahead of Monday’s 1-0 victory over Fulham to ensure they got back to winning ways.
Kane’s excellent strike late in the first half saw him move level with Jimmy Greaves at the top of Spurs’ all-time scoring charts on 266 goals and helped seal a much-needed victory after consecutive defeats to both Arsenal and Manchester City.
Spurs’ recent form has increased the pressure on manager Antonio Conte, who has spoken openly of struggling emotionally in recent weeks following the deaths of a number of his close friends, and Kane revealed how the pre-match meeting helped Spurs come together once again.
“[Conte] has been through a difficult time outside of football with his personal life,” Kane said. “Being part of a team isn’t just the players, it’s the manager, the staff and being there for each other. We want to win every game for him.
“He puts so much passion into every training session. And we want to repay him with victories. We had a good meeting amongst ourselves with the manager in the week just to talk and get back.
“We are going to keep fighting, like the manager. He is a passionate manager and we just have to keep working hard for him.”
After the game, Conte admitted he had been delighted with the response from his players after a tricky few weeks.
“I had a good answer from my players. I asked them for the solidity of last season and the will and desire to fight and to be resilient,” the boss said.
“We showed when you play as a team it is difficult to play against us. Today has to be a starting point for us to give everything then we will see what happens at the end.”