Harry Kane was instrumental in Spurs’ shock win over Manchester City at the weekend but while he is targeting Alan Shearer’s Premier League goals record, Antonio Conte believes silverware should be his No.1 aim
Tottenham striker Kane, 28, took his tally to 173 with a match-winning brace at Manchester City on Saturday, edging him closer to Newcastle, Blackburn and Southampton legend Shearer’s haul of 260 with 87 goals remaining.
Can Harry Kane break Shearer’s record?
Tottenham striker Kane, 28, admits he is desperate to beat Alan Shearer’s all time Premier League record of 260 goals
‘I think it is there to be done,’ said Kane ahead of Wednesday trip to Burnley.
‘Shearer was an incredible striker so even to be close now is great. It is definitely something I want to achieve.’
“I feel like I’ve got many more years in my career to go and it’s something I want to achieve.”
But Conte has sounded warning to Kane that players need to lift silverware to write their names into history and become club legends.
Spurs boss Conte said: “He has to be ambitious. For sure, for a player and for a striker, it’s very important to improve, to beat records.
“Records are important but, at the same time, it’s also important at the end of your career to lift trophies.
“Because only when you win and lift trophies, can you go into the story of the club. My task in this moment is to try and improve him. But in the same way, with the other players, to become more complete.
While Harry Kane wants to become Premier League’s all-time top scorer, he also has made no secret of his desire to win trophies and that ties in with Conte’s level of ambition at every club he works at.
Conte’s Tottenham Promise
“Many times I like to repeat that I was a player. I like to remember this not to tell you I was a player, but only to show that I understand very well the psychological aspect of the players,” he said.
“Now I am the coach, but before I was with them – whenever there was a meeting or a training session.
This is the best group of players I’ve worked with – Antonio Conte (Getty Images)
“When I became a coach, my first target was to say that we won’t make mistakes that others made with you.
“My first target – and it was not just Kane, it was the other players – was to tell them that there is a coach here that is the right coach if we want to try to be competitive or build something important, or if your mind is fixed on lifting a trophy.
“They also understood that the club wanted to give an input by appointing a coach that in the past won things.
There is only one way to convince this sort of player. It is to work, to convince them of your football knowledge and to improve them. Only this way do you have the respect of players.
‘We are trying to start to build something important together. It won’t be easy but I think Harry, like the other players, understood the situation.
“We have to train the players for three or four months to try to improve and then continue to build something important. But I understand then that every single player has to make the best decision at the end of the season.”
England captain Kane gave a timely reminder of his world class quality in his stunning man of the match display at Manchester City last weekend which also reignited Tottenham’s top four hopes.
Despite finishing the match with with a back injury but Conte joked that there is simply no way that he could miss Wednesday’s trip to Burnley.
Conte on how to turn Tottenham’s physiological problems around.
“It’s very simple, it’s easy. We lost two games against Wolverhampton and Southampton and then we won against City,” he said.
“The first step to change your mentality is after a loss you have to understand that you lost a game. That is different and for sure the atmosphere has to be different, because when you lose a game and you come back to the training ground and ‘ok, it’s the same as yesterday’… but yesterday you lost!
“If we start to change the atmosphere, to understand that atmosphere also depends on the win or the defeat – I think this is the first step, to improve your mentality, to start to be a winner.
“When you know that the atmosphere is different, you try during the game to do everything to have a good atmosphere the day after, or the two days after.”
He added: “I think that slowly slowly the players has to understand this difference. It is very clear in top clubs. When you are in a club that is used to winning, what happens when they lose?
Tottenham face a tough task against a Burnley side who won 3-0 at Brighton at the weekend as their bid for Premier League top-four race continue.