Martin Lipton was on OTB AM on Friday speaking about Spurs and Harry Kane ahead of the Champions League Final.
The Sun’s Deputy Head of Sport believes that Spurs were due a busy transfer window. With as many as seven players to join and seven to leave in his mind. He thought that the squad needed significant changes after a few quiet transfer windows.
“I think there’ll be six or seven in and six or seven out. I think there’ll be significant changes, particularly at right back and to a degree at left back. I think they’re going to have to reinforce in central midfield, they need an extra striker.”
“If they lose the likes of, and I think they will, Eriksen and Alderwield, that money goes into the kitty. I think there’ll be a net spend of £90 million by Tottenham this summer.”
With most pundits pointing to Liverpool getting the win on Saturday, Lipton agreed, simply saying that Liverpool appears to be the better team.
“Well they’re the better team, aren’t they? The Premier League tells you that, the two games this season, to a degree, tell you that. I think man for man if you do a composite team you probably have a majority of Liverpool players in that team.”
While they do appear to be the better team, he was asked if that means that they’ll win?
“No, because it’s a football match and anything’s possible. If I’m to take a cold analytical look at the two teams, taking emotion and personal interests out of it, I think it would be difficult to make a case for Tottenham to be the favourites.”
Harry Kane’s fitness has been called into question ahead of the match but Lipton was adamant that he should start.
“I don’t even know why people ask the question. He’s going to start. It’s as simple as that, he’s the best player on the team.”
“It isn’t even a call, it’s a given, every time Harry Kane is fit, he plays. If it had been three weeks ago, it would have been a difficult decision but it’s now. One thing I think you have to point out is that nobody is match sharp because nobody’s played for three weeks.”
Even if Kane is only starting at 70% of his ability, Lipton was still certain that he's the right man for the job.
“I’d have a 70% Harry Kane above a 150% Fernando Llorente.”
“He’s your best player, you start him for 70 minutes, then Que sera sera. You play your best players.”
Lipton believed that Kane not starting would put Liverpool at an advantage mentally from the start and that the Spurs star has no problem coming back from an injury.
“If he doesn’t play, Liverpool starts the game 1-0 up, mentally. If he plays Liverpool are concerned because he’s a danger, he’s a threat, he occupies defenders, he can score a goal from nothing. The end of last season he came back, he wasn’t fit but he still scored six goals in seven matches because he’s a goal-scorer.”
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