Antonio Conte hailed the attitude and commitment of Harry Kane after the Tottenham captain’s double in their 3-1 FA Cup over Brighton and Hove Albion.
Kane’s brace, sandwiched by an own goal by Solly March and a deflected Yves Bissouma strike for Brighton, booked Tottenham’s place in the fifth round.
Son Heung-min returned from a hamstring injury while Cristian Romero was back in action for Spurs following a thigh problem.
New signings Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur also came off the bench to make their debuts, leaving plenty of reasons for Conte to be satisfied.
Asked if Kane, who now has three goals in his last three games in all competitions, is returning to his best, Conte replied: “For sure we need to try to improve the players, no? And I think Harry, also in the past, when in the games that he didn’t score, I liked his performance.
“Harry is a player who’s scored a lot in the past as a number nine, but I think what we can appreciate – me and also the whole team – is his attitude and commitment for the team.
“I think this is the most important thing for us. Then for sure, to score two goals is important because he’s number nine, he’s used to scoring goals and he’s also improving his… we are working on the physical condition with the team.
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“We’re trying to improve the intensity, also during the training sessions. I think all these situations can improve the performance with all the players.
“For sure, I’m happy for him but I’m happy for the whole team. I’m happy for Son and Romero to come back into our team. It was important.”
On Son’s return, Conte added: “It was good news for us. Sonny is an important player for us. He’s decisive. He knows that very well.
“Today I wanted to give him 65-70 minutes because when you come back after injury, I prefer in a week when we have three games, to manage very well Son and also Romero.
“Because after serious injury, to have them back was good news but also we have to try to manage them very well and not take risks because they’re important players for us.”
