Tottenham strike ace Harry Kane admits Euros were bad but says he has now turned a corner
England man Kane insists he's put Iceland misery behind him and reckons he feels better than ever ahead of new season
HARRY KANE has turned a corner — after spending the summer taking them.
The England striker insists he has put his Euro 2016 misery behind him and is ready to lead Tottenham on another top-four assault.
Kane will once again spearhead the Spurs attack in their Prem opener at Everton this afternoon.
In his first interview since the Three Lions flopped in France, he said: “I am probably feeling as good going into a season as ever.
“I seem to be getting physically better with each year. And mentally I’m in top shape.
“I have put the summer behind me.
“It was disappointing. We were all excited going into it, I know I was. I went into it with a lot of hope.
“But football does not always pan out the way you want. It’s about moving on now and doing my job for Tottenham.”
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Honest Kane, last term’s Prem top scorer, is the first to admit he did not have the best Euros, where he was bizarrely put on corner-taking duty by crackpot Roy Hodgson.
The Spurs hero failed to the find the net in France as England were KO’d by underdogs Iceland in the last 16.
He admitted: “If I said I had a good Euros I would be lying. It was a new experience for me and something I have to learn from and improve, but that’s what I do.
“I always like to look back and see what I could have done better. But I still can’t put my finger on what went wrong.
“The squad was optimistic going into the tournament, we started well and it just fell apart. It was one of those things.
"We all have to learn but I can’t get too down about it. The new season is here and I have to be prepared. So there is no time to dwell.”
Kane was not the only Three Lions player who was below par — but he came in for particularly strong criticism.
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino said he believed his rising star was made a scapegoat.
But Kane — who supports the Noah’s Ark children’s hospice and asks you to do the same — said: “Criticism is part of the job, you can’t expect praise all the time. You are going to get stick from time to time and it is how you cope with that.
“I have had downs while trying to make it at Tottenham and I took a lot of criticism along the way.
“That is why things that were said and written about me at the Euros have not knocked my confidence at all. I will go on the pitch and keep doing what I am doing.
“People are entitled to their opinions. But I am coming off the back of two good seasons in the Premier League with Tottenham.”
That will terrify Spurs’ rivals who have seen Kane net 21 and 25 goals in his first two full Prem campaigns.
But Pochettino has already stated one thing Kane will not be doing is taking corners after Hodgson’s tactic left us all bemused.
Kane said: “It was the manager’s choice and I always listens to the manager and follows instructions.
“The issue got blown out of proportion a bit because we weren’t winning games like we wanted to.
“But that’s football. You have to be able to take the bad with the good.”