Tottenham: Harry Kane hopes to build ‘strong relationship’ with Jose Mourinho

The striker has scored three goals in the manager’s first two games in charge

Harry Kane wants to build a "strong relationship" with Jose Mourinho that will help take Tottenham Hotspur to the next level.

Kane is going to be central to Mourinho’s spell at Spurs and his three goals in the first two games show that the England captain is ready to step up.

Kane, whose brace in the 4-2 win over Olympiacos helped book a Champions League knock-out place, was a staunch supporter of former boss Mauricio Pochettino, but he knows Mourinho could be the man to help him achieve his goal of winning silverware with Spurs.

The Portuguese coach has a record of strong relationships with strikers, with Didier Drogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Diego Costa all excelling under him and Kane wants to add his name to that list.

“It’s early days, we have a good relationship so far, we talk, we try and help the team,” Kane, who became the fastest player to 20 Champions League goals, said.

“Obviously me being one of the leaders in the team he looks to me for feelings and advice on the team. When you are winning games it definitely helps your relationship. Hopefully we can build a strong relationship.

“We know we both want to win big competitions. That’s the team’s aim, that’s my aim and that is the manager’s aim. Hopefully I can help him do that this year and see where we can go.

“He’s a new manager, he’s been here less than a week, he’s had two games. So far it’s been all about trying to save the energy, not trying to work too much with the players because of the games.

“But we obviously have a long season ahead so I am sure we will get to know each other well over the next few weeks and implement what he wants on our team. But at the end of the day it’s two wins out of two, positive start so let’s hope it continues.”

Harry Kane is keen to forge a strong relationship with new Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho (AFP via Getty)

Kane admits he was unsure what to expect at half-time as Spurs put in a horror show in the opening 30 minutes against the Greek side.

They found themselves 2-0 down and Mourinho was forced into a tactical change on the half-hour, but Dele Alli‘s goal just before the break changed the complexion of the game – and possibly Mourinho’s team-talk.

“You never know,” the England captain said after being asked if he thought the hairdryer was coming at half-time. “It was calm, scoring just before half-time obviously helped. We just said, ‘We can’t play any worse than we have done so be calm, have a bit more freedom and energy, get the crowd off their feet’. That’s what we did, we came out created more chances, took our chances.

“Scoring the second goal early on definitely helped, we were calm, the manager was calm – he knows we can play better than that, we know we can play better than that and we did that in the second half.”

Spurs are through to the last 16 for the third successive year and it means they can travel to Bayern Munich for the final Group B game with their position in second guaranteed. They enjoyed a memorable run in last season’s knock-out stages, culminating in a run to the final, and Kane wants his side to build on that.

“It was important we qualified, we didn’t want to leave it until the last game,” he added. “After going 2-0 down it was a disappointing start but credit to the boys for digging deep and finding a great performance in the second half and getting through.

“We know what we did last year in the knock-out stages and we have to take that positive energy and try and do similar and go even further. We have got a quality squad, no doubt about that. We have got one of the best squads in Europe.

“In football when things don’t go your way it is easy to maybe drop your levels a little bit and you end up going on a downward spiral and you have got to pick it up. Last couple of games we have done that bit we know we have a lot of hard work to continue that.”

PA