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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Dom Smith

Ange Postecoglou backs Richarlison to find feet at Tottenham after Harry Kane departure

Ange Postecoglou says there is no benefit in comparing Tottenham’s new No 9 Richarlison to Harry Kane.

Kane left for Bayern Munich a fortnight ago, and Brazilian forward Richarlison has moved into the central role to replace him as Spurs’ main striker.

But despite Richarlison’s failure to net in Tottenham’s first two league games, their manager is not worried about Richarlison and insists the striker does not need to emulate Kane to be a success.

“All I can look at is behaviours and the way he’s training and playing”, Postecoglou said about the way the Brazilian is settling into the role.

“I don’t know that there’s that much of a burden there to carry. Ultimately, this football club needed to change. I think everyone at the club’s got to grips that Harry is gone. He’s gone off to a new challenge and I’m sure he’ll do very well over there. We’ve got our own challenge now.

“I don’t think there’s any use in comparing yourself to something that’s no longer here and is no longer relevant. It would be different if it was on the back of a successful era.”

Meanwhile, the Aussie was not willing to announce who Tottenham’s new penalty taker is, but picked James Maddison, Son Heung-min and Richarlison out as three of the most consistent in training.

Spurs visit Bournemouth on Saturday at the Vitality Stadium.

Postecoglou said: “I saw a few of them trying today. I think Sonny is up there. I think Madders and Richy are all sort of in there. [Yves] Bissouma I’ve seen take about 500 and miss about 495. But he’s still out there practising, so I don’t know. It’s somewhere within that order.”

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