Jose Mourinho launched a statistical defence of his record with strikers on Monday following claims by Paul Merson that Harry Kane will struggle under the Tottenham head coach's tactics.
Merson claimed Kane would want to leave Spurs because of Mourinho's style of play, but the Portuguese came out firing, reading out the goalscoring stats of all of his former strikers as part of a lengthy defence.
He finished a long answer by saying: "Dear Paul, I have respect for you but I think Harry Kane has no problems at all to score goals in my teams."
What Paul Merson said about Kane and Mourinho
"When Jose took the job I worried for Harry Kane. He played under [Mauricio] Pochettino and Tottenham had a go wherever they went.
"There were goals, crosses, shots - he's going to be playing up front on his own and it's going to be hard work.
"In the end he's trying to hit 60 yard passes just to get involved in the game, and that's not Harry Kane.
"He's definitely not fit; they played virtually with 10 men. I can't remember how many times he touched the ball in the whole game.
"But I think he'll have a serious think at the end of the season. I don't see him getting 25, 30 goals next season the way Jose will want to play.
"And he [Mourinho] won't want to play like he did when he first got in there - 4-2s and 5-3s, no way! He'll like the games like last night, the 1-1s."
More to follow.
