Mauricio Pochettino admits Tottenham's Harry Kane still needs more time to get back to his best

Mauricio Pochettino has admitted that Harry Kane still needs more time to get back to his best after returning from an ankle injury.

Kane returned to the first-team just three weeks after injuring ankle ligaments last month but since then he has not been at the same level as he was earlier in the season. In one substitute appearance and four starts Kane has scored twice, including one controversial goal at Stoke City, and against Manchester United on Saturday he was not his normal dangerous self.

While Kane himself insists that he “feels sharp”, denying his ankle was a problem, manager Pochettino conceded that he was still recovering his best form. “It’s not easy after injury,” Pochettino said when asked about Kane. “Harry needs time to recover his best.”

When Kane himself was asked about his fitness, said that he did not feel a problem with his ankle, and that the injury was a convenient explanation for what is only a minor dip.

“I feel good, I feel sharp,” Kane said. “The ankle feels fine, no problems. It’s been a tough week. For me personally, can I do better? Probably, yeah. Can the team do better? Yeah. It’s a collective effort.”

The fact that he came back so fast has prompted questions that he should have taken longer over his recovery, but Kane did not agree. “That's people's opinion,” Kane said.

“People are always going to look for something to say when maybe you're not firing at your best. At the end of the day, I've still scored two in my last four, it's not the worst in the world. But when you set standards, people are going to look for things when you're not at them. I'm the same. I want to be better, I want to do better, I wanted to do better today. But it wasn't to be."

Pochettino meanwhile raised the possibility of playing young players in next year’s FA Cup, having put so much into this year’s campaign only to fall again at the penultimate hurdle. “Yes, I am thinking with Tottenham to play with kids the next time,” he said, responding to a question about the cost of the effort of getting this far.

“I agree with you. Because it’s so unfair when you lose but it is my job to be criticised when we don’t win. The problem is the perception sometimes is not realistic. But maybe yes, next we will provide the possibility to play with kids and I’m sure it will be fantastic for experience and everything. Then we stop to arrive in this situation.”