Mauricio Pochettino blames England Under-21 call-up for Harry Kane woes

London: Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has blamed Harry Kane`s poor form on his appearance for England at the Under-21 European Championships. 

Kane is still waiting for his first Tottenham goal this season and has been a shadow of the player who established himself as one of the Premier League`s best strikers last term.

Pochettino had been eager to protect Kane after his breakthrough campaign and expressed reservations about his involvement in the under-21 European Championships during the close-season in the Czech Republic.

But Pochettino`s hopes of Kane being left out were not heeded and he hasn`t looked sharp since arriving late for pre-season training following a tournament in which he failed to score a single goal.

"The striker sometimes needs confidence and trust and maybe he has lost his confidence a little bit," Pochettino said.

"It`s our job to give back his confidence so he can start to score. I think he is the same person and he has the same mentality as last season.

"But maybe at the end of the season he rested, went to the Euros, didn`t score at the Euros after three games, he came back late for pre-season and you need time to recover.

"Sometimes you are not in the best scoring condition when you start to play and your confidence goes down.

"It`s not easy to recover because it`s not only physical, also mental. It`s true that maybe the summer did not help."