England fans left fuming after Conte states Harry Kane 'really tired' ahead of Qatar World Cup 2022

Just over a week before Harry Kane leads England into the battle for the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte claimed that the star striker is suffering from fatigue. Kane was started by Conte in the Lilly Whites' 2-0 EFL Carabao Cup loss to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday due to a lack of alternative options.

The England captain started each of Tottenham's 21 games in all competitions this season before being replaced at the hour mark. Son Heung-min is presently out for Conte with a shattered eye socket, and Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski are recovering from injuries.

Also read: Ronaldo fans troll Messi after Man United icon flaunts ball control skills during training

"He was really, really tired. Yesterday we had a soft training session, really soft and at one point he stopped himself to recover energy," said Conte.

"I repeat he's okay, it's only fatigue, but it is normal because Harry played every game. When you have a player like him it is difficult to decide not to play with him," the Italian added.

The group stages of European club championships were condensed into two months to create room in the schedule for the first mid-season World Cup. Tottenham will have played 13 games in 42 days before the World Cup break by the time they take on Leeds on Saturday.

"Harry Kane showed to be a really good man also," added Conte as he thanked his players for not pulling out of games to save themselves for their countries.

"But not only him it is the same for (Pierre-Emile) Hojbjerg, (Rodrigo) Bentancur, (Ivan) Perisic, (Eric) Dier. We faced a bad situation about the injuries and we arrive at the end in difficulty. Now we have to try to rest and recover energy," the Tottenham boss concluded.

Following this admission by Conte, England fans have been left worried, with some taking to Twitter to slam the Tottenham boss for bringing him on for Wednesday's clash.

"Nice solution playing him in a nothing competition," said one fan. Another supporter stated, "Don't play him against Leeds; we'll lose either way."

A third fan added, "Yet he still started him. Conte's a fucking moron." A fourth fan remarked, "An England player is going to get injured this weekend, you can be certain of that. And the fault will lay entirely at the feet of the FA who didn’t have the backbone to stand up against the nonsense that has transpired in the last 12 years."

Also read: Fans erupt with joy after South Korea's Son Heung-min declares himself fit for Qatar World Cup 2022

Here's a look at some of the other reactions on the micro-blogging site: