Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen Rescue Hapless Tottenham Against Leicester

Tottenham Hotspur beat Leicester City 4-3 at White Hart Lane in a thrilling match that kept Spurs' flickering Champions League qualification hopes alive. 

Harry Kane had a brace within 15 minutes and capped his hat-trick with a second-half penalty.

Kane is now the Premier League's top scorer and, with 29 goals in all competitions, has more goals in a season than all but three Tottenham players since 1970. Shockingly, Kane has already more than doubled the club's top scorer from last season (Emmanuel Adebayor had just 14). 

With eight games remaining, Kane can legitimately target Gary Lineker's total of 35 from 1991–92. 

Christian Eriksen made the eventual winning goal, forcing Jeffrey Schlupp to turn it into his own net. Eriksen was back to his best throughout the match. He has been reticent to take on opposition defenders in recent weeks, but he ran at Leicester repeatedly, and his industry should have been rewarded. 

Kane's brilliant season continues to paper over the cracks in what has been a season of slow progress.

Those moments masked a shambolic performance from the rest of Tottenham's team. Nacer Chadli had one of his worst games since joining from FC Twente, spurning numerous chances to extend Spurs' lead and consistently exposing Danny Rose to Leicester's right-side attack. 

Even worse than Chadli's dire display was the incompetent performance of Tottenham's back line. 

Tim Ireland/Associated Press

When Mauricio Pochettino sets out with Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason in front of the defence, they provide less cover than would be ideal. Spurs' back four are asked to do far more work than they would need to if they had a specialist defensive midfielder, but that doesn't excuse the sloppiness of Spurs' individual defenders. 

Kyle Walker created Spurs' second goal with his explosive pace, but his disengaged performance on the defensive side allowed Leicester far too much space. Seemingly backing his ability to chase down Jamie Vardy, Walker consistently allowed the Leicester striker to get away from him. 

Vardy was a constant thorn in Spurs' defence in part due to the unacceptable performance of Walker. 

Danny Rose was also given a torrid time on the other flank but was easily Spurs' best defender on the day.

Tottenham's central defensive pairing were shambolic. Simple errors undid them time and again. A better side would have scored even more than the three Leicester managed. 

Jan Vertonghen lacked aggression and provided none of the leadership he his supposed to bring to the relatively youthful back line. Eric Dier was slightly less poor than his partner but drifted dangerously and lacked discipline. 

Tim Ireland/Associated Press

The minimal experience in Tottenham's very young team is, at times, painfully obvious. Kane plays more like a veteran than any of his team-mates but this was just his 38th Premier League appearance. Vertonghen must take control when his team is floundering, but he struggled as much as any of them against Leicester. 

Spurs' major problem this season has been defending. While Pochettino has helped end the club's reputation for being soft, he is yet to solve the defensive issues that have plagued this group of players for two seasons at least. 

Not since the dullest days of Andre Villas-Boas' tenure have Spurs been dependable defensively. No fan would call for a return to that turgid style of football but Pochettino must strike a better balance. The performance against Leicester was just this side of chaos. 

If Pochettino is determined to continue with the pairing of Mason and Bentaleb in front of Spurs' defence, he must instil steely discipline in his back line.

Basic defending would be a significant step up from the display against Leicester, and Pochettino must eradicate those simple mistakes if Spurs are to have any say in the race for the top four. 

Tottenham have eight games to play in this season, and while they are still looking up the table at five teams all jostling for two places, they have a chance to sneak into the top four. Most of their fixtures are winnable. Matches against Southampton and Manchester City could be decisive, but they won't be in a position to threaten the Champions League places if they continue to make such unacceptable defensive errors. 

Kane and Eriksen have been Spurs' two best and most important outfield players this season but this match stretched that concept to an absurd extent. Without either of them, Spurs would likely have lost this game. 

The fact Pochettino's men managed to hold on to claim three points is, essentially, a good thing. The nature of the victory is cause for alarm, and this is not the first such performance this season.  

Spurs have the nucleus of an excellent team. Many of their players seem custom-made to flourish in the physically demanding Premier League and Pochettino has been the architect of their finest performances, but his team has some fundamental weaknesses. They have been repeatedly exploited this season, and that is cause for concern. 

Tottenham's players, Kane and Eriksen apart, were the problem against Leicester, but Pochettino clearly has more work to do.