Jose Mourinho Says Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura Can't Replace Harry Kane

Jose Mourinho believes Tottenham Hotspur are operating without a striker while Harry Kane is injured because the club's other attackers can't do the England international's job.

Specifically, Mourinho thinks neither Heung-Min Son nor Lucas Moura can play through the middle the way Kane can, per Dan Kilpatrick of the London Evening Standard:

Mourinho spoke after watching Kane-less Spurs be taken to a replay in the 2020 FA Cup following Sunday's 1-1 draw with Championship side Middlesbrough. In particular, the Tottenham boss lamented the absence of a player who might have finished off the moves his team created at the Riverside Stadium, per Kilpatrick:

"It also frustrated me that we arrived after so much creation we arrived in so many scoring positions and then the last ball, the last cross, the simple one, we did it only once with a good cross for a good header. Of course, it's a new thing for the team to play without Harry, without a striker.

"We tried to give them the mobility of Son and Lucas, we tried to give that to the team but it was not easy. [At the end] we played with six attacking players without a striker."

Sunday's game was the Lilywhites' first adapting to Kane's absence. The prolific No. 10 tore his hamstring during a 1-0 defeat away to Southampton in the Premier League on New Year's Day.

Tottenham confirmed the nature of the injury on Friday but provided no immediate timetable for the recovery of their goalscoring talisman, per BBC Sport.

Ironically, for all of Mourinho's assertions otherwise, it was Moura who netted the equaliser against Middlesbrough. The winger got his head to a terrific cross from raiding right-back Serge Aurier:

It was a true striker's finish, with Moura hovering centrally inside the penalty box when the ball came in. He operated in the role more regularly at times last season and enjoyed a fair amount of success.

Moura's best games came during the run to the UEFA Champions League final. He booked Tottenham's passage from the final four with a brilliant hat-trick against Ajax in Amsterdam.

Moura has the pace to trouble any defence when running through central areas. Unfortunately for the former Paris Saint-Germain ace, he was shunted back to the wing for the final when Kane returned from injury.

Kane looked off the pace and Spurs lost 2-0 to Liverpool. As fate would have it, the Reds are Tottenham's next opponents, with the Premier League leaders visiting north London on Saturday.

Putting Moura in the middle would be an excellent way for Mourinho to unnerve Liverpool at the back.

Alternatively, Son could earn a run of games as a centre-forward. He's played the role before, during his days with Bayer Leverkusen, but Son is generally more effective drifting in from the left.

Mourinho may be best served going with split strikers, having Son and Moura roam the inside channels and leaving more room for Dele Alli's late runs from midfield.

What Mourinho's dilemma sans Kane highlights is the lack of natural centre-forwards in the squad. Fernando Llorente left for Napoli in the summer, leaving 17-year-old Troy Parrott as one of the few viable options:

Mourinho's adamant statements that none of his other attackers can do what Kane does sound like a coded call for Spurs to make a signing during the January window. The 56-year-old is said to be lobbying for a replacement for his main striker, according to Ian McGarry of the Transfer Window Podcast (h/t Adam Powers of the Daily Express).

Spurs have been frugal at times under chairman Daniel Levy, notably not signing a single player during the two windows preceding last summer. However, defeat at the hands of Liverpool would likely prompt calls to spend during Kane's spell on the treatment table to grow louder.