Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that a chat with Manchester City assistant manager Mikel Arteta convinced him that his players cannot be tired after the World Cup.
Spurs have lost three games in a row and many of their players have been accused of being fatigued after their summer excursions in Russia, however Pochettino says that is not the case.
“I was talking with Mikel Arteta and their players agreed to have only 15 days’ holidays,” he told the Express. “Maybe I am talking too much – okay, they arrive one week before our players. We wanted to be fair with everyone.”
England captain Harry Kane has come in for particular criticism after failing to replicate his stunning form from last season at the beginning of this campaign.
OPINION
It seems strange that Pochettino would come out and reveal the exact amount of time that his players had off compared to their City counterparts, but clearly the Argentine is growing frustrated at cries of tiredness by way of explanation for their poor start to the season. It’s easy to blame fatigue when players struggle after an international tournament, and it’s a very valid excuse, but there are plenty of teams who also had many players playing at the World Cup. Tottenham, with their English and Belgian contingent, have clearly suffered more than others sides, but there’s more to their poor form than mere tiredness. It seems that that is what Pochettino is getting at, too. He doesn’t want to make excuses for his team, and he’s irritated that other people are. City don’t seem to be suffering from their earlier start, so Pochettino is right to dismiss tiredness as the sole cause of Spurs’s troubles.