Pochettino: Exhaustion No Excuse for Spurs

Mauricio Pochettino declined to factor in his Spurs’ busy fixture list in the last week during Friday’s pre-conference ahead of the North London Derby.

Tottenham played Monday against Aston Villa in the Premier League and Thursday in the Europa League against Anderlecht. They won both matches, but Pochettino has been questioned about his refusal to rotate more in the lead up to Sunday’s match against Arsenal.

Particularly with Spurs’ style of play so focused around near-constant movement in all phases of play, there’s a concern that Pochettino’s players won’t be fully fit to face off against their local rivals in one of their biggest matches of the season so far.

“We are a very young squad and we run a lot, sometimes the effort that we make is a lot,” Pochettino began. “But I’m not complaining, it’s not an excuse. We are very strong in our minds and the way we showed character [against Anderlecht and Aston Villa] shows that we are ready to compete in a good way and will try 100% to win the game.”

Injuries have limited Pochettino’s options in the past few weeks, though he’s still preferred roughly the same starting XI even as his side returns to fitness. Spurs’ most expensive signing of the summer, Korean international Heung-min Son, is fit again for Sunday’s visit to the Emirates but still might not find himself in the starting XI. The players that have started in his absence – most notably Mousa Dembélé – are simply in too good form to be dropped ahead of such a contentious game.

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That Pochettino is able to ask so much of a select few players – both in matches and on the training field – comes down to two key areas.

One, the vast majority of his team have been training under Pochettino’s style for a full year at this point. Their fitness levels have grown considerably over that time, allowing them to stay in games longer and recover in relatively short turnovers between matches.

Two, Spurs have overhauled and improved how the backroom staff help coordinate training and recovery.

“It’s not because we have a young squad,” Pochettino said. “It’s because of the way we are training, our sports science and our medical staff. When you push the players every day, sometimes double sessions, it is very hard for them to suffer in the way that we push them. You can be proud of how they recovered [between Aston Villa and Anderlecht]. It is not a miracle, they work hard from the beginning of the season.”

Even as Spurs recovery times have clearly improved so far this season – they’ve won three and drawn once in games played after Thursday night Europa League fixtures – it remains to be seen how long this can be sustained. One has to only look across London at Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea to see the long-term effects of lack of rotation.

Next: Key Battles: Arsenal v Tottenham

The Blues began last season in spectacular form, competing on multiple fronts with relatively little squad rotation game to game. While it served them well in the first half of the season, by the time February hit Chelsea’s players were visibly spent. Cesc Fabregas’ form in particular dropped, and Mourinho was forced to play a much more cynical style of football – one that required considerably less effort from his players – in order to hold on and win the Premier League title.

It remains to be seen if Spurs will hit the same wall come 2016. For the time being, though, it’s simply enough to get results when the club needs them most.