Toby Alderweireld: Tottenham Will Be Prepared Next Season
Tottenham Hotspur’s season ended just six days ago but Toby Alderweireld is already prepared for next season. Where he and his teammates expect to do much better this time around.
Six days ago, Tottenham’s season came to an abrupt and painful end at the hands of Newcastle United after they managed to dissect and pick apart Spurs’ vaunted defense for 90 minutes. Twenty-three of those minutes were played by a 10-man Magpies side after Aleksandar Mitrović was ejected following his second yellow card.
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Still, despite the bad taste left in everyone’s mouth after succumbing to a relegated club with one of their worst performances of the season, Toby Alderweireld is optimistic that next year will resemble their mid-season form when they were title contenders alongside Leicester City from February and onwards.
Rather than what was shown when they managed just two points in their final four games while going on a winless streak to close out a highly successful 2015-16 campaign and finishing third, behind their local rivals in Arsenal.
Speaking with Sky Sports, Alderweireld reflected on Tottenham’s defeat to Newcastle while also looking to next season and how Spurs will be better equipped to handle the rigors of a Premier League title challenge.
“Of course we were very disappointed because all of Tottenham wanted to get second you know but overall at the end we have to think we had a good season,” Toby Alderweireld said.
“I think it was our worst game of the season and we didn’t want that to happen so like I said next season is a new season.”
“We have got guaranteed Champions League football which we have not had for a couple of years so it is the next step for the club. That’s important and next season we can come back stronger.”
Helping Tottenham potentially reclaim their place as a top four club and challenging for the Premier League title once again is the simple fact that Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United will all have question marks to begin the 2016-17 season. Liverpool is the only exception.
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Obviously for Arsenal, it’s whether Arsène Wenger will remain as manager. After that, can they finally find a way to put things together and separate themselves from the rest of the pack to win the league title once again?
Chelsea will have a new manager in Antonio Conte. And for the Italian manager, he will have to fix a squad that was divided when José Mourino was still managing. Guus Hiddink was exceptional as a caretaker and while they improved since he took over, the Blues fell below their expectations after winning the Premier League last season.
Liverpool won’t have to deal with European football for at least a year so they could jump right into the thick of things and could be a dark horse to sneak into the top four alongside Tottenham and Leicester (on paper).
Both Manchester clubs will have new managers, and although they will have plenty of money to spend once again — like the rest of the league will — can simply buying a bunch of players make them title contenders instantly?
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Tottenham have their own faults as well, and it mostly stems from a lack of depth and being mentally stronger. But the starting XI is one of the best in the league in of itself. They are a young bunch based on average age, but have shown that they can go on a run of form and are better equipped to stay on top as one of the better clubs to challenge Leicester City as champions.
Toby Alderweireld practically said it best: Spurs want to win. Period.
“We want to win it, and we will go for it. I think we now have a different mindset from the one we had at the beginning of this season.”
“Then we were thinking the top four would be brilliant now we are thinking more than that, we want to go one better.”