Tottenham back-to-back friendlies a good rehearsal

Back-to-back friendlies with help Tottenham Hotspur prepare for the season.

With the compacted summer and looming qualifying schedule, Tottenham Hotspur have a good chance to mimic the fixture congestion with back-to-back friendlies.

Simultaneous competitions put Tottenham in the unique position of possibly playing on consecutive days – common for youngsters but virtually unheard of at this level of competition.

With consecutive preseason friendlies on Friday against Reading and Saturday against Birmingham City, Spurs can get a taste of two fixtures in two days.

Tottenham fixture problems

You can blame Chelsea for failing to beat Arsenal or blame Arsenal for somehow beating Chelsea and winning the FA Cup. You could blame the injuries of last season or even Mauricio Pochettino for the terrible start.

In the end, it does not matter where the finger is pointed, the reality is, Tottenham Hotspur have a major clash of fixtures in September as the club tries to manage three fronts simultaneously through League Cup and Europa League qualifying midweek and Premier League on the weekends.

As a child, I can remember even playing two games on the same day at a tournament, and basketball is often played at the professional level on back-to-back days. However, a basketball game involves a lot of starting and stopping over 48 minutes of play and lots of substitutions.

A football match is nearly twice that long – officially – and likely even longer in reality of total time played. Factor in the fact that teams will again be back to only three substitutes and you are talking about some potentially playing nearly 200 minutes of a professional sport across two days. Then have a day or two to rest and then be back at it again. Any way we slice it, the fixture list has put a big challenge in front of Spurs.

Spurs balancing act

The reality is Tottenham is going to have to rotate and rotate heavily to get through such a mess. The good news is that Spurs have some depth in some places – like the midfield and keeper – but are seriously lacking or have major question marks in other parts of the pitch – fullbacks or strikers anyone?

Taking on two teams over two days, particularly from the Championship level, really does mimic the competition of playing Europa League and the EFL Cup on back-to-back nights.

Reading was firmly midtable last season in the Championship and Birmingham City was less than a full match away from the relegation zone. However, that level is like what they will see in the third round of the EFL Cup and maybe even slightly better than the competition in the second and third qualifying rounds of Europa League. Those teams should all be better than the Ipswich side Tottenham began the preseason beating.

While these two matches are like any other preseason friendly in that Jose Mourinho is likely to test out different combinations and formations, they are also a major benchmark toward the team’s readiness for the demands coming in just a few weeks. If Spurs can meet the challenge and field a completely different XI for the two contests and win them both handily, then maybe Tottenham is ready for the season ahead.

If Tottenham does not handle their business in those two friendlies, maybe it sends an appropriate warning shot to Daniel Levy and the board about the need to spend the money required to compete with such a demanding schedule.

With the adjusted timing for the season, the transfer window is open until October 5. Given the extended opening for the window and early congestion, maybe Spurs wait to see what happens and how many fronts they are actually competing on, or maybe they are pushed to action from the friendlies.

Regardless, we are going to find out just how prepared or unprepared Tottenham is for what lies ahead and luckily, Spurs will have some picture of that preparation before the costs are real. What do you think, how will Mourinho and company handle the back-to-backs this weekend and in the weeks to come?