No Break for Spurs Boss Pochettino While Senior Players Are on International Duty
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has revealed his plans for the next two weeks, whilst most of his senior players are with their national teams.
With Tottenham boasting a strong squad filled with international players, the Hotspur Way training ground will be very quiet over the next couple of weeks. However, Pochettino insists that there is still plenty of work to be done before the Premier League returns on Easter weekend.
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The Argentine is very committed to his work, arriving at the training ground at 7am and leaving long after the players and most of the staff have departed, and the international break will not bring any changes to that schedule for Pochettino and his coaching team.
After gifting everyone with the day off on Sunday, following Spurs' 0-3 victory over Swansea that took the North London side through to the FA Cup semi finals, the 46-year-old resumed training on Monday morning.
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Lucas Moura, Erik Lamela, Fernando Llorente, Moussa Sissoko, Michel Vorm, Paulo Gazzaniga and Juan Foyth remain with the club through the international break. And Pochettino will take this time to particularly focus on working with, January signing, Lucas.
The Brazilian moved to London from PSG in the winter transfer window, and Pochettino has admitted that the winger needs time to adapt to Spurs' style of football, as it is very different to how is was playing in Ligue 1.
"It's true that he still needs to adapt his quality to the team. We're trying to build his fitness and adapt his characteristics to the team. PSG is a completely different demand, standard and philosophy from here," the Spurs boss told football.london.
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"We're helping him. That is about training, understanding the position and being capable of making efforts with and without the ball. But we're so pleased with how he's adapting himself to the team."
Juan Foyth is another player that Pochettino and his coaching team are helping to develop. The defender is only 20-years-old, and the Spurs boss believes he can become a top defender for the club.
"Juan is 20 now and a great talent. He only needs time to adapt himself to the Premier League. He is going to surprise many people. Juan is a great kid with a lot of quality to become one of the fantastic centre-backs in the Premier League and Europe too," said the Argentinian coach.
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With so many players missing at the training ground over the next two weeks, Pochettino will be turning to some of his academy players to make up the numbers.
Youngsters such as, Keanan Bennetts, Samuel Shashoua and Kazaiah Sterling, who have missed out on international call-ups themselves, could be some of the young prospects to benefit from inclusion in first team training.
One big name that will be around the Hotspur Way training facility is Harry Kane. The striker is currently recovering from an ankle ligament injury he picked up against Bournemouth on March 11th. Therefore, Pochettino and his staff will be keeping an eye on the recovery of Spurs' top goalscorer too.
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Kane is expected to return to training at the beginning of April, which would make him available for Tottenham's game against Stoke on April 7th. However, the Spurs star is known for making a speedy recovery and will surely have his eye on his sides clash against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge the week before.
Pochettino will reportedly allow a few days in the middle of the international break for himself and the players to have a rest and spend some time with their families. The Argentinian often takes this opportunity to visit Barcelona with his loved ones.
Next week the Spurs players will then return from their national teams as and when they have completed their friendlies, to prepare for Premier League action against bitter rivals Chelsea.
(You may also be interested in ''We're Still Far Away' Insists Spurs Boss Mauricio Pochettino After FA Cup Quarter-Final Victory')
