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Gold shares what Santo has told him about fitness of Tottenham players, after heavy Chelsea defeat
Alasdair Gold shared on the that Nuno Espirito Santo told him just how little he has had to work with a full Tottenham squad.
Tottenham were hammered 3-0 against Chelsea in front of their own fans. That is, despite drawing 0-0 at half-time after a solid first 45.
N’Golo Kante was introduced at half-time and it seemingly made a big change. But not just that, Spurs looked as though they dropped off.
Fitness might be an issue, and a Thursday night outing in the Europa League cannot have helped. But Spurs lacked the intensity of the first half.
Speaking after, Football London reporter Gold shared what Nuno told him – expressing his frustration at a lack of time to work with a full squad.
“Spurs dropped off what they were doing so well. That is a fitness thing – Nuno told me afterwards, the amount of time to work with the full squad.
“I looked at it properly. It’s the amount of time he’s had to work with his players. As a full squad, I think we’re talking two to three weeks.
“In pre-season, the bulk of the ‘big players’ as it were, came back in the last fortnight to a week, some of them. Some of them just in the final days.
“Kane and Ndombele sagas, too. Then he gets a little bit of time to work with them, Spurs win three games, qualify for group stages, looking good.
“International break takes three players who were likely to start a lot of matches away, isolates them in Croatia. Five others get injured.”
Gold shares Nuno chat: Tottenham gaffer right to feel frustrated
Nuno’s tactics were on full show in the first half, and it nullified an in-form Chelsea side. In fact, they were the better team for the entire 45.
It was the same tactics that saw Spurs beat Manchester City 1-0, and win their first three matches. But in the second half, fitness levels dropped.
Work rate reduced, the desire dipped. Harry Kane was dropping deeper and deeper, the England skipper proving a detriment to his own side.
If Nuno had the players as fit as he would like them, his tactics might have seen Tottenham win against Chelsea. But he has not been able to do that.
Instead, he has had different groups of players throughout the summer. That lack of fitness, lack of time to get his tactics across, has proved crucial.
