3 reasons why Tottenham Hotspur will have a slow start this season
Tottenham Hotspurs under Mauricio Pochettino has only seen progress. The Argentinian has turned the tides at the North London club since his arrival from Southampton in 2014. If we plot a development graph since his arrival, we would see a steady inclination. Just after 24 months, he led Spurs to their highest ever Premier League finish in the 2016-17 season. And in doing so, he shut all the Gunners who celebrated ‘St Totteringham’s day’ for past 22 years. Although Spurs finished 3rd (still above Arsenal) in the league last season, they were lauded for their heroics in the Champions League when they topped their group consisting European heavyweights Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid. That accounts for something in such a short span of time. Not only that, the English FA should be thanking him for promoting a pool of English youths in the first team and many of them were a part of Gareth Southgate's plan in Russia.
While Spurs are used have a strong start season under Pochettino. They lost just once in their first five league fixtures last season and none in the season before that. However, despite all the positives, the Lilywhites might struggle at the start of the next season and here is why:
#1 World Cup after-effect
Mauricio Pochettino’s men were heavily involved in the World Cup. Not only that most of the players went into the latter stages of the tournament.
Playing in the World Cup may provide some phycological advantages and reaching the latter stages may boost the players’ confidence. But they can’t escape the enervation that comes with it.
Spurs have had a total of 12 players involved in the World Cup of which 9 reached beyond the quarterfinals. That means they were in action until mid-July. So, they will have less time for recovery than who went home by June end.
Not only that, Tottenham’s players played a total of 4816 minutes and covered a combined distance of about 515 Kms at the World Cup, which is more than any other Premier League club. While their rivals will start the season a bit fresher than them, Spurs will find themselves on the backseat here.