Spurs: Pochettino On Euro Struggles; fresh striker required; new contracts prepared

By Dan Zeqiri

Mauricio Pochettino says that his Spurs charges are still adjusting following a truncated pre-season due to the European Championship in France.

Tottenham have not quite scaled the heights of last season in terms of performance levels, but remain unbeaten in the Premier League.

They host struggling Sunderland today in the day’s later kick off and are heavy favourites to pick up all three points.

The Spurs boss said: “It was difficult because of the Euros, they come late, we were in Australia and some players started to play with only 10 days’ or 14 days’ training.

“It is difficult to understand why in every game we have some period in the first half that is difficult to get the pace of the game and to manage and handle the game like we normally used to do.

“And then in the second half it is like we need that from the manager and the staff to wake up and say, ‘this is the reality’, we need to change and then say, ‘now yes we are going to do our job’.”

Spurs’ English contingent of Kyle Walker, Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Delle Alli and Harry Kane were heavily involved with England and Hugo Lloris reached the final with France.

It is a problem that all the top clubs have had to contend with, but it is to Spurs’ credit that they have emerged unbeaten after a sticky start to the campaign.

Stan Collymore has used his Daily Mirror column to suggest that Daniel Levy should have spent big on a striker in the summer to ease to load on Harry Kane.

Kane has scored only one goal this season, and endured a difficult tournament with England as he looked short of energy and sharpness.

Collymore said: “I lay the blame for Kane’s lack of freshness with Spurs, because they could – and should – have splashed the cash to sign a world-renowned centre-forward to complement him by now.

“This summer, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy knew he had the added revenue from the Champions League and a third-place finish in the Premier League, so why he didn’t shell out for such as Gonzalo Higuain or Edinson Cavani is beyond me.”

Finally, The Sun are reporting that Spurs are keen to push through three new contracts for Danny Rose, Dele Alli and Kyle Walker.

It is vital that Spurs tie down their key players ahead of their stadium move, when budgets to spend on new players could be reduced slightly.

Rose and Walker were figures of ridicule among rival fans, but have flourished under Pochettino and established themselves as England internationals, and Dele Alli’s rapid rise to prominence has meant that any of Europe’s elite clubs must be considering recruiting the youngster into their ranks. Spurs would be wise to complete this business as promptly as possible.

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