Is Spurs pre-season match planning and schedule in their best interest?

[NeverRed]

Slight peeve...

Just seen that Arsenal are playing twice in 2 days against good opposition, namely Benfica & now Monaco. So a chance for each of 2 string sets of players to get a decent (70+ mins) run out, with a decent level of competition.

Liverpool played Man City, and other strong champions/teams.

Arsenal also had a pre-season training camp in Austria (in the alps for high altitude, a country with amazingly clean fresh air and water and peaceful and tranquil environment - basically a great place to get back into health and find focus).

Spurs, in contradiction, have hoared themselves over to the US and Canda, to play US teams (granted the other teams, including Arsenal did this, but apparently to a lesser extent) and Celtic. All of which fielded 2nd strings because they all are involved in more important competitions.

Spurs players are typically getting 45 mins runout, or more if in the shop window or needing assessment.

I like Levy a lot but I know that little bald twat is to blame, trading his soul and lots of red and purple promissory notes in some sordid and depraved pact with the various demons of commerce and greed, and it's all at the expense of Spurs potential to prepare for performance at the maximum level come the start of the season.

To summarise: What the fuck?! Performance should trump piles of cash in a sane and decent world. Personally I expect better.

 

[KingNothing]

I don't care if we're playing against Barcelona or Seattle Sounders. It's all about gaining fitness and trying out our new "philosophy". Also USA/Canada tour was probably very good commercially.

 

[coyspurs18]

Slight peeve...

Just seen that Arsenal are playing twice in 2 days against good opposition, namely Benfica & now Monaco. So a chance for each of 2 string sets of players to get a decent (70+ mins) run out, with a decent level of competition.

Liverpool played Man City, and other strong champions/teams.

Arsenal also had a pre-season training camp in Austria (in the alps for high altitude, a country with amazingly clean fresh air and water and peaceful and tranquil environment - basically a great place to get back into health and find focus).

Spurs, in contradiction, have hoared themselves over to the US and Canda, to play US teams (granted the other teams, including Arsenal did this, but apparently to a lesser extent) and Celtic. All of which fielded 2nd strings because they all are involved in more important competitions.

Spurs players are typically getting 45 mins runout, or more if in the shop window or needing assessment.

I like Levy a lot but I know that little bald twat is to blame, trading his soul and lots of red and purple promissory notes in some sordid and depraved pact with the various demons of commerce and greed, and it's all at the expense of Spurs potential to prepare for performance at the maximum level come the start of the season.

To summarise: What the fuck?! Performance should trump piles of cash in a sane and decent world. Personally I expect better.

Real Madrid, Man City, Man U, Milan, Roma, Liverpool, Inter, and Olympiacos all whored themselves out too. They just play one another rather than MLS. It's about getting fitness and tactics as @KingNothing stated along with financial benefits.

 

[TheUltimateHotspur]

Playing weak opponents early pre season isn't so much of a problem. But when their is only a few weeks away from the new season you need to be playing better teams. Only way you will get better fitness and sharper in you all round game.

Somebody said Pocho is trying to line up another game because the Celtic game was not enough.

Things will be more organized next season as Pocho will have a say on what we do.

 

[NeverRed]

The commercial side of who we play is just one aspect of consideration for an optimal pre-season plan/schedule. For that it would be better to play better teams, either in calibre or more concerned about competing. Surely not?

 

[LexingtonSpurs]

With the WC, new manager, US tour already set-up, Celtic game set up before we knew of the CL matches for Celtic - this was just a perfect storm of a bad set of pre-season matches.

But even when you look at some of the bigger clubs playing each other - they really are not doing anything different. They play a full squad, with a full set of substitutes, and missing several key players from the WC.

The only teams I see who are having players play 60+ minutes are lower squads who are not missing any WC players.

I imagine for Pochettino, practice intensity is high, and he is getting a good feel for where players are, and where they fit in.

 

[NeverRed]

That most players are still only getting a half of game time also seems sub-optimal. There looks to have been a Spurs IX game today and unless there's more, then it's just Shalke left. Regardless I would have thought all our first players should get more than one full decently-competitive 70-90 mins before West Ham.

 

[Flashspur]

i think we picked the growing MLS areas where football is taking off. While Chicago has good support it has a poor team at the moment but the Seattle and Toronto sides are going well. Commerce is always the key to these preseason games. But i agree the strength of the opposition overall has been lacking when compared to others. Still the PL is a bruising season of attrition and while early preseason games may be getting you tuned up, its the PL itself that does the battle hardening.

 

[Shea]

I don't care if we're playing against Barcelona or Seattle Sounders. It's all about gaining fitness and trying out our new "philosophy". Also USA/Canada tour was probably very good commercially.

I heard Matt Holland talking about teams US tours (on talksport I believe) and he was of the opinion that the tour took more out of the club in terms of fitness and preparation than it did for them

He suggested it held back his preseason development and that clubs only did it for the commercial benefits in spite of the damage it did to preparation rather than being useful for the preparation

Of course its only the opinion of one guy - but he is an ex pro and he does have direct experience of having had preseasons in the States with Charlton so it is at least worth bearing in mind

 

[CornerPinDreamer]

look, at least they didn;t turn up at the 9/11 memorial and start parading Liverpool shirts..

 

[eViL]

I think they've been going to the toilet too often too.

I might start a thread about it..

 

[Kendall]

I don't care about playing challenging opposition. I care about us running around and showing the right attitude to get fit.

We would learn nothing, IMO, from playing Real Madrid at this stage. It's about becoming familiar with new tactics.

 

[Yid-ol]

So we should play Real Madrid, not see much of the ball for 90 mins and learn not much?

Stick with the games we have to learn and develop with the new manager and set up.

also posh has said he wants some behind closed door friendlies, so looks like we want to keep a few things under wrap.

 

[eddiebailey]

I don't care if we're playing against Barcelona or Seattle Sounders. It's all about gaining fitness and trying out our new "philosophy". Also USA/Canada tour was probably very good commercially.

In terms of putting a philosophy to the test Barcelona are probably ahead of Seattle Sounders in their grasp of Socratic method.

 

[mpickard2087]

I don't like these long haul tours, purely because I think every possible minute should be spent on preparation for the new season. You lose at least 2-3 days travelling which could be spent on the training ground.

 

[barry]

I would argue we've played the harder opposition, bar Celtic. An MLS team in the middle of their season will be far harder opposition than a top European club during their preseason. The European teams are just concerned about getting their fitness up, and most of the games I've seen between the European giants have been glorified training exercises where the only people putting in notable effort are the kids or the players trying to impress. This is understandable as no one wants to get injured before the real competition starts.
The marketing doesn't hurt either.

 

[KingNothing]

I heard Matt Holland talking about teams US tours (on talksport I believe) and he was of the opinion that the tour took more out of the club in terms of fitness and preparation than it did for them

He suggested it held back his preseason development and that clubs only did it for the commercial benefits in spite of the damage it did to preparation rather than being useful for the preparation

Of course its only the opinion of one guy - but he is an ex pro and he does have direct experience of having had preseasons in the States with Charlton so it is at least worth bearing in mind

I'm sure Poch would prefer to stay in England and have all our preseason games there (van Gaal with Man United too). The club (and others) is whoring itself out while on these tours to get more publicity. Just the way it is. Business end of football. But hey, at least we got to see our hero Dempsey again..

 

[Shea]

I'm sure Poch would prefer to stay in England and have all our preseason games there (van Gaal with Man United too). The club (and others) is whoring itself out while on these tours to get more publicity. Just the way it is. Business end of football. But hey, at least we got to see our hero Dempsey again..

Its a huge market and we need to represent ourselves out there - I get that

I was just referencing Holland for his first hand account about how such pre seasons tours are counterproductive in terms of preparation rather than being a good way to get ready for a new campaign

He's not necessarily right - it's just his opinion, but I found it interesting considering he's actually been there and done that rather than just listening to peoples uninformed assumptions on such tours

 

[Bobishism]

It's a season we're leading up to, not an exam. We could play top 5 teams in the world and i doubt there would be any difference in preparation to where we are now. We've been playing Friedel in the majority of our games, for christ sakes. I'm sure the real works going on in training and im more concerned with how that will develop and change as our season progresses.

 

[absolute bobbins]

The thing about high altitude is nonsense too, Arsenal go to Hartberg which is at most 300 metres above sea level, it's not Colorado or Pico de Teide.
To gain any advantages you need to be at least 1000m above sea level and for longer than the 3 or 4 days they were out of the country and finally, the environments can be recreated in London, for example, I use the hypoxic chamber at the Third Space for cycling training