Mauricio Pochettino has enjoyed a solid and successful start to life at Tottenham Hotspur. He has guided Spurs to a cup final showdown against Chelsea, progressed to the Europa League knockout stages, and best of all, Spurs remain well in the race for a top four finish.
But how exactly has the Argentine boss done so well, with so many competitions on the go at once? The answer is very simple. The squad’s fitness.
It is no secret that Mauricio Pochettino’s training sessions are very fitness orientated, and focuses on getting his squad very fit, so they can keep going for the full ninety minutes.
This has been demonstrated a number of times this season, with Spurs grabbing many late winners, mainly from the 88th minute onwards. Tottenham have scored in the 88th minute or after against West Ham, Aston Villa, Hull, Swansea and Sunderland in the league, and all have been to grab the three points.
That means that ten points have been won from those five games, and there can be only one explanation to this, fitness. Yes, some teams may get a couple of late winners, but when you are doing it on a regular basis like Spurs, it becomes more than a coincidence.
Not only have we seen Mauricio Pochettino’s men score a few last gasp winners, the Spurs squad has shown fitness in the long-term too. We saw over the Christmas period that we were able to drop only two points in a two-week period that included games against Burnley, Leicester, Manchester United and Chelsea. Of course, we went on to beat Jose Mourinho’s men 5-3 at White Hart Lane on New Year’s Day.
Spurs also handled the January fixture pile-up very well, and this fitness could prove to be very crucial when it comes to April and May as we edge towards crunch time in the race for a Champions League spot at the end of the season.
