Tottenham have 14 senior stars out on international duty but that leaves a number of players back at Hotspur Way during this fortnight.
Son Heung-min, Cristian Romero, Ben Davies, Brennan Johnson, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr, Radu Dragusin, Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, Pedro Porro, Dejan Kulusevski, Lucas Bergvall and Dominic Solanke have all headed off to represent their respective countries, while Archie Gray is in the England U21 squad and Will Lankshear in the England elite squad.
Then there are the injured Spurs players who will be working at the club’s Enfield-based training complex on getting back to full fitness, with Ange Postecoglou having previously explained that some are allowed to travel home to clear their heads away from the grind of the treatment room.
The injured players at Tottenham include Micky van de Ven, Richarlison and Wilson Odobert, while teenager Mikey Moore has been suffering with a virus in the past week and will be continuing to recuperate from that during this international break.
So who does that leave to work with Postecoglou and his coaches? The answer is very few players.
James Maddison, Timo Werner, Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon are the only fit senior outfield players still at Hotspur Way as well as goalkeepers Fraser Forster, Brandon Austin and Alfie Whiteman. Werner had been carrying a groin injury before the defeat against Ipswich and potentially could be given more time to get over the problem.
With such a small number of fit first team players, they will likely mix with the club’s U21s players for training sessions and often during these international period the players are given a handful days off around the weekend in the middle of the break.
There won’t be much tactical work going on or hands-on fixing of the problems seen against Ipswich but Postecoglou will be plotting a way back to winning ways as his squad returns one-by-one in the second week of the break ahead of the trip to Manchester City.
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