Jose Mourinho believes that it will take a few matches for Premier League teams including Spurs to get into the groove of things once the season returns, just like it has for those in the Bundesliga.
The Premier League is set to resume next month with the players in a race against time to get match fit for the restart.
However, Mourinho insisted that he and his coaching staff are going to be careful not to push the players too hard given the length of their lay off, and slowly build up the intensity over the coming weeks.
When asked about the training schedule, he told Spurs TV: “First of all, we have to be very very careful with the players’ welfare. Again, this is a pre-season, probably more difficult than the other preseasons. Because they (the players) are coming back after a long time without training.
“So, it is not like Monday we are going to start training and immediately we train 11 vs 11. No, we are not going to do that. We are going to make sure that progressively, we are going to arrive on matchday one and be let’s say ready. ”
The Tottenham boss also insisted that teams should learn a lesson from how many of the German teams took two to three matches to get back to their best.
While the Portuguese coach talked about the importance of easing into proceedings, he insisted that the team will be ready to compete from the first match.
He added: “We look to the Bundesliga and we can see a difference in quality of intensity of the first match and the third match.
“When you see Bayern against Dortmund – the third match, you feel immediately, ‘Wow, that was a proper match’, and I think probably the same is going to happen (in the Premier League).
“Progressively, teams are going to reach their level, which is what happens in normal preseason. It is very difficult that the team arrives in the first game of the season, normally around 10th August or something like that and is really in their peak.
“So let’s go step by step. We have to be ready. We have to be ready to fight for points.”
Spurs Web Opinion
If we had 12-15 games left instead of 9, I would be extremely confident that we would finish in the top four given the firepower we have at our disposal with a full fit squad. However, as we have seen time and again, results are rather unpredictable at the start of the season as teams take time to settle into their groove. So, it will certainly be difficult for us to claw back the seven-point deficit with the fourth spot unless we hit the ground running.
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