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The situation was bleak before the break but Harry Kane’s return should give the side hope in a chase for a top-four finish

What was the situation like when the league was suspended on 13 March? Bleak, with José Mourinho the first to say so. The manager had major injury concerns, with Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Moussa Sissoko and Steven Bergwijn each a long-term casualty. The squad looked tired and unbalanced, with Mourinho repeatedly bemoaning the fact that without Kane – who ruptured a hamstring tendon on 1 January – he had no senior No 9. The manager made no secret of his frustration at the failure to sign a new striker in the mid-season window. Unlike his predecessor, Mauricio Pochettino, he does not consider Son to be able to play at centre-forward. The team had rather ridden their luck at times – in the home wins over Manchester City and Southampton for instance, the latter in an FA Cup replay. After that game Mourinho said: “It’s very difficult to progress the way we want. Basically, it’s game to game, building a team with what we have.” Then the luck ran out. Spurs hit the shutdown on a sequence of six games without a win, a period when they were eliminated from the FA Cup and Champions League, and slipped to eighth in the Premier League.

What about now? All change. From pessimism to optimism. The fitness situation has improved radically with the aforementioned quartet all ready to play, although there are now doubts over Giovani Lo Celso. Son even found the time to fit in his mandatory four-week basic soldiers’ training course in South Korea. Mourinho has had bonus weeks to work with his squad, making it like the pre-season he never had although, plainly, the Covid-19 protocols have meant that things have been different.

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from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Y4v9rl