Pochettino takes a swipe at Premier League chiefs

Mauricio Pochettino has hit out at the Premier League for their choice of weekend for the first match day of the new season.

Tottenham’s season kicks off on August 11th, with a trip to St James Park to take on Newcastle United in a replica of last season’s opening day fixture. However, while Premier League clubs will be in action, other major European leagues such as La Liga and Serie A are scheduled to start a week later to allow their World Cup stars extra time to recover.

The reality is that the likes of Harry Kane, Hugo Lloris, Kieran Tripper, Eric Dier and Danny Rose will return to Spurs on August 6th, just five days before our opener which gives Pochettino limited time to prepare his players.

Newcastle will obviously be at an advantage due to the fact that their players were not involved in World Cup duty, but let’s face it. If we want to finish in the top four again, we need to be winning these kinds of matches.

“The players need to rest, the players need a period to recover after more than 10 months’ competition.” Pochettino told The Evening Standard.

“I’m not going to complain about them having that. I completely understand that they need 20 or 21 days to be away from football. But of course that is a massive disadvantage because to prepare the season in that way will be tough for them and us.

“But I need to adapt to what the Premier League propose. We cannot delete the start of the season. We start earlier than other leagues and countries. There’s nothing I can do. I think all the clubs are going to be in a similar condition — some with more problems than others. That is the reality and we cannot change it.”

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