Alasdair Gold says Nuno Espirito Santo got his Tottenham players to perform an intense warm down after matches when he first became Tottenham’s boss, but it didn’t really end well.
He was speaking after Antonio Conte was spotted doing the same with his players after the Everton match.
Gold said it brought about some injuries to Spurs at the time and wonders if it will be different under Conte.
He said on the Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham Podcast: “It’s interesting because at the start of Nuno’s reign he was doing something similar, he was pushing them quite hard after matches, but I was told that a couple of little niggling injuries actually came out of that and I do wonder now if it’s going to be one of those double standards where Antonio can do it and that’s fine,”
Conte has inherited a squad that needs to be pushed to get better and the Italian knows he needs to drill them hard.
He will employ every means possible to keep his stars in shape and it wouldn’t be surprising if he stops with the warm down.
If it truly causes injury to the Spurs players, then it would defeat its purpose and we trust the Italian gaffer to find another solution.
Conte only had a few training sessions with the Spurs players before the international break and he will be working hard with those who stayed behind to ensure the team wins the next fixture after the break against Leeds United.
Different types of physique need to train in different ways. A 100m runner trains entirely differently to a 1500m runner or you will get injuries. Those players with large, fast twitch muscles have to be treated with care or they spend much of the season on the sideline.
The whole area of warm ups and downs in sport is a controversial area which I’ll leave to the experts.
The first thing Xavi has done at Barcelona is to fire the team’s chief doctor and head physio.
Klopp did something similar when he arrived at Liverpool clearing out the fitness and medical regime as he was unhappy with the injury list.