‘Extra time off’: Journalist says there was a notable absentee at Spurs training this week

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Speaking on his YouTube channel, Alasdair Gold has been discussing Tottenham Hotspur’s return to training after the recent winter break for the World Cup.

Of course, some of Spurs’ biggest stars are still over in Qatar for international duty, but the players who haven’t been called up are now back at Hotspur Way preparing for the season to resume.

The likes of Yves Bissouma, Ryan Sessegnon and Davinson Sanchez will all be back preparing for the second-half of the season, but there has been one notable absentee at training this week – Antonio Conte.

Indeed, according to Gold, Conte has been given a bit of extra time off to spend with his family as Tottenham’s squad work only with the fitness coaches for the first few days back in action.

No Conte

Gold shared what he knows about Spurs’ return to training.

“As for the rest of the Spurs players. A load of them came back on Monday at Hotspur Way. It was the non-international players. The ones who had some friendlies such as Matt Doherty, got a couple of extra days off. But the ones who weren’t featuring in any internationals came back on Monday,” Gold said.

“It was a bit like the start of a pre-season where they were working with the fitness coaches, going through various exercises and stretches. Which, in turn, meant that Antonio Conte didn’t need to come back for the start of training, which has always been the way in the summer with various managers, so it very much is like a pre-season. It gave Conte a bit of extra time off with the family, and then he’ll be back and they’ll kick on into full training.”

Pre-season

Tottenham are really treating this winter break as a chance to reset, and that may be a really good thing.

Before the World Cup break, Spurs were beginning to slip. Their performances, particularly in the first-halves of games, have been absolutely dire, and results have followed suit.

Spurs started this season brilliantly off the back of an intense pre-season, so perhaps this sort of reset is exactly what the north London club need to get back on track.