Brave New World by Guillem Balague

Author:Guillem Balague
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781409157748
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2017-10-26T04:00:00+00:00

7.

JANUARY

The Premier League teams got up and running in the FA Cup during a demanding January that also featured five league fixtures, including table-topping Chelsea’s visit to White Hart Lane and a trip to the Etihad to renew acquaintances with Guardiola’s Manchester City. Tottenham began the year in fifth place.

We started January with an away game, although it was only a short trip, to Watford. Since Walker and Vertonghen were suspended, I decided to draft in Kieran Trippier and Kevin Wimmer, reverting to three centre-backs to give us added security.

We met up at the training ground on the first morning of the year. We played the lads a video overview of the opposition and the different systems they use (this information proved crucial), explained how to counteract them and did some set-piece prep. After we wished each other a happy new year, of course. Then we headed to Watford, where two ex-Tottenham players, Étienne Capoue and Younès Kaboul, awaited us.

I made Kaboul captain when my staff and I joined the club, and I was surprised by some comments he made ahead of the match, in which he claimed that he’d been disrespected and I’d frozen him out without any explanation. He was given plenty of reasons in the many conversations I had with him during a period when we were first stamping our authority and were trying to take the team in a different direction.

We thought Watford would go with two up front, because their strike partnership was one of their biggest strengths, but they only named one in their line-up. Then, at the end of the warm-up, a minute before kick-off, we were informed that the wing-back Juan Camilo Zúñiga wasn’t going to play and the forward Odion Ighalo was going to take his place. We weren’t thrown off, however, because we had prepared for that eventuality.

Everything went as we expected and we managed to storm into a 3–0 first-half lead, allowing us to rest a few players later on. Alli, Rose and Kane were brought off, as we want them to be in fine shape to face a Chelsea side that’ll have had an extra day’s rest. The 4–1 win with braces apiece by Kane and Alli sealed the full 12 points from our last four matches and our goal difference stands at +20. We remain fifth and have picked up more points over the last twelve months than in any other calendar year in the club’s history.

Nothing happens by chance. The last ten days have allowed us to recover physically and focus on our tailored training regimes. It’s clear that we’ve got over the bad run, by sticking to our principles and ensuring that the players have got back to their best. It’s working.

As we were leaving Vicarage Road, I bumped into Kaboul and we greeted each other. He didn’t comment on a lack of respect, so all that can go down as anecdotal.

*

The restructuring of the club and the parallel work involved in finalising the renewal of players’ contracts are still taking up too much of our time.

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