For many, if not most football observers, international breaks are periods on the football calendar to be dreaded. When these periods are optimal, they’re boring and dull. Yes, uneventful is the preferred outcome because at their worst, international breaks can be catastrophic from an injury stand point.
Just ask Liverpool about their rash of injuries during the most recent internationals. Another break begins on Monday and Tottenham Hotspur will have some fitness worries regarding three of their star players- Christian Eriksen (Denmark), Dele Alli (England) and Eric Dier (England) who were all called up to their national teams.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino admits he’s not the biggest fan of this development, but at the same time knows there is nothing he can do.
“It’s true if you (were to ask) me, I’d prefer all my international players stay here and rest for these two weeks without competition, but that is impossible,” Pochettino said at a news conference.
“That’s why we were talking before about Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, if they’ll be involved in international duty. It’s play, play, then move there and train in a different way and play again; then if you see our schedule for the next few months, it will be so tough. How do you manage that?”
Saturday will see Spurs end a period in which they had five matches in 13 days. In December they will be playing eight matches, or basically every three or four days. Obviously there will be a lot of wear and tear.
“We understand we maybe need to sacrifice some players in some games so they can cope with the demand in the future,” Pochettino continued.
“If [Eric] is fit and the national team calls him, he needs to go, and of course he can play if he’s fit. If I decide not to play him — if he’s fit but I decide not to put him in the starting XI or in the squad — and he’s fit, you need to give him permission to go.”
Dier has been out the past three games and just resumed training this week. Alli has suffered two hamstring injuries already this season. Eriksen returned to action a couple weeks ago after having been out for a month.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Lineups.com and Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.