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Jan Paul van Hecke was among those given an unwanted name-check by Roberto De Zerbi after Tottenham’s 3-0 defeat at Brentford on Saturday. Not at the right level physically, was the gist of the manager’s comments. De Zerbi also mentioned Marcos Senesi and Sandro Tonali, two of the club’s other new signings. Their condition had to come as no surprise. It certainly did not to De Zerbi.
Take the case of Van Hecke, for whom the summer months have been a whirlwind. A few bullet-points from his timeline are worth noting. 18 June: joins Spurs from Brighton for £52m; 30 June: knocked out of World Cup with the Netherlands after last-32 penalty shootout defeat to Morocco; 23 July: boards team flight with Spurs for pre-season tour to New Zealand and Australia. “It was a really short break, to be honest,” Van Hecke says. “But I didn’t want to miss anything in the pre-season. My first days [as a Spurs player] were in New Zealand and Australia.”
The centre-half had never been to New Zealand and Australia and he enjoyed the experience, getting a good feeling from the welcome there. Van Hecke was struck by the fans’ passion as well. That was the upside. The fallout from the downside continues to be felt. “Physical-wise, of course, it impacts your body,” he says. “I struggled for one or two weeks after and that’s not ideal. There are two sides. Normally you don’t go there and now you see that they also love football. That’s something good.”
Whose idea was such a far-flung tour in a World Cup summer? Definitely not De Zerbi’s. He inherited the schedule when he came to the club in late March and has done a fair bit of grumbling about it. “The trip was 25-26 hours,” De Zerbi said on Tuesday. “We played every three days. The day after [matches] we couldn’t work in the right condition.”
There appears to have been something of a quid pro quo arrangement with De Zerbi, who wanted to use the summer to close ranks and train. Nothing else. No travel. Just hard graft and tactical work. Spurs’ final game of the three on tour was against Chelsea in Sydney on 1 August. The club then arranged three further friendlies – against Getafe at the training ground in Enfield on 8 August before a double-header against Hoffenheim. Spurs played at their stadium against the German club on 15 August before hosting them at the training ground 24 hours later for a game with different players. De Zerbi was still not happy. “When we came back [to London] we couldn’t work immediately because there was a friendly game against Getafe,” he added.
Van Hecke did not play in the match against Auckland, or the first one in Australia against Sydney. He started against Chelsea. Then against Getafe and in the stadium fixture against Hoffenheim. His ratio of air miles to match minutes was high.
Senesi, who signed on a free transfer from Bournemouth on 1 July, did not go on tour after he played for Argentina in the World Cup final against Spain on 19 July. His first action for Spurs was in the stadium game against Hoffenheim. De Zerbi pitched him in from the start against Brentford alongside Van Hecke. It was logical that De Zerbi should lament Senesi’s level. And also that of Van Hecke.
What raised eyebrows was that he added Tonali to the mix. The Italian did not play at the World Cup after his country failed to qualify. He signed for Spurs from Newcastle for £92.5m on 6 July. The 26-year-old had a full pre-season, playing in virtually all of the games. The fact that De Zerbi did not consider Tonali fully ready for Brentford felt like the ultimate indictment of the club’s preparations.
De Zerbi left Tonali out of the squad for the 5-1 home win over Charlton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, along with Senesi, explaining that he preferred to put them through an intense training session on Tuesday so that they were better prepared for Saturday’s game against Newcastle, also at home. The fixture will carry extra significance for Tonali.
“Sando was in a plan to work with Marcos very strong to improve their physical condition,” De Zerbi said after Charlton. “Sandro has to work to feel better in terms of physical condition, but on Saturday he will play in the first XI.”
The tour threw up plenty of other complications. Another new signing, Mateus Fernandes, felt an injury when he got to Sydney, having played against Auckland. He did not feature again until the training ground match with Hoffenheim. Dominic Solanke picked up something against Chelsea and missed the remainder of the pre-season. Both players were fit enough only to be substitutes at Brentford. They started against Charlton.
What about Micky van de Ven? Van Hecke’s Dutch teammate travelled to New Zealand and Australia but he did not play there, in any of the subsequent pre-season games or against Brentford because of an injury. De Zerbi said last Friday that it had been sustained on tour. “I don’t know, the flight,” said De Zerbi. “I don’t know … something, not a big problem, but not right to work.”
De Zerbi brought Van de Ven on as a substitute against Charlton. Ditto Pedro Porro, who did not kick a ball in pre-season after winning the World Cup with Spain. Neither did he feature against Brentford. Destiny Udogie, who did not play in pre-season despite going on tour, was a substitute at Brentford and a starter against Charlton. He is playing catch-up. As is Rodrigo Bentancur, who was not a part of the tour after being granted extended leave after his World Cup exertions with Uruguay. He, too, was a substitute at Brentford and a starter against Charlton.
De Zerbi could enjoy the Charlton win even if there were caveats. Spurs were poor for the opening 30 minutes before they cut loose. The Charlton manager, Nathan Jones, made 10 changes to the team he sent out for the win at West Ham on Saturday. Everyone at Spurs knows Newcastle will present an altogether tougher challenge. It is time to dig deep.
