Pedro Porro has dismissed claims that Ange Postecoglou is putting too much strain on Tottenham’s injury-hit players in training and has expressed his admiration for “spectacular” duo Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall.
Spurs suffered their 12th Premier League defeat of the season at the weekend, losing 3-2 to Everton after the visitors imploded after a torrid first 45 minutes and went into half-time trailing by three goals.
Goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison gave Spurs a respectable result, but a disastrous run of form coupled with ongoing injury problems leaves them 15th in the Premier League table.
Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Guglielmo Vicario, Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie, Yves Bissouma, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert all missed the trip to Merseyside, with most, if not all, likely to be with Spurs Matchday squad would have been fit.
There have been suggestions that the under-fire Postecoglou, whose job is secure for now, may be responsible for his methods on the training ground, but Porro defended his manager by explaining that each player has their own recovery program and that their workload is good is managed and looked after.
“We have a plan for all of our training,” Porro said Football.London. “The players who don’t play so much have their own plan to come back and so do I, I train at the club but also do my own work outside the club, regeneration work, injury prevention.”
“Everyone has their own schedule. If the training sessions are less intense then the players who come back have the training they need and the players who play also need a lot of rest.
Gray and Bergvall faced more first-team action due to their injuries than they would have expected at this juncture in their careers, but both were hugely impressive, even if the results didn’t go the club’s way.
Their form has caught the attention of Porro, a €40 million signing in January 2023, who simultaneously praised the duo and suggested he was not entirely surprised at how good they had been.
“If you have injuries and you have signed young players who might be interesting for the future, then you sign them for the future, but you also have options if you get injured,” said the Spaniard. “Lucas, Archie and others have done so well but that is ultimately why the club brought them in. They had their chance and it’s up to them to take advantage of it.”
“They are doing a spectacular job for the club and if we go through a bad moment and they suffer like we all are at this moment, then they will be great players in the future because they give their best for the team.”