July the 5th 2014 - The Biggest Celebration in the History of Tottenham Hotspur FC

After weeks of waiting, days of procrastinating and minutes of missing, Saturday the 5th of July 2014 cemented itself in the history books as one of the most celebrated days in planet Earth history; or at least it was for Spurs fans.

After being given a little distraction by something called the FIFA World Cup, fans of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club were given an event to celebrate and cherish – an event that would easily trump America’s Day of Independence the day prior.

So why is Saturday the 5th of July 2014 such a momentous occasion for our football club? This is because, today, Spurs official released their pictures of the first scheduled training session of the 2014/15 season for the team, under new boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Spurs Sparks Fly on the 5th of July

With 14 pictures and a short video published on the official website, Spurs fans were finding it hard not drool over the sight of Poch and his team’s opening training session.

An additional 5 pictures were also tweeted on the club’s official twitter page, all of which combined a grand total of 1270 re-tweets and 1165 favourites after the first two hours of them being uploaded.

With a small section of the team still over in Brazil, recognised stars such as Roberto Soldado, Sandro, Christian Eriksen, Lewis Holtby and Emmanuel Adebayor were present. There was also a place in the session for youngsters such as Jordan Archer, Ryan Fredericks, Tom Carroll and Cristian Ceballos.

In even better news, Erik Lamela was also in attendance, sporting a haircut akin to Robert De Niro’s character Travis Bickle in the 1976 film Taxi Driver.

After just under two months since the players were last in action for the Spurs, fans universally, were obviously delighted to see the boys with their boots on and back in our colours.

Hotspur full of Hope

What I found most enthralling out all of the items released was the 2:15 minute video. Although the video showed little in terms of footballing action, it provided me with an emotion that had been void from myself for a very long time – hope!

In the video there seemed to be an air of happiness around the club, combined with a general buzz of excitement amongst the players as if to suggest that they, like us, are looking forward to the new season.

In addition to these points, it was also easy to pick up from the short video that Mauricio has a very “hands-on” approach within his training sessions, a quality that was noted, and applauded, by many Saints fans during his tenure at the South-coast Club.

Poch’s training filling void left by Villas-Boas

Of course, it is easy to argue that these images spoon-fed over to us from the club are all part of Levy & co’s propaganda to unite the fans behind the team, especially after the train-wreck of a season that we suffered last year.

As brought to attention in a previous article by myself, Poch’s opening interview as our manager was hardly going to paint him or the club in a bad light, and coverage of his opening training session today was certainly not going to be any different. Yet, that doesn’t mean we still can’t get excited!

After pictures of Tim Sherwood’s training sessions at Spurs did little to excite us in any shape or form, Poch’s first action as Spurs boss has seemingly rekindled fan-love for seeing player training at Hotspur Way - a feeling that has been absent since the opening few months of AVB’s management.

Where Spurs fans held the ideology that Sherwood simply got the lads to play “shirts v skins” for the entire session, only uttering the words “next goal wins” when there was 5 minutes left to play, Poch’s first session has a completely different feel to it.

There’s no doubt that it was only going to be all-smiles on the first day, but I for one would like to extend my thanks to Mauricio Pochettino and SpursTV for adding some much-needed fuel to the fire of my burning love for all things THFC.

Let’s get this season started! COYS

 

Happy 5th of July, Guys!!!

I have to say, that the footage of the lads training for a new campaign, alongside Mauricio Pochettino, was just the tonic I have longing for since the back end of last season... and my word, was it good!

A highlight for me was seeing Younes Kaboul taking what looked like a FULL part in the session, which is GREAT news, affirming the belief that the Frenchman is finally over his fitness problems. Another BIG boost was seeing as just how much QUALITY and POTENTIAL this squad possesses, close up...And that's WITHOUT the services of those at the WC!!!

Pochettino MUST be loving life at The Lane already, in the knowledge that he has inherited a squad full of SUPREMELY talented individuals - who badly UNDERPERFORMED last season - and with a bit of READJUSTING in terms of personnel, mentality and (team) structure, this can/could be a group of players that can help the club achieve the kind of tangible success we all crave .

The most exciting part about this day, July 5th, though, is that this is the day when Pochettino can REALLY start assessing his squad at close proximity.

It is now that Pochettino will be offered a first hand look at, not only the technical capabilities of the individual players at his disposal but:

• The training habits of the group
• Which players are quick to pick up his instructions/ideas.
• The personalities,attitudes and responses of individuals, to the gruelling training regime we have all heard so much about over the last few weeks.

So, while LVG is currently masterminding the Netherlands potential route to a WC semi-final in Brazil, which COULD have ramifications on Utds start to the new season (especially given the likelihood of a raft of new arrivals at Old Trafford in terms of staff and players), Spurs already have a manager in place, on the training field, and familiarising himself with a new squad. Ah, perfect!

Of course it is only the first day. And there is still just over a month before the start of the new campaign, but it's exciting times.

On a side note, the ONLY disappointment, for me, is that Alex Pritchard did NOT appear to be present with the rest of the squad, for 1st team training.

A recently taken image came to my attention, of, young, Alex arm in arm with a certain Nile Ranger with the caption ' My Brother' (or something along those lines). Now whilst this only is a PERFECTLY innocent comment/statement, and I'm sure Nile is a nice enough young man on a personal level, I am NOT entirely convinced he is the type of PROFESSIONAL sportsman that will set the kind of example (off the field) necessary to have a long, and successful, career at the highest level.

Now Pritchard is more than old enough to think for himself, and no potential success/failure in his career can be attributed to the association to Ranger, or any other friend he may have. But it will certainly be interesting to see what becomes of one of Tottenham's most exciting young players, in what COULD very well be a make or break season for the kid.

If Alex's head is right, and he dedicates/applies himself properly, I would be MORE than happy to sell a couple of the players we have that play just behind the striker, in order to reinvest elsewhere in the squad, and push him into the 1st team/squad picture.

I can remember watching a next gen game against Barcalona, and he was EASILY the stand-out player on the pitch that day. Major talent!

Just watch the first touch, in the last clip. Simply sublime! This guy can be anything he wants...

 

If kaboul really is over all his longstanding injury troubles then that is great news for thfc and all involved.... Top class performer when he is fit and could save the club millions with a crazy price tag of 18m+ for lovren.

 

Good to see the lads back in training, everyone looks refreshed and happy to be back, I know the pics are meant to look that way for the fans but it does make you warm and fuzzy inside.I dont expect a great deal of transfer activity just yet, MP needs to have a good look at the squad and build the team his way. Also good to see Holtby back im interested to see if he fits into MPs plans with his high energy approach.

 

Although, somewhat, predictable - the impact the arrival of Pochettino has had on club record signing Lamela MUST be considered a HUGE bonus, ahead of the upcoming season.

Reportedly, once homesick, and struggling to settle into life in England, Erik now seems like a man reborn, with his enthusiasm for the season ahead seemingly bordering on joyful.

Regardless of how next season turns out for the young Argentine, I feel he should be applauded and admired for his DESIRE and COMMITMENT to making his record breaking move work after the vigorous fitness/strengthening regime he has undergone in the summer.

Hopefully, Pochettino can also help Lamela improve his command of English ( I know, the irony), and settle even more into life in North London.

After being treated to just flashes of Eriks UNDENIABLE potential last season, if the new coaching team is able to unlock a considerably larger degree of that untapped potential next season, dare I say, it might be just like having a new £3om player on the Spurs books.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...d-signing-gets-stuck-pre-season-training.html