Tottenham news: Mauricio Pochettino warns Spurs are 'a little bit late' getting up to speed this season

With so many of his players playing international football into July, Pochettino said that he is having to focus on fitness rather than tactics in training

Pochettino has not previously managed in the Champions League (Getty)

Mauricio Pochettino has warned that Tottenham Hotspur are still some way from playing their best football this season. Spurs host Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime, having taken four points from their first two games. But with so many Spurs players back late this summer, Pochettino said that his training sessions are still focused on fitness, rather than tactics. Only after the international break will they be able to focus on fine-turning their movements as a team again.

“We had a lot of players involved in the Euros and we are in the process of trying to build their fitness, and how we can adapt their situation to the team,” Pochettino said at his press conference on Thursday. “We are not in a period to work on small details. We are very focused to try to give the team more quality in fitness and consistency. It's impossible after the Euros with a very short break to recover to start again.”

Pochettino said last week that the calendar, with five weeks between the end of Euro 2016 and the start of the Premier League, put the clubs in an impossible position. Pochettino, Jesus Perez and the Spurs staff are still trying to get the players fully fit. Detailed tactical work has to wait. “To start the Premier League after two weeks' training, to start international competition, it's very tough for the players,” Pochettino said. “We want to create the possibility for our players to be fit for the whole season. We are a little bit late in our development for this new season. After the international break we can start to work on small details and develop different possibilities to play linked with our work on the pitch.”

While Spurs surpassed expectations last year, Pochettino said that was a learning season, and that this year the team would show something closer to their real level.

“Last season people had a big question mark about how we would develop our squad, our team,” Pochettino said. “It was very hard work to improve and develop our style of play, because it wasn't only collective, it was individual. For a lot of players it was their first season, like Dele Alli. For Eric Dier it was his first complete season as a holding midfielder, a new position for him. That is why I think that somepeople don't realise how important last season was. We learned a lot and improved a lot. It will be tougher this season to try to succeed again.”

On Saturday Spurs will face a Liverpool side slightly behind Tottenham in their develop. Jurgen Klopp arrived at Anfield almost 18 months after Pochettino was appointed at White Hart Lane, and has just had his first full pre-season with his squad. Pochettino and Klopp have two very demanding approaches, different versions of pressing, and Pochettino is expecting a draining match.

“It will be very tough,” Pochettino said. “I remember last season, Klopp’s first game in charge and it was tough. They like to play on the counter-attack, they are fast, have good organisation, and they are different to us. We like to manage the ball. We are a very different team with a different philosophy.”

Given what Liverpool did to Arsenal on opening weekend, and to Barcelona in pre-season, Pochettino knows his side will have to be wary. “Liverpool are very comfortable playing deeper and running fast,” he said. “You could see in the game against Barcelona at Wembley, 4-0 for them. They wait and when they recover the ball, players like Adam Lallana, Divock Origi, Philippe Coutinho, Georginio Wijnaldum, and Sadio Mane, they are very fast. They like to play in this style. I think we are very different, but I don't know. Maybe in the end we are the same.”