Thomas Frank says improving Tottenham’s injury record this season is one of the biggest areas he has focused on after being appointed this summer.
Spurs endured a nightmare with injuries last season, a big factor in why they finished 17th in the Premier League.
And Frank says he, his coaching staff and the other departments at the club have put a clear emphasis on how they can improve that.
“I think that was one of the big areas that we looked into when we came in,” Frank said.
“I see it as a holistic picture, because it’s between the coaching department, the performance department and the medical department. It can’t be three departments not communicating to each other. It needs to be three constantly communicating back and forth.
“It’s how we train, how well we train and how we plan that. I think all that so far has been good and as you said, touch wood, we haven’t had any soft tissue or muscle injuries, which are the big ones that we would like to avoid.
“We have had an injury to Kolo Muani that’s a dead leg contact injury and then we have Dom mis-kicking a ball, so two relatively unlucky ones. So can we nail and get on top of the soft tissue and muscle injury? Probably impossible to completely not have any of those injuries, but so far so good and we’re very aware of it.”
“I think it’s workload in training,” he continued. “It’s not, how can I say, too little. Definitely enough intense, because when you train intense you want to play intense.
“Then I think it’s all about the planning. I think it’s gym, I think it’s recovery, I think it’s a lot of things.
“If we have plus 90% availability, it’s so important.”
Spurs have clearly cracked the injury code, or maybe just got lucky! 😉 Franks holistic picture approach sounds impressive, especially the constant communication between departments – they must be texting each other non-stop. Workload in training and planning – sounds like theyre overcomplicating things, maybe the injury was just Kolo Muanis destiny? Good to hear about the lack of soft tissue issues, though. Lets keep our fingers crossed (touch wood) and hope this continues, unless Doms mis-kick was just a dress rehearsal for the season ahead. 😄MIM
Spurs have definitely turned the corner on injuries, right? Frank seems to have his finger on the pulse, or maybe just on the massage table. Its all about communication – the departments need to chat more than at a wedding. Good to hear the training is intense, though maybe they should dial back the plus 90% availability suggestions? Seems like a recipe for over-enthusiastic players. Touch wood indeed!compress images to 10kb