Jan Vertonghen is expected to be out until after the November international break, although Mauricio Pochettino was unhappy at how Roberto Martínez, the Belgium manager, revealed the news.
Martínez told a press conference on Friday the Tottenham defender was likely to be absent from his squad not only for the forthcoming international fixtures but for the next round of them, too – which would have him out until 20 November.
Vertonghen injured his hamstring after 15 minutes of Spurs’s win at Huddersfield last Saturday when he stretched and received a kick at the same time. He thought that it was merely a dead leg and played on until half-time only to feel the pain when he entered the dressing room and the adrenaline subsided. He did not reappear for the second half.
Pochettino described it as “not a good injury” but he suggested that Martínez might not have all of the facts and, as such, ought not to have put a timeframe on the player’s absence. Vertonghen has had the injury scanned but he will have a second one on Monday, which should provide a more accurate picture of how long he will be unavailable. “We’re so disappointed but we’ll see if it’s six weeks or less,” the Tottenham manager said. “It’s so difficult to communicate with all the national teams. Before my press conference, you knew about the Vertonghen situation because Roberto told the media in Belgium before us. In the end, it’s our player, our Tottenham player, … our Tottenham employee. They need to call us. If they call us, we are more than open to talk and give our opinion.”
Vertonghen played the 90 minutes in six of Belgium’s seven World Cup matches in Russia – he sat out the third group game against England – while he played the 90 minutes for Tottenham in their opening seven matches of the season before being rested in the Carabao Cup against Watford on the Wednesday before last. Pochettino’s assistant, Jesus Perez, explained that Vertonghen had been placed on a specialist programme in the week leading up to Huddersfield, with “no competition during the week.”
Pochettino said that Vertonghen’s injury had nothing to do with tiredness, rather the impact of the challenge, but he remains concerned about the demands being placed on players by a “dangerous” schedule. Tottenham, for example, must play four games in nine days from Monday 29 October, when they entertain Manchester City at Wembley. That game has been set back because of an NFL fixture at Wembley and the delay in the rebuild of White Hart Lane.
“The plan was to be in the new stadium but it’s not ready and we have to accept it and not complain because we create the problem,” Pochettino said. “But the football business today does not care about the player – it’s about games, games, games. Another problem comes after because you need to build a bigger squad [as insurance] but not all can play and then people are not happy. It doesn’t help the dynamic of the group.”
