Clement Lenglet has claimed that he was a "little bit tired" at the beginning of the season due to Tottenham's preparations for the 2022/23 campaign.
Joining on loan from Barcelona at the start of July, the French international signed too late to receive a visa in order to be part of the pre-season tour of South Korea and instead remained behind at Hotspur Way to work.
Linking up with his teammates after they returned from the Far East and getting a taste of what an Antonio Conte pre-season is all about, the 27-year-old has started five games for Spurs since September. Looking right at home in the back three and catching the eye in the process, Lenglet is happy with the way his form is heading at present.
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"I'm good, I'm good. I was a little bit tired at the beginning of the season because the preparation was really tough and I have to adapt to the intensity of the Premier League and in this group," he told SPURSPLAY. "Now I'm better, I'm going up and I still hope to go up during a long time."
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Playing 78 minutes of Tuesday's 0-0 draw with Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League, Lenglet again impressed at the back but he was hooked late on after picking up a yellow card that left him walking a disciplinary tightrope. Delivering a much better showing after their 3-1 defeat at Arsenal, Spurs did have numerous opportunities to win the game and Lenglet believes they will feel they should have secured all three points.
"When you play away in the Champions League every point is important, but today we will come back in London with a different sensation because I think we can score a goal and can win the game," he explained. "We played a good game with a lot of intensity, duels and chances to score goals. Of course when you don't win you are always a bit not happy but it's a good point and now we have to do the job at home.
“Frankfurt is a good team. Last year I play against this team with Barcelona and it was really, really difficult – we lose at home. So, I can say with my experience this team is really good. We played a really good game with a lot of intensity, we win a lot of duels and we try to put this team in difficulty and I thought we did."
Champions League Group D does appear that it will go down to the final game, with all four teams in a very good position to qualify. With Sporting CP topping the group on six points and both Tottenham and Frankfurt only two behind them, Marseille in fourth are now on three points after their emphatic 4-1 win over the Portuguese side.
Entertaining Frankfurt at home next Wednesday before hosting Sporting CP towards the end of the month, the successive home games will prove vital to whether Tottenham qualify for the knockout phase or not. Lenglet believes Spurs "have to win" both matches at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to be close to the Round of 16.
"If we are to going to do it automatic, we have to win these two games to be really close to the Round of 16, so the objective is really clear," he admitted. "We have to play good games, we have to recover well because it was a really tough game today and after we have to prepare the game against this team at home to be better and score a goal."
Now two games into a hectic month for the team before the World Cup commences in November, Lenglet has outlined the importance of recovering well after playing at maximum intensity. With a further 11 fixtures to come before domestic football goes on pause, the player is hoping that he can speak about a number of wins at the culmination of the intense schedule.
"We know we have a lot of games in a few weeks so we have to recover well," said the loanee. "It is always a pleasure to play games. It's difficult because we put the body at maximum intensity and it's always really, really difficult to finish games and to be ready for next game. We have a good mentality and we are working really well.
"I hope in one month we speak and we say we have won a lot of games during this month. It would be really good for the team and for everybody."
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