Antonio Conte is continuing to work his Tottenham squad hard, as he prepares them for their upcoming pre-season matches. This starts with a trip to South Korea, where Son Heung-min will link-up with his teammates, ahead of the match against Team K League.
Oliver Skipp, Japhet Tanganga and Matt Doherty all suffered injuries last season, ending their seasons prematurely and the trio returned to training last week, to do some extra work. The majority of the others returned on Monday, with Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso and Bryan Gil all returning from their loan spells abroad.
Youngsters Pape Matar Sarr, Harvey White and Troy Parrott were all also spotted in the first session back. The likes of Harry Kane, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Hugo Lloris will join up with their squad this week, ahead of the trip to South Korea.
READ MORE: When Son returns, Tanguy Ndombele and 5 things we spotted in Tottenham's first pre-season day
Everyone will want to impress Conte, so they can hopefully get some game time during pre-season, to prepare themselves for a big campaign ahead. football.london takes a look at things spotted in day two of training at Hotspur Way.
Bonds reunited
The Tottenham squad are always seen working hard in training, preparing to do the best they can in games, week in and week out. However, they never fail to also show their strong relationships, on and off the pitch.
At points in training, the Spurs players are often seen having a bit of a joke around during sessions and pre-season has been no different. You can see some players just having a chat and probably catching up after a summer apart.
In an outdoor clip, Cristian Romero put his arm around Gil, as they walked to the session on the grass. Inside, Tanganga was on a balancing gym ball and Eric Dier was stood just behind him.
The 23-year-old had a big smile on his face and laughed as he came off the ball, so Dier was probably making Tanganga laugh during the exercise. It is important that Spurs have a cohesive squad that get along, as well as the focus on winning and these bonds seem to indicate that Conte's players have a balance of both.
Tanganga taking it easy
football.london reported in March that Tanganga's knee injury would keep him out for the final few months of the 2021/22 season. The defender had to have surgery on it and had to spend the last few months recovering, ahead of his return for pre-season.
Tanganga is now fully fit but in Tuesday's session, the 23-year-old still seemed to be taking it a bit easy. During the outdoor session, Spurs were using hurdles for an exercise. They would jump over the hurdle and then sprint between cones. At first they jumped over it face on, which Tanganga was involved in.
Next, the Tottenham players jumped over the hurdle, whilst turned to the side. The 23-year-old didn't do the jump and instead just sprinted between the cones. There is no indication as to if this is because of his injury, but perhaps he is still easing himself into some training exercises, as a precaution.
Speedy Skipp
Skipp is another player who saw his season end abruptly, with the 21-year-old also having to have surgery before his recovery, after picking up a pelvic injury. Much like Tanganga, the midfielder is now fully fit and both were amongst the trio who started their pre-season training early. After a successful loan spell at Norwich, Skipp returned to N17 and had a flying start to the season, before his injury.
Therefore both Conte and Tottenham fans will be hoping he can bounce back from his injury set-back and start the 2022/23 campaign strong. His readiness was indicated in training during a passing exercise.
The Spurs players were in teams and quickly passing it around a small circle, with the opposing side trying to tackle them. In the short clip, Skipp was one of the players who stood out, completing three or four passes in quick succession, keeping alert and on his toes.
This is hopefully just a glimpse at the strong start to pre-season the youngster has had, to prepare him for the upcoming campaign.
Conte assessing
There is lots for Conte to focus on during pre-season. Not just the training itself, but the upcoming matches, as well as continuing with the success of the transfer window.
The Lilywhites have already welcomed four new arrivals to the Tottenham side, with a number of other players being heavily linked. Spurs will also need to see some more departures this summer, for those who are seeking regular game time ahead of the World Cup and those who the Italian doesn't see in his plans for next season.
This is why pre-season is also so important for Conte, to assess his current players and where he sees them fitting in his side for next season. The likes of Tanganga, Davinson Sanchez, Gil, Lo Celso and Ndombele have all been linked with moves away and the 52-year-old is likely to assess them during this time.
This was perhaps seen in Tuesday's session. Conte's coaching staff were conducting the session, with praise being given out and words of encouragement for the Spurs players.
The Italian was seen standing on the side and looking focused, but not very vocal. This could be an indication of his assessment, which he is going to have to do throughout the summer to ensure he goes into the 2022/23 season, confident in all of his players.
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