Ange Postecoglou admits Tottenham are ‘short’ of fitness as he explains Harry Kane absence against Barcelona
Oliver Skipp netted a brace at the Olympic Stadium in Spain as a much-changed Spurs side led for much of the match, but Barcelona scored three times in the final ten minutes to secure a 4-2 win and lift the Joan Gamper Trophy.
Harry Kane and James Maddison were among the majority of Tottenham’s first-team stars to stay at home and miss the game, which came just two days after a strong side beat Shakhtar Donetsk in north London.
Kane scored four goals in that 5-1 win as speculation continues over his future amid bids from Bayern Munich, though there is a growing belief that the striker will stay at Tottenham, with the 30-year-old not intending to leave the club once the new season begins.
Spurs begin their Premier League campaign on Sunday with a trip to Brentford, before hosting Manchester United a week later in Postecoglou’s first competitive home match in charge of the club.
Speaking after his side’s defeat in Spain , the Spurs boss suggested the players are not yet up to full speed, having had a pre-season match against Leicester cancelled earlier this summer due to a waterlogged pitch, and that influenced his team selection against Shakhtar and Barcelona.
“No but I’m sure you will,” Postecoglou responded when asked if anything should be read into Kane’s absence.
“It wasn’t about giving the guys a rest. It was that I wasn’t going to give them game time so there’s no point in them travelling here. They’ll train tomorrow and they’ll train hard tomorrow. It was just that I wanted to use these two games.
“Our pre-season wasn’t ideal. We had one game cancelled and another game we were supposed to play Roma, so we feel we’re a game or two short and we’ve been using these two games to get as many minutes into the guys as possible.”
Postecoglou was asked whether his side are ready to face Brentford this weekend, responding bluntly: “It’s irrelevant. We’ve got to be ready. It’s not going to wait for us. Come Sunday we need to be ready and we will be.”
