5 things we learned from Tottenham’s narrow pre-season defeat to Bayern Munich
The Bavarians prevailed in the first of what is effectively a two-part friendly, with the sides set to reconvene in north London next weekend.
Goals in either half from Gabriel Vidovic and Leon Goretzka saw Bayern establish a two-goal lead, before a Pedro Porro screamer brought Tottenham back to within one, but they couldn’t find a late equaliser.
Here’s what we learned from Spurs and Bayern’s meeting in South Korea
In an age where seasons seems to last a hundred years and the calendar is jammed full of fixtures right to the brim, the last thing you’ll want to hear is your team’s players are tired before the campaign has even begun.
Tottenham’s first-team stars were second-best to Bayern during a testing first half, and spaces began to appear when those players were physically unable to plug open gaps. You could feel the sticky, humid weather from behind a digital screen.
Spurs have racked up the air miles this pre-season, and while Postecoglou admits that’s not ideal now, he hopes his men will come out the other side better for it.
“Fair to say the players were showing the effects of us working hard here for 10 days. I think we’ll get an enormous benefit from the camp we’ve done here though, but tonight we perhaps just paid the price for it,” he told a press conference.
“I think for us, the really important thing for us was that we got 10 days of really solid training. I think the guys will feel the benefits of it when we get back. To train that much in this weather, I know from my time here [in Asia] that it’s physically and mentally draining. When we get back we’ll have a two-week period to freshen them up.
“Pre-season is about getting prepared for the season. We didn’t have Destiny [Udogie] and we haven’t had three of our back four all pre-season. What’s important is the 10 days of training. As far as I’m aware you don’t get points for friendly games.”
