Tottenham have kicked off their first day of training in Tokyo after landing in Japan for the first leg of their pre-season tour to Asia.

Spurs touched down in the Japanese capital on Tuesday and after a first afternoon and evening spent trying to adjust to the very different time zone following their long flight from England, Ange Postecoglou and his players were straight out the following morning on to the training pitches in Tokyo.

Tottenham are preparing to face Vissel Kobe at the National Stadium in Tokyo on July 27 (11am UK time), following Saturday’s 2-0 win at QPR and 5-1 victory at Hearts last Wednesday. They also recorded a 7-2 scoreline against Cambridge United in a behind-closed doors friendly at Hotspur Way the previous weekend.

After their time in Japan comes to an end this weekend, Son Heung-min will lead his team over to his homeland South Korea to first take on Team K-League at the Seoul World Cup Stadium Then on July 31 (12pm UK time), Tottenham finish off their Asian tour with a game against Bayern Munich in Seoul on August 3 (12pm UK time), before returning to N17 to face Bayern again – this time with Harry Kane – at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on August 10.

Here are five things we noticed from Spurs’ first training session in Tokyo.

It’s hot

“It’s hot,” were the first words out of James Maddison’s mouth after he stepped on to the training pitches in Tokyo

He wasn’t wrong either. For Spurs’ morning session it was roasting and temperatures were touching 36 degrees Celsius and the humidity was around 64%. In the early afternoon, the skies clouded over, the winds whipped up a fair bit and there were little spots of rain at times.

Back in England that would have been an unpleasant regular occurrence at the team’s Enfield training complex, but here in Tokyo it would have been a welcome relief from the searing heat.

Postecoglou working them hard

You might be forgiven for thinking that in those high temperatures, Postecoglou and his new bigger coaching staff might have gone easy on the players, especially on their first day amid the jet lag.

You’d be completely wrong of course. That’s not how pre-season works and the Australian’s system is all about high energy, relentless football and to get the fitness required for the performances the Spurs head coach wants, the players can’t afford to have light training days right now.

So it was straight back into double sessions after a day off on Tuesday thanks to their travelling. The players trained at Hotspur Way on Monday morning before their flight to Japan and then got the night off on Tuesday to recover after touching down in the Japanese capital.

With a bigger coaching staff this season with senior assistant coach Matt Wells, assistant coaches Ryan Mason, Mile Jedinak and newcomers Nick Montgomery, Sergio Raimundo, as well as goalkeeping coach Rob Burch, there was no place to hide for the players as the staff all took various parts of the sessions.

Lucas Bergvall returns

The sight of Lucas Bergvall lying on the floor 25 minutes into the win at Loftus Road on Saturday was a worrying sight for Tottenham fans who have had to deal with a lot of injuries as players adjust to the fast and frantic Postecoglou football, both in matches and training sessions.

Postecoglou’s first campaign at clubs always bring hamstring problems galore as the players and sports science staff adjust to the heavy load on the players that the fast football brings.

So when Bergvall had to come off in his first start as a Spurs player, following a sparkling display as he dictated Tottenham’s tempo in an all-action performance in the centre of the park, there was understandable cause for concern.

However, Postecoglou said after the game that he did not believe it was a significant injury and football.london reported the next day that the 18-year-old was understood to need just two to three days of rest.

That proved to be the case as after a couple of days of taking it easier, the young Swede was back in action on the sun-baked training pitches of Tokyo.

Ben Davies could also be seen back in training following his recent injury. The Welsh left-back celebrated 10 years at the club this week, having signed from Swansea as a 21-year-old all the way back in 2014 as Mauricio Pochettino’s first transfer after joining Tottenham himself.

Classic Postecoglou training

You’ve witness a year of it now so the most seen Postecoglou attacking move should be very well known to Tottenham supporters by this point and anyone who follows the team week in, week out.

Either the winger or full-back races down the flank, gets to the touchline and pulls the ball back low across the six-yard box for either the striker, other winger or full-back on the side to race in and smash or slide home. It’s a tactic that brought goals galore last season and it’s unpredictability comes from the number of players arriving into the box and the variety of balls that can be played.

In training on Wednesday in Tokyo, those moves were in evidence again as players made pitch long runs to get on the end of the moves.

The likes of Kulusevski – on the left – as well as Son and Solomon – on the right – were among those hitting those low crosses into the box with Archie Gray, Kulusevski and Timo Werner among those sliding them home on the other side. There was no time to celebrate though as the non-stop nature of Postecoglou football ensured they had to sprint straight back to prevent the other side from doing the same.

Postecoglou reunited

There was a reunion for Postecoglou on his first morning back in the country. The former Yokohama F. Marinos coach came out to training and immediately saw Japan manager Hajime Moriyasu there to greet him as he walked through the doors.

The Australian was managing in the J-League when Moriyasu took the international job, having been the assistant coach beforehand, so they know each other from those years as well as the Japan boss coming to Scotland during a European tour a couple of years back. Moriyasu also has a son Keigo, who played in Australia for a spell.

Postecoglou’s warm reaction to seeing the former Japan international midfielder once again was there for all to see as they caught up and had photos taken together.