Nuno Espírito Santo has called for an urgent solution to what he sees as the unforgiving demands of the international game on players, admitting he has “big issues” for Sunday’s trip to Newcastle with two of his squad testing positive for Covid-19.
The Tottenham manager, like many of his Premier League counterparts, has become accustomed to welcoming back players from international duty with concerns over their readiness to play and little or no time to work with them before the following match. Four of his South American players will report only on Saturday.
Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso of Argentina, together with Emerson Royal of Brazil, started World Cup qualifiers that kicked off in the small hours of Friday UK time and Davinson Sánchez was an unused member of the Colombia squad that played on Thursday night. All travelled to London on Friday.
On Friday night, the club revealed two players had tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours and both must now isolate for 10 days keeping them out of the St James’ Park clash, the Europa Conference League match against Vitesse Arnhem and the London derby at West Ham next weekend. The club are understood to be confident that no other players will have to isolate having come into close contact.
Nuno described the home win over Aston Villa on the Sunday before last – which ended a three-game losing streak in the league – as a “reference point”. But he has been frustrated at how the international break has checked any momentum and put a squeeze on his selection.
“After the international break, there are always huge issues that happen,” Nuno said, when asked whether he had fitness concerns over and above those with the South Americans. “We have problems but I will not say before the game. You’re going to see that we have problems. We have small issues … big issues, if you want.
“If we could, we would repeat the same XI [as against Villa] because that’s the best way to start something. It will not be possible but then you have to try again, try again. We felt we were in a good place [after Villa] and we want to continue it from there. Then disruption, international break …
“What we want when players go to the national teams is for them to return healthy. We know that each moment, it is becoming harder for them. The schedule and the demands of club and national team are really, really high. Something has to be done so the players don’t spend so much time away from the clubs.”