Tottenham Boss Mauricio Pochettino’s Key Decisions Ahead of 2016-17 Season

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino was back at work at the club’s training ground by mid-June.

The recently concluded campaign’s 5-1 final-day defeat to Newcastle United will have hastened his desire to return. Given his all-consuming passion for his craft, you suspect he would have been back preparing for the 2016-17 season soon enough regardless.

The best part of a summer’s worth of preparations will start to be unveiled, beginning with Saturday’s visit to Everton. Some of the key decisions relating to the Tottenham team this season will take a little longer to be made apparent, though.

Beginning at the back of the team, moving up through the positions and via more general strategic issues, Bleacher Report takes a look at the key choices Pochettino will be making.

Some are more straightforward than others but no less important in shaping the direction of this team. Even then, Spurs’ 2015-16 campaign showed precedent can only so long resist being made irrelevant by an unpredictable future (for example, the fall of Nabil Bentaleb giving way to the resurgence of Mousa Dembele).

    

Who Is Lloris’ Cover?

For Tottenham fans, this summer has been pleasingly devoid of worrying speculation over goalkeeper Hugo Lloris’ future.

Unlike in 2015, the preoccupation of European Championship participation and the more satisfying situation he finds himself in at Spurs has ensured scuttlebutt has been thin on the ground.

After the disappointment of his France side losing the Euro 2016 final to Portugal, Lloris will be keen to enjoy some success in the day job. Barring a surprising change of opinion, Pochettino will likely hand him the first-choice goalkeeper spot and captaincy once more.

Michel Vorm’s starting role in Spurs’ overseas pre-season outings suggests the more experienced man remains next in line ahead of Luke McGee. The Netherlands international is seemingly content to play back-up to Lloris and try to make the best of his chances when they do come.

     

Fighting It Out at Full-Back

Flying up and down the flanks, charged with providing width and strategic bombardment of the enemy while also protecting their own base, the play of Tottenham’s full-backs has become one of the most distinct features of Pochettino’s team.

The first men up here for the majority of last season were Danny Rose and Kyle Walker at left- and right-back respectively. Alternating with them periodically were Ben Davies and Kieran Trippier.

At least to begin with, Rose and Walker’s places should be theirs to lose. Their understanding with Spurs’ centre-backs is more firmly established, and they are more balanced full-backs than their respective counterparts.

Davies and Trippier will count on inevitable rotation and fitness-related opportunities to stake claims for more substantial roles.

The Welshman is coming off a fine Euro 2016 with Wales, and while deployed more centrally there, he could channel that into more consistently confident performances. As for Trippier, Pochettino will have taken note of the good guiding and covering work he did in the International Champions Cup beside the young centre-backs deployed.

Should Rose or Walker suffer a loss of form, they should be even better prepared than last season to come in and make their boss think twice about dropping them again.

Also possibly in the mix this season is DeAndre Yedlin. Speculation over a permanent move to Sunderland, following his successful loan there last season, persists—Chronicle Live’s Steve Brown raised the prospect after the American was left behind for Spurs’ recent game against Internazionale—but if he is still in town come the start of September, he may yet work his way into contention.

     

Is Carter-Vickers a Contender at Centre-Back?

Pochettino’s interest in Cameron Carter-Vickers as a potential part of his first-team squad has been apparent for some time. The centre-back was a regular around it throughout last season, not yet ready for full inclusion but kept close to at least garner some experience.

Encouraging performances throughout the summer have raised the prospect of the 19-year-old earning his …

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