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Tottenham: Premier League club launches season review after injury woe

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As part of the audit, they are considering numerous factors to work out why it has become such a problem.

For example, Spurs are analysing the “bounce” on the club’s home pitch in comparison to that at rival grounds and their Enfield training centre.

At present, the club have found there is no major difference between the conditions of other pitches in comparison to their home ground, but testing is ongoing.

There is a view that certain knee injuries are unavoidable – Odobert for instance damaged his ACL following an awkward landing.

It is also understood Spurs are confident the on-field treatment of Simons’ injury did not result in additional damage to the Dutchman’s knee.

There has been criticism from supporters after footage showed medics allowing the attacker to put weight on his knee despite having suffered a serious injury.

One of the key improvements Lewindon has recommended is to make medical support more individually tailored – based on factors including strength, fatigue and robustness.

Medical staff will compile bespoke profiles for each player that will include personal insights as well as physical and psychological information to ensure they can deliver expert individual support to treat – but also prevent – injury.

There is also set to be greater leeway for injured players to conduct part of their rehabilitation away from the club’s training facility.

Players across the Premier League are increasingly relying on external medical practitioners to aid their fitness and recovery, while many overseas footballers even return to their homeland for treatment.

That dynamic often causes friction but moving forward Tottenham are open to letting players leave their direct care provided all parties involved agree to one shared recovery plan – though Spurs would ultimately take responsibility for any problems that arise during the process.

The medical team will work closely alongside head coach Roberto de Zerbi and his staff over the summer amid concerns changing managers three times in under 12 months has contributed to their injury problems.

Tottenham will look to introduce an integrated structure that will ensure De Zerbi, or a member of his staff, the medical department and the player are involved in deciding when a player can accelerate their rehabilitation plans.

Psychology is also a key component of the ongoing review with the club set to employ a full-time head of psychology to work with the players and staff.

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The Hundred 2026 results: Marcus Trescothick chat helped restore form – Jos Buttler

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Jos Buttler says a conversation with England batting coach Marcus Trescothick helped him rediscover the form that took his past the all-time T20 run-scoring record.

The England wicketkeeper broke Kieron Pollard’s mark of 14,803 as he recorded a 20-ball 51 for Manchester Super Giants on Wednesday – his third 50+ score in four innings.

Buttler also hammered a 64-ball 131 in his most recent international outing, a T20 victory over India at Southampton last month, but struggled in the format’s World Cup earlier this year, averaging 10.87 from eight matches as England went out in the semi-finals.

The 35-year-old said: “Marcus Trescothick said this to me, ‘if you work on your technique, it allows your mind to free up’.

“A lot of time when people are out of form, it’s like you’ve got to get out your own way. You’re in your head, it’s mental and you’ve got to lose that.

“Ultimately, I feel like I can’t see the ball very well when I’m not playing well. So I was looking at the position I get to when the ball is coming out of the hand, and I worked back.

“I felt like my trigger movement was twisting as opposed to staying in line. I like to get into that position where I can see the ball really well, the angle of the bat second slip or third slip as opposed to pointing at the wicketkeeper.

“So once I’d made the technical stuff and was comfortable and happy with that, my mindset was much better.”

Buttler is the second-highest run scorer in this season’s Hundred with 277, behind only Sunrisers Leeds’ Mitch Marsh with 290.

He also has the second-most sixes with 20, again behind Australian Marsh who has 23.

Former England opener Trescothick, meanwhile, will take interim charge of the Test side for the forthcoming series against Pakistan following Brendon McCullum’s sacking.

“Sometimes, your technique can slip a little bit, in T20 cricket especially.” added Buttler, who was speaking while promoting the ECB’s Cricket Cities project, which provides opportunities to get active through cricket.

“But I think your game is always evolving and technique is always evolving a little bit. If I watch myself back now compared to when I was 25 there’s differences.

“I do think Marcus was like right, that it was a technical change that allowed my mind to be freer.”

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How a Triple-A demotion sparked Royce Lewis into a force at the plate again

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Royce Lewis is riding such a hot streak, even his movie selections can’t miss.

To distract themselves during Monday’s trade deadline, Minnesota Twins players went to the movies. Most players planned to see the blockbuster smash hit, “The Odyssey,” but the timing didn’t work out; instead, they saw “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”

Not Lewis.

Recognizing they’d miss only a little bit of the Marvel movie, Lewis and teammate Trevor Larnach opted for a double feature and headed to a 10:30 a.m. showing of “The Odyssey.” Doing so meant they missed the first 10 minutes of Spider-Man, but Lewis didn’t seem to mind.

“Odyssey over Spider-Man,” he said. “Christopher Nolan is a really good director and producer.”

On the field, Lewis has been a great director himself, producing runs again right when the Twins need him most. Two months after he returned from a minor-league demotion designed to get him back on track, Lewis is a force at the plate again.

Since June 6, Lewis is hitting .271/.338/.505 with 12 doubles, 10 homers and 25 RBIs.

Whether it’s his metrics, statistics or the eye test, Lewis looks the part. When he homered Thursday, it extended a career-high hit streak to 11 games. He’s also reached base in a career-best 17 straight games.

Even Lewis’ outs are loud. His home run Thursday exited his bat at 104.2 mph. Meanwhile, his two lineouts registered exit velocities of 106.1 mph and 108.2. He also grounded into a 108.2 mph forceout.

“Nothing against (Kansas City Royals third baseman) Josh Rojas, but that ball caught him,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “That ball was smoked. … (Lewis) is in a good spot. His foul balls are right straight back, too. He is on everything right now, which is really important for us.”

In mid-May, Lewis was in the biggest funk of his career. Striking out more than ever, he couldn’t get on track.

Slashing .163/.261/.279, Lewis was in such a funk that he wildly fouled off two bunt attempts in a May 17 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. At the time, it seemed like an admission from Lewis, whose 31.1 percent strikeout rate was 10 percent above his career mark, that he didn’t know how to escape his slump.

Twins chairman Tom Pohlad discusses the team’s trade deadline strategy

Dan Hayes

Two days later, the Twins optioned Lewis to Triple-A St. Paul without offering a firm idea of when he’d return.

In typical Lewis fashion, he homered in his first at-bat in Triple-A and proceeded to destroy minor-league pitching. In 60 plate appearances after his demotion, Lewis blasted eight home runs and produced a .340/.417/.868 slash line.

With the Saints, Lewis inserted a timing mechanism into his swing with his back foot and found a way to feel more dangerous at the plate. Still, the leap back to the majors was difficult.

“It gives you confidence — it always helps when you’re hitting homers every day or whatever it is,” said Lewis. “But the drastic change in levels. When I came back up, it was a big difference. Everything just seems faster, sharper, more movement.”

Still, the comfort Lewis discovered with his swing in the minors is helping him succeed now. The differences between his first two months and last two are vast.

“It’s a long year,” Lewis said. “Sometimes they fall and sometimes they don’t. You just have to keep grinding. Honestly, it probably started (at) Triple-A when I went down. I made some good adjustments and felt like myself, cleaned up some path stuff. Now you just go out there and fight every day, every pitch and give your best for the team.”

Lewis is doing all he can to help a Twins team working through the absence of Byron Buxton.

Ironically, the same move that two months ago looked like a white flag from Lewis had appeared to have the opposite effect Wednesday. With the Twins locked in a scoreless tie against Royals lefty Noah Cameron, Lewis bunted for a base hit to load the bases. Noticing Kansas City first baseman Jac Caglianone was playing back with two runners on, Lewis bunted to the right side for a single.

“I’m just happy I’m going good,” Lewis said. “I feel like I’m back doing my thing and I love it. … I’m trying to do anything for my team right now.”

Aside from that bunt, most of the recent balls off his bat have been rockets. Before he was sent down, Lewis had a 41.2 percent hard-hit rate. Now, he’s increased it to 44.8 percent. He’s also seen a massive jump in average exit velocity, from 87.9 mph before the demotion to 91.8 since.

“It’s huge,” third baseman Brooks Lee said. “He’s hitting for power, getting on base. We need it.”

Perhaps Lewis knew exactly what his former workout partner Larnach needed, too. Two offseasons ago, Larnach came to Frisco, Texas, where Lewis previously lived during the offseason to work out.

The two have remained close and had lockers near each other in Seattle over the weekend when Larnach was nearly traded to the Houston Astros. Early Saturday, Larnach learned of the deal that would have sent him to the Astros in exchange for reliever Bryan Abreu, an accord that Houston owner Jim Crane nixed.

Rather than make Larnach wait around the hotel all day, Lewis joined his friend to watch “The Odyssey” and then “Spider-Man.”

“We got up extra early,” Larnach said. “We weren’t just going to sit in our hotel room all day. On deadline day, that ain’t happening. … It definitely made the morning go by quick and the afternoon.”

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Premier League: Why do the world’s best footballers move elsewhere?

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Real Madrid and Barcelona are difficult for English clubs to compete with when the world’s most coveted players become available.

Jude Bellingham is a striking example. Having left Birmingham City for Borussia Dortmund to continue his development, the England midfielder moved to Real Madrid rather than back to his home country.

He remains the only player to represent England’s senior men’s team during the Premier League era without making an appearance in the competition.

Kylian Mbappe was linked with several clubs elsewhere before fulfilling his ambition of joining Real Madrid, while Neymar chose Barcelona over interest from Premier League teams when leaving Santos in 2013 – attracted in part by the chance to play alongside Lionel Messi.

Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid a year after winning the Ballon d’Or, while Luis Suarez joined Barcelona months after winning the Premier League Golden Boot and PFA Players’ Player of the Year with Liverpool.

And Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard swapped London for Madrid after establishing themselves among the Premier League’s leading players. Bale joined Real from Tottenham in 2013 after winning the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award for a second time, while Hazard made the same move from Chelsea six years later, having previously won the league’s top individual honour.

Harry Kane later departed Tottenham for Bayern Munich despite sitting only 47 goals behind Alan Shearer’s Premier League record of 260.

There are practical attractions to Spain – climate, lifestyle and, for many South American players, linguistic and cultural familiarity – but the appeal runs deeper.

Real Madrid and Barcelona carry a particular status as destination clubs, reinforced by their Champions League history, global reach and association with individual honours such as the Ballon d’Or.

Both have been interested in Rodri this summer.

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