Ange Postecoglou provides new explanation for Tottenham's dreadful Premier League form | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur boss Ange Postecoglou has routinely used the excuse of excessive injuries to explain away the club's dire Premier League form this campaign, but has now revealed that poor pre-season planning was also a major factor.

In Postecoglou's own blunt words, it's been a "tough" and "disappointing" season for Spurs. While the north London outfit are through to the Europa League quarter-finals, they have been scrambling around the wrong end of the Premier League table all term. Tottenham have lost 15 of their 29 top-flight matches, the club's highest tally throughout an entire campaign for 16 years.

As Postecoglou outlined in a painfully honest interview with Optus Sport this week: "We've been nowhere near it."

Chronic injuries to key figures throughout the campaign - most notably the two centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero - have underpinned Tottenham's struggles. Yet, Postecoglou highlighted the impact of a poorly managed pre-season. "I think we got the start of the year wrong, the Australian boss sighed.

It has been a frustrating campaign for the Spurs boss / Marc Atkins/GettyImages

"It's becoming increasingly challenging for footballers, they don't get the traditional break. I think we went into the season really hard and underestimated the challenges of Europe with the two extra games, having a cup run... all those things.

"You add to the mix losing key players early on. It feels like we've been chasing our tail since then and we haven't been able to get ahead of the challenges we've had and then something else happens and it shifts.

"That goes back to the start of the year - we maybe would have taken a different approach knowing the kind of season we had ahead."

Tottenham had six players involved in last summer's European Championships and Copa America, impacting a pre-season campaign which took them from Scotland to South Korea. During Postecoglou's first term at the Tottenham helm, there were no international tournaments to worry about or the draining prospect of Europa League football.

"What's happened to us this year, you saw with Newcastle and Brighton last year," Postecoglou continued, citing two sides who also buckled under the strain of European commitments. "Teams that looked like they were in ascendency fall off... mainly because of their injuries more than anything else.

"It happened to us this year. It's affected [Aston] Villa to a certain extent, it's affected [Manchester] City to a certain extent. I think you'll see it affect teams in Europe next year."

Given their lowly league position, Tottenham's only remaining prospect of enjoying (or enduring) a return to the continent next season is if they win the Europa League.