According to Matt Law of The Daily Telegraph, despite Tottenham manager Roberto De Zerbi recently expressing repeated dissatisfaction with his squad's fitness levels, players not on international duty will still receive a week off following the start of a three-week international break.

Tottenham have now gone five consecutive matches without a win in the Premier League and have dropped down the table following a poor start to the season. However, this week-long break is not a last-minute decision made to address the team's poor form, but rather a pre-planned arrangement. From a sports science perspective, scheduling rest periods when players face an extended break is standard practice.

Nevertheless, this arrangement somewhat contradicts De Zerbi's recent comments. Throughout this season, he has consistently highlighted fitness issues among his players, citing them as a key factor in Tottenham's poor start.

Tottenham will not go on a warm-weather training camp during this international break and have no friendlies scheduled. Players not on international duty will return to the training ground the following week to resume normal training.

Following Tottenham's defeat to Aston Villa last Saturday, De Zerbi stated that the team needs to improve its fitness, specifically mentioning striker Dominic Solanke. With Solanke not on international duty, he will also have a week off before preparing for the away match against Manchester United on October 10th.

When asked how he would use the international break to address the team's issues, De Zerbi said: "Players on international duty need to play and train, but the others – James Maddison, Conor Gallagher, Solanke, Tosin Adarabioyo, Marcos Senesi and Savio – we certainly need to train more because, including this last match, I'm not satisfied with the fitness of the team."

Regarding Solanke, De Zerbi said: "Of course we need more from him, but he is my player. I like Dom as a footballer, and I will support him to the end. He needs to be in better fitness and feel better."

"His fitness is certainly not good enough, but for him, this is also normal. Perhaps his confidence is not high enough at the moment, because Dominic Solanke is actually much better than what he is showing. However, there are still many areas we can improve. I don't think we can say everything is bad, but the current performance is simply not good enough."

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