Pedro Porro has promised to return stronger after suffering an injury in Tottenham’s home defeat to Aston Villa. The World Cup winner had to come off after only 19 minutes when he felt his hamstring.
It’s a big setback for Roberto De Zerbi’s team, who were already missing the defender for most of pre-season while he rested after the World Cup. A minor muscle problem had also kept him out of the draw at Everton and the League Cup loss to Liverpool in recent weeks.
Porro’s message
There’s no word yet on how long he’ll be out, but his Instagram post suggests it could be a while. He wrote that sometimes you have to pause, catch your breath and begin again, and that it’s now time to recover and trust the process. He promised to return hungrier and more motivated than before, calling this just another obstacle, and signed off with “See you soon.”
The Spanish FA has also confirmed that Porro will miss the upcoming international break and Spain’s Nations League fixtures. Archie Gray replaced him against Villa.
De Zerbi’s reaction
Asked about the injury after the match, De Zerbi said he had already stressed after the World Cup that Porro’s workload needed to be handled differently, given the number of games that followed. He said he wasn’t sure what the problem was, thought it was a hamstring, and hoped it wasn’t serious.
Spurs’ position
Fulham’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Sunday means Tottenham will be bottom of the Premier League through the international break. After the 3-2 loss to Villa, they have two draws and three defeats from five games.
Speaking to talkSPORT, De Zerbi said the problem is partly mental, though he believes his players have the right attitude, work hard and are good. But in 14 years as a coach, he said, he has never seen a team as fragile and inconsistent as this one. He said they can’t play well for 30 or 40 minutes and then concede the way they did, and that he finds it hard to accept.
