It was an incredibly emotional day for all at Tottenham on Thursday following the news of Gian Piero Ventrone's passing. The renowned fitness coach had made such an impression on all at the club and the tributes from both players and staff highlighted just how much he will be missed.
Enjoying great success with his methods in two spells at Juventus, the Italian national team in 2006 when they won the World Cup and with many other clubs, Ventrone's high demands saw an immediate change in the fitness of the Tottenham squad a matter of weeks after his arrival at the start of last November. Famed for his work on the training pitch and working alongside some of the best managers in the game, just last week the fitness coach spoke with Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport about his methods, the prevention of muscle injuries and the future of training.
Released on Thursday evening in wake of his death, Ventrone opened up on training at Tottenham, Antonio Conte's philosophy and also mentioned why Son Heung-min and Harry Kane are "two completely different machines".
READ MORE: Tottenham confirm plans to honour Gian Piero Ventrone ahead of Brighton and Frankfurt games
"The training sessions? At Tottenham they are carried out at match pace. Our sessions are very long: an hour and a half, almost two, instead of the usual 50 minutes," he explained.
"Conte has developed a culture and work methodology that does not differ from mine, based on the athlete's adaptability to suffering, on his ability not to give up easily to fatigue. For Conte this philosophy has become a sort of gospel. In the last year and a half we have had very few problems with muscle overload."
Injuries are a part and parcel of football but there is a difference when it comes to the Premier League and Serie A. With players in Italy tending to pick up injuries more frequently than their Premier League counterparts, Ventrone opened up on why that is the case.
"The difference is that in the Premier League, in training as in a match, recovery times are shorter," he revealed. "In short, the game is interrupted less. But the main problem, and which largely explains the injuries, is that you play a lot.
"In general, if, for example, you work a lot on the quadriceps, and at the same time not enough on the antagonist muscles, it is clear that, when the latter are stressed during the game, the risk is that they will 'break'."
As part of Juventus' classy tribute to Ventrone following his passing, the Italian club stated that the fitness coach had played a big part in football entering a new era with his vision in terms of his fitness work. Asked what the future holds regarding training, Ventrone outlined a key change that is set to take place down the line as well as discussing why Son and Kane are so different.
"The truth is that we are moving towards individual work, based on parameters that respect the biotype and the background of the player. Team work will lose more and more meaning," he revealed. "A fast player must be trained in one way; a slow player, in another. The same menu for all, taking one repetition off one and adding it to another, takes us off the right track.
"At Tottenham, Son and Kane are two completely different machines. Son has big quadriceps of course: it is useless to develop them again. His best quality, from an athletic point of view, is speed: that must be maintained and if possible increased, combining it with resistance. In his case, too, the important thing is to enhance the balance, rather than the strength, of his machine."
READ NEXT:
Bissouma starts, Richarlison and Perisic out - Tottenham lineups Conte should pick vs Brighton
Why Gian Piero Ventrone was adored by Antonio Conte and Tottenham stars despite tough sessions
Juventus pay classy tribute to Gian Piero Ventrone after Tottenham fitness coach dies
Antonio Conte's angry Bryan Gil exchange and the main problem with his Tottenham squad demands
Ndombele Napoli impact, Sampdoria change for Winks, Udogie's Conte claim - Tottenham loan latest
