Mauricio Pochettino is to blame for Harry Kane's ankle injury, claims fitness coach Raymond Verheijen

Verheijen has had coaching roles at both Manchester City and Barcelona

(Getty Images)

Harry Kane should blame Mauricio Pochettino after picking up a potentially long-term ankle injury as the Tottenham manager is pushing his players ‘too hard’ in training, according to fitness coach Raymond Verheijen.

Last season’s Golden Boot winner is facing up to two months on the sidelines after turning his ankle and damaging ligaments towards the end of Spurs’ 1-0 win over Sunderland on the weekend.

Kane’s injury is the latest in a series of minor problems being picked up by Spurs players with Mousa Dembele, Eric Dier and Danny Rose all picking up niggling injuries in recent weeks.

Verheijen, who has had roles with Wales, the Netherlands, Barcelona and Manchester City, said these injuries, and a traditional poor end to the season with Pochettino teams, are due to a training schedule which is too demanding.

“Several players in one game struggling with their hamstrings is strange, especially at the start of the season,” he told talkSPORT.

“I think this is just one of several symptoms that I have tried to point out over the last few years that has to do with the training methods of Pochettino.

“Pochettino is a great coach and a great tactician, so I’m not so much questioning him as a coach in general, but one of the aspects within his approach – the training.

“When he was at Espanyol his team was fading away in the last phase of the season, at Southampton the same thing happened and it has also happened for the last two years at Spurs.

“He’s demanding so much from his players. He’s pushing them hard.

“If you look at his teams consistently fading away in the last months of the season, you can say that he’s pushing them too hard, especially when you have so many players who have had a long season.

“You saw them fading away at the end of last season and then they had to play the European Championship.

“What probably has happened is that Pochettino has trained them too hard, too soon in pre-season, and twisting your ankle is a typical injury when you have accumulated fatigue.”