Who missed Tottenham training, why Pedro Porro told off Pape Matar Sarr and Romero's new nickname
Tottenham Hotspur held their final training session on Wednesday ahead of the Europa League opener against Qarabag.
Spurs begin their involvement in the expanded Europa League competition this season on Thursday against the Azerbaijani side, in the first of eight group games against different teams.
Ange Postecoglou led his team out to train at Hotspur Way on Wednesday morning for their final session ahead of the return to European football and football.london were among those watching the first 15 minutes of the session.
Here are five things we spotted during the session at the Enfield training complex:
Who was missing
Richarlison and Wilson Odobert were both absent due to their respective calf and hamstring injuries. The Brazilian could be seen in the gym next to the pitches working with a fitness coach.
Cristian Romero is suspended from the match due to his red card against AC Milan in the Champions League two seasons ago. Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon were not registered for the Europa League this season due to squad restrictions, but all three players were still involved in the training session.
Other than the two injured players, there was a full complement of Tottenham players available to Postecoglou.
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Which youngsters took part
With 12 substitutes on the bench in Europa League matches, Postecoglou is likely to have to call upon three or four of the club's development squad if he wants to fill those spots.
With Tottenham's U21s in action on Tuesday night in their 2-0 Bristol Streets Motors Trophy defeat at Exeter City, those players were always unlikely to be involved in this session even. Some could well end up on the bench to either fill it or potentially be used in the final minutes.
The two youngsters involved were the two teenagers who have mainly been involved in first team sessions this season - Mikey Moore and Will Lankshear. The latter was paired up with fellow striker Dominic Solanke for a couple of the early drills.
What they did
The media only had access to the first 15 minutes of the session which mainly involved warm-up exercises and quick passing drills. The players were paired up, with the likes of Romero and Porro, Lankshear and Solanke, Maddison and Udogie, Van de Ven and Werner, Son and Kulusevski all working with each other.
They then moved on to sprints, which showed the competitive nature of the players as they even cheered and celebrated winning the small sprints against each other.
The Tottenham players then moved over to a pitch in the distance at Hotspur Way and began undergoing some spirited rondos with plenty of noise.
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Pape the joker
One player to always keep an eye on during Tottenham training sessions is Pape Matar Sarr. The young midfielder was a constant ball of energy and laughing throughout. Pedro Porro, only half-seriously, told him off when Sarr lost control of his ball and it rolled across the Spaniard's passing drill with Romero when they were about to start.
Sarr also slipped as he tried to do an athlete's starting pose for the sprints and ended up losing his match-up. It's clear why Sarr is a popular member of the squad and he's got the energy to just run and run...unless he slips over first.
Yves Bissouma was also the target of James Maddison's mocking as he kept asking the Mali international why he had chosen to do his drills right in front of the watching media and camera operators.
Romero not a fan of a new nickname
The enthusiastic fitness coach leading the start of the session had some slightly different nicknames for a couple of the players which were met by various responses.
He kept calling Destiny Udogie by the name "Desty", which had the group of players laughing and all repeating it.
Romero felt he had to correct the fitness coach when he kept calling him "Coots", the Spurs vice-captain turning to him and saying light-heartedly "Cuti".
The Spurs defender will be watching from the sidelines on Thursday night. If you're sitting near him, whatever you do, don't call him Coots.
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