Victor Wanyama on Tottenham's struggles, Pochettino, and his knee injury

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HenryTitle Race TrackerExclusiveVictor Wanyama on Tottenham’s struggles, Pochettino, and his knee injuryVictor Wanyama during his spell with Tottenham Hotspur Catherine Ivill/Getty Images Share articleVictor Wanyama has no hesitation when asked to explain Tottenham Hotspur’s catastrophic season. “They started well, but injuries, you know? Having 10 to 15 key players injured. That’s where I think it went wrong,” Wanyama says. Wanyama, who has kept close tabs on his former club since leaving Spurs in 2020, has experience of the devastating impact of injuries, which is effectively the theme of his interview with The Athletic. Speaking shortly after announcing his retirement as a player last month, the Kenyan admitted for the first time that injuries — or rather one specific knee problem — derailed his career. It came while playing for Spurs in a 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at Wembley in August 2017. Wanyama was coming off the back of what he believes was his best season: Tottenham’s 2016-17 campaign, in which Mauricio Pochettino’s side went unbeaten at home in the final year at White Hart Lane, pushing Antonio Conte’s Chelsea close for the league title. “I played my best football at Southampton and Spurs, especially the season we were unbeaten at home,” he says. “I was cruising but some things you can’t escape. What happened, happened.  “I did play all the (Chelsea) game but when I went out, I felt like I couldn’t move my knee. It was so stiff and from there they diagnosed the issue. Cartilage defect.” Does he view that match as a before-and-after moment in his playing career? “I can say yes,” says Wanyama, who was fleetingly one of British football’s outstanding midfield enforcers for Celtic, Southampton and Spurs. “I would say before the injury, I was cruising. After, it restricted me. I was changing my game. “I wanted to play every game but I was cautious, I didn’t want to go into tackles 100 per cent. I wanted to be fit, available for the next games. That wasn’t good for me. Sometimes I had to skip training, ice the knee so much, and do a lot of rehab.  “I couldn’t play back-to-back games. I had to skip games. I wasn’t training because I was rehabbing the knee. It was a really tough time.” After more than four months on the sidelines, Wanyama returned to action in a win over Swansea at the start of 2018, and four weeks later produced his most memorable moment in a Spurs shirt: a thunderbolt into the top corner in an entertaining 2-2 draw at Liverpool (a goal the club is still fond of reliving on social media). a very nice goal from Victor Wanyama against Liverpool pic.twitter.com/sKj2ksuX2W — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) May 6, 2022 But he was never the same all-action player who had dominated the middle of the park alongside Mousa Dembele for Pochettino’s hard-running, exhilarating side. Spurs fans — who have probably never been more reliant on nostalgia — still reminisce about that 2016-17 team, which is widely considered the best of Pochettino’s five-year spell. It began to break up around the second half of that season, with Kyle Walker’s move to Manchester City and a knee injury for Danny Rose, which was arguably just as impactful. “It feels great (to be remembered that way), but that was the truth, I think,” says Wanyama. “We enjoyed playing together and we played with no fear. We did what we had to do and everybody gave their all on the pitch. We had such a good group at that time. We gelled well as a team on and off the pitch; we were really close. I think we were closer as a team than (our rivals). We emptied the tank on the pitch.  “Off the pitch, Pochettino knew what to tell everyone. All players are different but he knew how to handle everyone individually. He demanded a lot from individuals and knew how to push people to the next level.  “And players listened to him and did everything he asked for. With him, it was special because he improved us as players. He knew how to get the best out of players. “We needed another year, with all of us, and we could have won something.” Now he has officially hung up his boots — a year after his last match as a professional during a four-game stint for Scottish club Dunfermline — Wanyama is more open and accepting about his limitations post-injury. In a previous interview with The Athletic, in 2020, shortly after leaving Spurs for Montreal Impact, Wanyama said the club “should have trusted” him more when he returned from injury and revealed he was “really, really p***ed off” not to start the 2019 Champions League final. Seven years on, though, he says he understood why Pochettino left him on the bench for Spurs’ 2-0 defeat to Liverpool in Madrid after he had been forced off in the epic semi-final decider at Ajax at half-time with more knee pain. “(I’m) not at all (pissed off) because I was struggling with the injury in that campaign,” he says now. “Semi-final, going out with the injury, it was a bit tough. So I have no regrets.” His knee was also the reason for Wanyama’s move to MLS in March 2020, when he left the Premier League to join the Canadian side, then coached by Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. “There was a plan to go to MLS – because of my knee,” he says. “The league wasn’t as demanding as the Premier League, so there I could manoeuvre easily.” Wanyama spent four seasons in Montreal, never getting used to the freezing winters or the long flights to matches, but enjoying his football again and working under Henry, who he compares to Pep Guardiola. Today, the former Kenya international is back in London, taking his coaching badges and eyeing a reunion with Spurs. “I’ve done B and now I’m doing the A Licence,” he says. “Also, training every day, trying to make the knee stronger! That’s my life now. Hopefully, one day, I can be a manager. Wherever I get the chance in Europe, I’d be grateful. To just get some experience first and then one day be a good manager. “Hopefully, I can get to a club to get some experience in youth coaching. I haven’t spoken to Tottenham yet but soon we’ll have that conversation. “I’m happy,” he adds. “For six years, managing my knee was really hard, but I’m proud of what I achieved.” Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms