The international break is no 'break' for a struggling manager... it's a worry

• e-mail

Three defeats for Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and West Ham and the early international break arrives.

I've heard already that it's a two-week 'break' from the Premier League that gives a manager a chance to work on the training ground and to right the wrongs of a poor start. Rubbish!

You can only work with your non-internationals so you can't work with your big-hitters. 

Slaven Bilic has admitted he is worried following West Ham's thrashing by Newcastle

You can't work on shape or pattern of play, you can't get any crucial work completed. You're left kicking your heels, stewing, reflecting, winding yourself up, basically.

Before you play again, you might only get two sessions with your group all together.

In the meantime, you drive yourself mad double-checking where your players are, the results of their games, the time zones they are in, the flights they have booked and if they make those flights. It's not a break — it's a worry!

Then some come back happy because they've won a game or played well and others come back with the raging hump that does nothing to lighten the mood in the camp.

Crystal Palace manager Frank de Boer is set for talks with the club following defeat by Swansea

No need to be all trembly at Wembley

Tottenham fans will be gloomy about their Wembley start, but they are a very good side and they will overcome this troublesome spell.

A loss to Chelsea and a late equaliser for Burnley on Sunday — well done Sean Dyche, again — is a result of opposition motivation and Spurs' anxiety and trepidation. 

That fear is what happens when you can't secure home form, whatever your home stadium.

History and the media then combine to make life even more difficult and the management will be hugely irked by questions about the 'Wembley jinx'.

But the only way to change the narrative is to create a different one of your own.

Mauricio Pochettino will be concentrating on his gameplans going forward (Dortmund in the Champions League and Swansea in the league). 

He will know it is all about taking one small step at a time. One win and it will end the questions, two wins and then three and it will begin to feel like their fortress.

Chris Wood scored the late equaliser to deny Spurs all three points on Sunday afternoon

Where are the box-to-box midfield generals now? 

Spurs, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea all play with two wide players and a centre forward. The wide players are capable of playing narrow too with full backs then bombing on around them with an agenda to create width and deliver crosses. It's the fashionable system of play.

It means the priority for central midfielders in that formation is to protect the central defenders and offer a shield and so the Frank Lampard/Steven Gerrard driving-into-the-box role is now limited.

In our league, we do have Paul Pogba and Dele Alli who can do that but there are fewer and fewer.

In my opinion, Alli could play that role for England and they could then play two strikers, Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford or Kane and Jamie Vardy.      

Dele Alli is one player who can be a midfield general - and so can Man United's Paul Pogba