Tottenham's new fitness coach Marcos Alvarez has revealed how he was forced to rip up their training diet regimes upon his arrival at White Hart Lane.

He told the Daily Mail: "When we arrived we wanted to play a different style and, to do this, the training had to be different and harder.

"We saw that we had to change the mentality. We had a double session on the first day and we still use them because we have a lot of matches and we need the time to work with the players, not just physically but also on technique and tactics.

"We need to train very hard to play our style and maybe the staff that were here before us didn't think like we do.

"We have come in and tried to change things for the better. One of the big aims for us to achieve is to convince the players that we need to play very compact and quick. To play our way, they have to work very hard."

They have also had to be more disciplined with their diet, with fruit and salads replacing what Alvarez considered an alarming amount of fried food.

"We saw in the first week that the meals were not right," he said. "It was mostly English food and it wasn't healthy. We needed to change the diet because food is very important, it is the fuel for the players.

"To eat healthy means there is no fried food, fatty food, no sauce on the dishes. Spanish people can eat the same kind of food, too, but if you a sportsman you have to take care of yourself better.

"Now there are salads and fruit, while fish and meat is grilled rather than fried."