Under-fire Ange Postecoglou insists he is facing the worst injury crisis of his career as he takes his Tottenham side to face Rangers.
The Premier League side have won just one of their last seven games and have plunged down the table with doubts over the long-term future of the Australian in North London cranking up. It’s a far cry from the dominant spell the 59-year-old enjoyed during his two years at Celtic where he claimed five of the six trophies on offer in Scotland and left Rangers playing second fiddle.
In a twist of irony, Philippe Clement will now have the chance to pile the misery on the Hoops’ Treble winner with a Europa League upset. And as he prepares to take to the dugout at Ibrox for the first time since May 2023 – where he suffered a 3-0 defeat – he admits that is facing a lack of numbers as he looks to end a four-game winless run.
With Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero out, Radu DrAgușin is the only fit centre-back that Tottenham have for the game. Former Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Foster will be between the sticks with No.1 Guglielmo Vicario missing. Asked if it’s the worst injury crisis he has faced as a boss going into the clash in Govan, Postecoglou confessed: “Yeah. I never think it’s just bad luck. I mean some of it is.
“I’ve never lost a goalkeeper for this period of time. I’ve had other issues that we’ve had. But some of it is recurring and particularly this year in terms of the guys coming back and sort of re-injuring.
‘So it is stuff we’re looking at and we’re always trying to explore whether we can do things better. I think last year was a bit different from this year. Last year we kind of hit us across the board.
“This year it’s more of a case of guys who are coming back that are more affected. Not going to lie, we’ve got a core in the group who have been playing a hell of a lot and are getting through it okay. But it is something we’re trying to address.”
Amid the storm, defender Cristian Romero broke rank to deliver a scathing verdict on the Tottenham board – appearing to criticise the hierarchy over a lack of investment in the team after his side’s 4-3 home defeat by Chelsea on Sunday. He also appeared to offer a vague defence of his boss advising the club powerbrokers against constant managerial turnover in the wake of the lacklustre run.
Postecoglou revealed that the club will deal with the matter “internally” as he attempted to explain the furious comments from the Spurs’ rebel: “I think in the context of the day, Christian was really disappointed obviously. More than disappointed in the fact that he works hard to get back and it was a big game for us.
“He knew that and had to go off. And then watch the team sort of have to feel the pain of another defeat in the manner it happened. He was obviously very emotional.
“He’s a leader in the club. He hasn’t been able to help us and I think it was his way of trying to, as a leader, to help us and the group by saying that we’re going through a tough time but he believes in what we’re doing.
“And then the other part of it probably, he went about it sort of the wrong way in terms of, I think he’s passionate about having success at the club.
“I think the way he probably expressed it was not the right way, particularly in a public sense, because I don’t feel and certainly not my belief that our kind of challenges at the moment are because of one thing or one person. I don’t believe that. I mean, I have believed that.
“I think whatever we need to do, we have the power to do that. But it’ll only happen if we kind of stay united as a group, particularly through difficult times, get through on the other side. I really believe if you can do that, you come out stronger.
“Christian, he realises what he said. A lot of what he said was good. Some of what he said wasn’t right. It shouldn’t be done in public. I also believe that these things, we deal with them within our own sort of four walls because there’s always issues that we need to deal with the same way I wouldn’t publicly criticise a player or anyone else. I don’t think we should be doing that in the public sense.
‘I think what’s more important is an understanding of how we should deal with these things and deal with them better. I’ve already spoken to Christian about it. He apologised for the fact that the way he said it, particularly in the public sense, wasn’t the right way to go about things.
“He is a human being. He got emotional and I think he just expressed what he wanted to express publicly in the wrong way. He does care.”