Prickly Ange Postecoglou has been left facing an injury nightmare as he returns to Glasgow with pressure mounting over his Tottenham future.
The ashen-faced Spurs boss was left licking his wounds after a demoralising 4-3 defeat to Chelsea and now takes on Rangers with a host of his best players either out or facing a battle to be fit. The 59-year-old claims Dutch flying machine Micky van de Ven and Brennan Johnson exited the defeat to Chelsea to minor issues, however, Argentina standout Cristian Romero appears set for another spell on the sidelines, With fellow central defender Ben Davies also on the shelf, a fresh injury to the uncompromising 26-year-old is a hammer blow to Postecoglou.
But the former Celtic boss, returning to Glasgow for the first time since leaving Parkhead after two trophy-laden years, jumped in on a question about Romero’s hasty return to the starting XI. He said: “No, Romero didn’t injure the same thing. It’s a totally different injury, but also people I’m sure are aware of our situation. It’s not like I’ve got a multitude of options there, so, you know, you’ve got to make these decisions. Both players trained and tried well, and they both wanted to help. So you make these decisions with all the best information. Like I said, it’s not like Romero re-injured his toe, it’s a totally different injury, which could happen at any time.”
Meanwhile, Philippe Clement proved to be a figure of light relief for wounded Spurs fans. The Belgian caught heat on Sunday when he claimed both Spurs and looming Premier Sports Cup final rivals Celtic were “financially out of our league”. But there was no hate on Tottenham podcasts and forums when they heard the Rangers boss had labelled Spurs “one of the best teams in the world”, it was seized upon as comic relief.
That lofty verdict came before the calamitous collapse against Chelsea and now Rangers are primed and ready to take on a Spurs team who are teetering on the brink having won one of their last seven and at risk of missing out on a top eight Europa League place if they fall at Ibrox.