Midfielder James Maddison and central defender Micky van de Ven are done for the year. Well, that sounds too melodramatic, as mean they’re out for the rest of the calendar year, not the season.
After all, 2023 will turn into 2024 in just 51 days time. But both players have suffered injuries severe enough to keep them from featuring again until well into January, Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglu revealed today.
Tottenham at Wolves FYIs
Kickoff: Sat. Nov. 11, 12:30pm, Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, UK
Spurs Preview Material: Team News Starting XI Prediction
Premier League Form: Tottenham LWWWW Wolves LDWDW
Premier League Standing: Tottenham 2nd 26 pts Wolves 14th, 12 pts
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
“Micky has a hamstring injury which we kind of knew was fairly significant,” Postecoglou said at his weekly Friday press conference, ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League clash at Wolverhampton.
“Probably a couple of months for him, looking to the New Year. Madders is a lot worse than we thought. Obviously he came off with the ankle injury but next day he wasn’t great so we sent him off for a scan.
“Again, not great for him so probably into the New Year for him.
Richy had the operation which we kind of scheduled anyway because he’s been battling with it from day one and with the international break coming up, we thought it was a good time to get it done. He should only be a month if everything goes well.
“We’re aware that we’re going to have to make some changes but the guys who come in have been training hard and understand how we want to play.
Much has been made, in reference to Tottenham’s hot start to the season, about how they didn’t qualify for any European competition, and were bounced immediately from the EFL Cup.
Thus, their players haven’t had to deal with the workload that most other teams have had. Spurs, the last side to lose a Premier League match this season, were top of the table until Monday night’s loss to Chelsea.
“I know people have said it has been an advantage that we haven’t been in Europe or the cups but if we had been, some of these guys would have had game time,” Postecoglu continued.
“That’s the tricky bit. From our perspective, we can’t afford any more injuries, we’ve got to be really careful about the kind of game time we give people.”
With Van de Ven injured, and Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero suspended, Spurs will be without 3/4 of the starting back line tomorrow! It will be very interesting to see how Wolves attack this weakness tomorrow.
He is absolutely right though- they cannot afford to suffer any more injuries.
Pretty much every manager says that though; all the time.
All the absences have an effect on the team,” the Spurs boss continued.
“The unusual one for us, we’ve lost three of our back four. That’s where we get affected more than anything else. If it is was just Micky, it wouldn’t disrupt us as much but we’ve got to bring in three different players in a back four and that’s the big challenge for us.”
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now, while writing for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow the website on Twitter.