Tottenham Hotspur’s injury crisis deepened in the 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day
Tottenham Hotspur fell to defeat once again in the Premier League, losing 1-0 to Nottingham Forest at City Ground on Boxing Day.
A first-half strike from Anthony Elanga, who pounced on a delightful threaded through ball from Morgan Gibbs-White to score past Fraser Forster, was enough for Nottingham Forest to sink Ange Postecoglou’s side. The defeat left Spurs 10 points adrift of the top four with pressure growing on Ange Postecoglou for what has been a woeful campaign.
The game on Boxing Day was the North London outfit’s fourth in just two weeks, and with the squad cannot catch a break from injuries, it is no surprise the team looked fatigued in the defeat. Ange Postecoglou has faced an unprecedented injury situation in his second season in charge of Tottenham.
Guglielmo Vicario, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Wilson Odobert and Richarlison are all currently sidelined with injuries, while academy starlet Mikey Moore has been out for over a month with a bad virus.
To make matters worse, Radu Dragusin was forced off with an ankle issue against Forest and is doubtful for the Wolves game, while Ben Davies has been ruled out for the next couple of weeks after suffering a setback in training. It is looking as though the Australian tactician might be without all four of his senior centre-backs, which could prove to be a recipe for disaster.
Big Ange was facing the media ahead of Sunday’s crucial fixture against Wolves. He touched upon several topics in his pre-match presser. When asked about whether he has ever faced an injury crisis of such extraordinary circumstances before in his career, the 59-year-old stated (h/t Football London):
“No, not at this level and for this extended period of time. There’s always been issues at different times but not to this extent. I think we’ve had close to pretty consistently 10 first-team players not available for a significant run of games. Definitely a first for me.”
-> Training injury setback as Postecoglou rules out Tottenham star for two weeks
Big Ange’s tactics, defensive organisation and inability to address the set-piece conundrum are all worthy of criticism, but there’s certainly an argument to suggest he has been extremely unfortunate when it comes to injuries this season. ESPN FC pundit Don Hutchison has sympathised with the Spurs boss over the injury crisis after the Forest game.
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It is hard to make a case against that, and if the chiefs at the Hotspur Way don’t make a few signings in the upcoming January transfer window, things could become ugly for Big Ange and Tottenham.
