So today kinda sucked, right? So how about some news that will make you feel even worse? Today, following Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-2 loss to Everton at Goodison Park, Ange Postecoglou gave some details about the previously-reported injuries to Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson, and Yves Bissouma. And the news? Well, my lovelies, the news is not good.
“It’s a pretty extreme situation, we’ve lost three players, significant players since, the last game and we’ve already got seven or eight out. Obviously we lost Dom really late yesterday in training, something innocuous, so it’s just the run we’re on at the moment, the situation we’re in. At some point that will change, we’ll get some players back, but right now it’s just the situation we’re dealt and the responsibility lies squarely with me to try to get us out of it.
“I mean [Solanke’s injury] was just one of these things and he just sort of went to shoot on his own and twisted it, so we don’t think it’s serious, but probably a few weeks at this stage from what I’ve heard.
“It’s probably three or four weeks [for Johnson], he did it in the second half against Arsenal the other night. So yeah, we’re looking at three to four weeks.
“Biss was a knock, we’re hoping that he should be right by next weekend.”
I mean at this point, if you can’t laugh about it you’d cry, right? I’ve been a Spurs fan for nearly 20 years and I’ve seen some stuff (C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate) but I’ve never experienced a season like this one with so many consecutive injuries and its cumulative impact on the team’s fortune. It’s just baffling, and infuriating, and awful.
And there’s no let-up on the schedule either. Tottenham travel to Germany next for a critical mid-week Europa League tie against Hoffenheim, one in which he will not be able to play Djed Spence or Sergio Reguilon, followed by a home tie on Sunday against 19th place Leicester City. And Postecoglou did not indicate that there were any players set to return from injury next week.
But credit to Ange — he has taken the full weight of responsibility for the team and its results, despite the almost comical poor luck he’s had this season. And when asked about his future, with many questioning if he can survive today’s results, he took it on the chin.
“I have never played the victim. At the end of the day I still believe the responsibility lies with me to get this right and that is where I sit with things. Whatever the circumstances are and it is fair to say it is a challenging situation for sure a lot of it is out of your control as a manager when you losing the amount of players we are at the moment. But I still have to steer us through and if I start worrying about myself and the cards I have been dealt with it is a dereliction of my duty and my responsibility. It is not how i see it. I see it as these are the cards I have been dealt and it is up to me to get us out of it and I have to be good enough to do that.”
I’m not going to sugar-coat this. The situation is awful and it sucks. I don’t know what Ange is going to do over the next few weeks and I don’t know what the future holds. But as I said beforehand, the only way out is through. And reading his statements above is one of the main reasons why I am, and remain, #AngeIn.
