Postecoglou Addresses Injuries, Romero’s Comments, and Anticipated Ibrox Atmosphere

Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou addressed reporters ahead of his team’s Europa League fixture on Thursday against Scottish Premiership club Rangers, scheduled for a 20:00 GMT kick-off. The following are the main points from his press conference: Postecoglou confirmed that Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven will both be unavailable for the upcoming match, stating that his squad is “thin on numbers.” He also mentioned that the club is still seeking “clarity” regarding the prognosis of the most recent injuries. The Tottenham manager described the current situation as the most severe injury crisis he has experienced in his managerial career “by a fair stretch.” However, he emphasized that he does not attribute it to “just bad luck” and that the team is “exploring what we can do differently” to avoid similar occurrences in the future. Regarding his approach to the shortage of central defenders, Postecoglou stated: “I have to get creative. I think Archie [Gray] is probably the one for us at the moment that we need to try and get to fill in there… Him and Radu [Dragusin], they’re the two main defenders. We’ve still got five or six games to navigate, so we may have to get creative at at some point and deal with it in a different way.” Postecoglou indicated that remarks made by Romero concerning the club’s leadership following their loss to Chelsea stemmed from the player being “more than disappointed” and “very emotional.” He further explained: “It was his way of being a leader and trying to help the group in saying ‘we are going through a tough time’ but he believes in what we are doing. In the other part of it, he probably went about it the wrong way. I think he is passionate about having success at the club, but he probably didn’t express it in the right way.” When asked about potential repercussions for the defender, Postecoglou responded: “I just think you deal with these things internally. I just don’t think there’s any benefit for us. I know people get really salacious about punishments and stuff – they really love that sort of thing. It would have been easy for him not to say anything. He does care, but there’s a way to do these things and a way to express yourself and the way he did it wasn’t the right way.” The former Celtic manager noted that this match against Rangers “was of the most interest” to him when the draw occurred, and he is aware of “what reception I will get.” However, he added: “We have a pretty young team here and the more you can expose them to that [type of atmosphere] the better it will serve us.”