Ange Postecoglou expects Tottenham to bring in reinforcements next month, but has acknowledged it will only likely boost squad depth and not improve their starting line-up.
Spurs travel to Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day with six players definitely absent and Ben Davies only likely to be fit enough for a place on the bench.
Tottenham have been beset by injuries and suspensions over the past month, which has seen them plummet down the Premier League table amid an inconsistent run of form.
With Carabao Cup, Europa League and FA Cup matches to come in January, it is no secret what was on Postecoglou’s Christmas wish list, but he tempered expectations.
“I’m kind of hoping I’ve been really good this year because I’ve got a fair Christmas list for Santa so I will see what I get,” Postecoglou joked at his pre-match press conference on Christmas Eve.
“I think improving the team may be a bit challenging, but improving the depth of our squad, I think there’s always possibilities out there.
“I think it’s a bit more challenging this January because of the way European football is set up, because sometimes in January you would find maybe a couple of clubs out of Champions League contention that were thinking, well, you know what, ‘we’re not in the Champions League, so maybe just release a couple from our roster.’
“So, that doesn’t exist now because all European competitions are kind of still in the balance. That probably adds another layer of difficulty to it, but we’ll endeavour because I think there’s definitely a need for us to reinforce. We’ll just see how successful we are in that.”
Postecoglou revealed on Tuesday he would be home alone on Christmas Day due to his wife and young children going back to Australia, but he retained his festive spirit by pushing back the time of training on the day before a trip to Forest.
It allowed his players to spend the majority of the day with their own families on Christmas Day before they travel to Nottingham, where Spurs will aim to climb the table from 11th spot.
Spurs’ list of unavailable players has hit double figures since a 4-0 victory at Manchester City on November 23, but light is at the end of the tunnel with Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Mikey Moore and Richarlison primed to return in January.
“I always felt after the City game this is the toughest period we would come up against in terms of the number of games and the squad we had. We’ve still got at least a couple of games to go in that period and we’ve just got to hang on,” Postecoglou reflected.
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“It’s an unusual year and I think it will stay an unusual year. Liverpool are in a great moment but everyone else is having challenges. Maybe Chelsea is still OK squad wise, with injuries.
“In a very competitive league, it doesn’t take much for a team to be disrupted in terms of their form because you look from second or third to 16th and in any given week anyone can win.
“The spread of points is not what you would expect at this time of year, so it’s going to be a tight league all year and any team who gets some consistency and keeps their players healthy can make a real impact.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
