Ange Postecoglou is not ready to write off Tottenham’s Premier League campaign just yet despite more dropped points on Sunday.
Spurs were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Wolves after they conceded with three minutes left on another difficult afternoon that saw Destiny Udogie become the latest player to limp off.
With Rodrigo Bentancur also booked late on and set to serve a one-match ban when Newcastle visit on Saturday, Tottenham could be without 10 players.
But Postecoglou will not give up hope of being able to climb the table amid some crucial cup fixtures in January.
“It’s still fairly tight. I just feel that at some point we’ll get a relatively healthy squad and when we do that, we’ll be able to perform at a high level consistently,” Postecoglou insisted.
“We’ve already shown this year we can beat anyone. There’s a chance there you can go on a run, but at the moment that’s secondary to the first bit.
“I can see how hard they’re trying and if we were at our sharpest, we would have got that third goal and maybe a fourth.
“I mean we were inches away at times from getting the goal we needed and I think we’re just lacking a little bit of that dynamic movement that we need.
“A lot of these guys, they’re finding some form of energy to still be out there trying, but you know we’re certainly not as sharp as we can be.”
Given the efforts of his players across a hectic December, Postecoglou has given the squad Monday and Tuesday off ahead of this weekend’s fixture with Newcastle, but again suggested they need reinforcements in the January transfer window.
Postecoglou added: “Yeah, it was always planned. We kind of knew this is the first week where we don’t have a midweek game, so I think the whole group probably needs a couple of days just to get away from everything and recover.
“It’s been fairly intense for a real small core group of players, particularly over the last four or five weeks and I think it’ll do them good to have a couple of days to themselves, with their families, and give them a chance to recover mentally as much as physically.
“I’ll just keep going. We’ve got work to do and try to get some help for these players. Our role is to try and give them everything we can, the support we can to perform at their best.”
Wolves’ fightback to earn a point occurred without talisman Matheus Cunha, who was replaced during the interval after he reported muscle soreness.
new Wolves boss Vitor Pereira said: “Cunha at half-time spoke with me. “It’s better to stay out of the game, he told me, and I respect that.
“Maybe it’s not serious I hope, but I don’t know.
“What we do know is Cunha is a very important player for us but I must find in the squad players with other skills and qualities. They can do it.”
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
