Ange Postecoglou must surely be counting his lucky stars that the usually fickle Daniel Levy has some kind of unprecedented faith in him. If not for this goodwill that he seems to have garnered, the Aussie tactician would have been back at a beach in New South Wales wondering just how terribly his Tottenham project fell apart.
14th in the Premier League table at the time of writing, no one envisioned such struggles for Tottenham considering how good they looked under Ange during his first season. However, the Aussie tactician is on the verge of seeing his project in North London falling apart at the seams.
Injuries have been Tottenham’s biggest boon so far this season and in a way that not many clubs have experienced before. Like a house of cards, every single time a player returns and there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel, in Ange’s own words, it turns out to be an ‘oncoming train’.
The latest one who seems to have suffered this misfortune is Micky van de Ven. The Dutchman made a return for Spurs against Elfsborg in the Europa League but missed out completely against Brentford. At that point, Ange seemed to hint that it was a precaution but there have been reports to suggest that he might have a torn hamstring.
Defensive injuries galore
Although this Van de Ven news is not confirmed, it comes quickly on the heels of news that Radu Dragusin had torn his ACL which by now, everyone is familiar with. That injury is set to keep him out for the better part of the next 9 months. Cristian Romero, who was said to suffer from a small issues, seems nowhere close to returning.
Tottenham signed Kevin Danso late in the transfer window after failing to get Fikayo Tomori and Axel Disasi and it looks like the Austrian has no option to settle in at North London. If Van de Ven is not fit, he will have to be thrown straight into action in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Liverpool.
If the Dutchman indeed has torn his hamstring, he is looking at a significant period out of action and that would leave Ange Postecoglou with just Danso, Ben Davies and Archie Gray as options to play in that position until Romero returns (if he does any time soon).
The next few months could prove to be make-or-break for Ange Postecoglou and with his hands being tied, due to the injuries, he doesn’t have much he can do. The only thing he can hope for at the moment is that Danso settles in as soon as possible while also hoping for an easy prognosis on Van de Ven. Let’s wait and see how it plays out.
