Ange Postecoglou has spoken about the fact that Tottenham trio Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie will go into the Europa League final off the back of two weeks without any competitive football.
It was an open secret that Tottenham Hotspur would field a much weakened side at Villa Park, with the club’s eyes firmly set on the Europa League final in Bilbao on Wednesday.
Heung-min Son got 75 minutes under his belt on Friday following his recent return from injury, while others such as Dominic Solanke, Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma got some minutes into their legs after coming on as second-half substitutes.
However, Romero, Van de Ven and Udogie did not even find a place on the bench for Tottenham’s trip to the Midlands, which means that the trio will go into the Europa League final on May 21, having not had any competitive action since the second leg of the semifinal.
Ange Postecoglou not prepared to take risks with Tottenham trio
Postecoglou has explained that the decision was made to leave Romero, Van de Ven and Udogie back in London so they are well rested for the final against Man United.
When asked if he is concerned that the trio would have gone two weeks without any game time ahead of the final, the Tottenham boss said (via Football.London): “Yeah, but they are available. They are available. For us, there’s no point bringing them here, they weren’t going to play today.
“They stayed at home, they did a really strong (training) session and come Wednesday, knock on wood, they are all available, and that’s the most important thing. That’s the primary thing. When those guys play, that back four with Vic in goal, our chances of success significantly improve.”
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When asked if it was simply not worth risking them against Villa, Postecoglou responded: “Yeah, I don’t know how else to say it. They are available. If something happened to them today, then they wouldn’t be available, and I just don’t think that would be the smart course for us to take.”
Postecoglou was burned by Dejan Kulusevski decision
The Tottenham boss would be ruing his decision to play Dejan Kulusevski against Palace, which has proved incredibly costly for Spurs, leaving Postecoglou with a big selection conundrum ahead of the Europa League final.
The last thing he would have wanted is to risk one of Romero, Van de Ven or Udogie picking up an injury against Villa. Given the trio’s fitness record, it is understandable that he played it safe.