Thomas Frank has provided an update on a Tottenham Hotspur defender who was limping towards the end in the club’s 2-2 draw at Newcastle United.
The Tottenham boss has made it a habit to chop and change his starting eleven over the last few weeks, and that is exactly what we saw against Newcastle as well.
Rodrigo Bentancur, Brennan Johnson, Pape Sarr and Cristian Romero came into the starting eleven, with Joao Palhinha, Richarlison, Archie Gray, and Micky van de Ven being left out.
While Tottenham did struggle to progress the ball through midfield for large parts of the game, they did have periods of dominance, and in the end, they deserved a point for the fight they showed to get back into the game twice.
Destiny Udogie started his second match in three days and completed all 90 minutes, which is another positive sign for the Lilywhites.
The Italian appeared to be moving gingerly towards the end of the contest, which would concern Spurs fans, given his injury problems over the last 18 months.
However, Frank has dismissed any injury concerns over the 23-year-old. When asked if Udogie was okay, given that he was limping at the end, the Tottenham boss responded (via Football.London): “Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I haven’t heard anything.”
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Frank deserves credit for rotating his squad
Given that Frank is under pressure, the easiest thing for him to do would be to play what he feels is his best eleven despite having a match every three days.
However, that would be a selfish thing to do and rotating the squad during this busy period is the best bet to reduce the chances of serious injuries, particularly for players like Micky van de Ven, who have a history of hamstring problems.
The 52-year-old is making decisions with the medium to long-term in mind, which suggests that he is not feeling any pressure of being sacked by the club immediately.