Inside Futbol

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Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou has admitted he needs to be creative in defence, insisting that Archie Gray will probably be the option to use at centre-back against Rangers in the absence of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven.

The Lilywhites are set to be without the services of their main defenders for Thursday’s Europa League meeting against Rangers.

Romero had to be replaced after just 15 minutes of the 4-3 defeat to Chelsea, while Van de Ven went off after 79 minutes.

In the absence of the duo, the former Celtic manager has to think about options at the back and while Radu Dragusin can fill one spot, there is still need for another.

The Tottenham manager indicated that the solution for the other centre-back spot will be Gray.

“Yes, I have to get creative”, Postecoglou said at a press conference.

“I think Archie’s probably the one for us at the moment that we need to try and get to fill in there. He’s done right-back, left-back for us.

“Had to play at centre-back a little bit this year, he did during pre-season.

“With him and Radu, they’re the two main sort of defenders.

“We’ve still got five or six games to navigate, so we may have to get creative at some point and deal with it in a different way.”

Postecoglou will be under pressure heading into the match, with Spurs now having lost seven games in the Premier League so far.

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Former Premier League midfielder Craig Burley has picked out a Tottenham Hotspur star that he believes has ‘just terrible’ positional awareness at times.

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou is licking his wounds after the loss to Chelsea, which saw Cristian Romero forced off with injury, while Micky van de Ven did also not last the full game.

Full-back Destiny Udogie started and is a regular in Postecoglou’s starting line-up; he has started all 15 league games for Spurs this season.

On Sunday, Postecoglou saw Tottenham take a 2-0 lead inside eleven minutes into the game but in the end lose the game by a 4-3 scoreline against Chelsea.

Burley pointed out that during the second half of the game, Udogie was out of position several times, which gave Chelsea easy access through the left-hand side and questioned the Spurs full-back’s positional awareness.

The former defender thinks that Udogie is a very good player but stressed that he has a terrible sense of positioning as a full-back at times.

“I was watching Destiny Udogie during the second half and half the time he was in a position that was neither left back nor left midfield”, Burley said on ESPN.

“It was kind of in between and I am thinking, Where is he? Where is his game awareness?

“It was so easy for Chelsea to get down that right-hand side, but he is not the only one.

“I think he is a very, very good player, but his positional sense as a full-back at times is just terrible.”

Tottenham will be up against Rangers in the Europa League on Wednesday and it remains to be seen whether Udogie will be able to redeem himself with a performance against the Scottish giants.

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Tottenham Hotspur defender Cristian Romero is looking at six weeks out of action after being forced off in Spurs’ loss to Chelsea.

Ange Postecoglou sprung a surprise by starting both Romero and Micky van de Ven in the Premier League clash with Chelsea on Sunday.

However, it backfired and both came off during the course of the 4-3 loss against the Blues.

Romero managed just 15 minutes of the game, while Van de Ven played until the 79th minute at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Tottenham will have to do without Romero now for a period of six weeks, according to Argentina journalist Gaston Edul.

The Argentine centre-back is suffering from a muscle injury, but it is not in his foot.

The news is a blow for Postecoglou, who is already under pressure due to Tottenham losing seven games already in the Premier League this season.

Radu Dragusin came on for Romero in the match against Chelsea and now looks set for a run of games for Spurs in the absence of the Argentine.

Richard Keys insists that Tottenham Hotspur’s direct style of football makes them refreshing for the neutral, but suggested the club’s fans may be missing Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho.

The London-based club have played an attacking style of football all season and have already scored a joint second-highest number of goals in the Premier League.

However, they have still suffered and have managed just 20 points of a possible 45, sitting eleventh in the table.

Keys admits he does enjoy watching Ange Postecoglou’s side play football, however is convinced they lack real steel.

He posed the question that Tottenham fans may well be lamenting the management of Conte and Mourinho, with the decision now for Daniel Levy to address.

“I enjoy watching Spurs. They’re direct – but soft”, Keys wrote on his blog.

“That’s what makes them refreshing for the neutral. But if you’re a fan is it what you want?

“Or are you missing Conte and Mourinho? Your move Daniel.”

Postecoglou was confronted by angry Tottenham fans following Spurs’ 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth last Thursday but continues to enjoy the backing of club chairman Levy.

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Under-pressure Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou continues to have the backing of chairman Daniel Levy as there is an understanding that the team’s performances have been hampered by key injuries in defence, according to the Daily Mail.

Tottenham suffered their seventh defeat of the season when they were beaten 4-3 by Chelsea at home on Sunday.

The result against Chelsea came on the back of a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth in midweek, where Postecoglou was confronted by angry fans.

The Spurs manager though is not expected to lose his job now due to the poor string of results.

The club’s chairman Levy continues to give his immediate backing to the former Celtic manager to carry on as boss.

The understanding within the board is that injuries to key defenders such as Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven have impacted the team’s chances of winning games.

It now remains to be seen how long the 59-year-old enjoys that backing and whether there is an immediate turnaround in form.

The January transfer window is fast approaching and all eyes will be on how much backing Levy gives to Postecoglou to add fresh faces.

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Former Premier League star Mark Bosnich thinks Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou ‘is finding out right now’ that at the top level he needs to be able to change his approach at times.

The Australian boss and his tactics have come under heavy scrutiny this season as Spurs’ results have swung up and down.

The north London side thrashed Manchester City 4-0 recently, but have now lost seven times in the Premier League after defeat to Chelsea.

Postecoglou’s side have lost back-to-back league games and Bosnich revealed that he warned the Spurs boss years ago that he needs to change his tactics if his side are in trouble.

Bosnich, who played for the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, believes that Postecoglou himself is now finding out that he needs to tweak his tactics at the top level.

“I actually said to him all those years ago that one day you will be managing in the Premier League and you will be playing three games a week”, Bosnich said on Sky Sports about the Spurs boss.

“And you will not have all your players due to injury or suspensions and sometimes you will play well, other times you will not and there will come times when you will need to tweak it.

“And his stock reply was, my plan B is to do plan A better.

“I think he is finding out right now that when you get to the very, very top level, that you need to have the ability when things are not going particularly well, just to tweak things to a certain bit.”

Up next Spurs are set to play Scottish giants Rangers on Thursday night in the Europa League and they will be looking to get back to winning ways in style at Ibrox.

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Former Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has picked out a Tottenham Hotspur star he thinks has not been a success at the north London club.

Questions are increasingly being asked about Spurs’ work in the transfer market over the last few years following a poor season so far for Ange Postecoglou’s men.

Postecoglou saw his side beaten 4-3 at home by Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday, a result which now means they have lost seven of their 15 Premier League games so far.

Spurs were again without Richarlison for the game, with the Brazilian having managed to feature in just five Premier League games this season and none of those appearances have been for more than half an hour.

Ex-Premier League boss Pardew believes it is clear that the big money capture of the attacker from Everton is a transfer which has not worked out for Tottenham.

Spurs paid an initial £50m to sign Richarlison from Everton in 2022.

“Well, he hasn’t been a success, that’s obvious”, Pardew said post match on talkSPORT’s The Final Word.

And he added: “I think Richarlison, for whatever reason, it just hasn’t worked out, has it, in terms of getting what you want from him on the performance level.”

With the January transfer window now quickly approaching, Tottenham will have an opportunity to enter the market to boost Postecoglou’s squad.

Spurs look likely to need to string a run of wins together soon if they are to stand any chance of launching a challenge for a top four finish this season.

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Former Premier League boss Alan Pardew thinks that a star Tottenham Hotspur signed in the summer transfer window for big money is ‘overstretched’ at Spurs.

Spurs splashed the cash on a number of players in the summer to support Ange Postecoglou, while several were also offloaded to trim the squad, including Emerson Royal, Giovani Lo Celso and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

With a striker wanted by Postecoglou to lead the line, a big fee was forked out to take Dominic Solanke from Bournemouth.

He scored the opening goal in Spurs’ 4-3 loss at home to Chelsea on Sunday, but Pardew was looking to see more from the striker.

The ex-Newcastle United boss thinks Solanke is ‘overstretched’ at Tottenham and lacks the spirit and heart of a top player to dig his side out of a bad situation when needed.

Pardew is confident that the hitman will score goals for Spurs, but believes he is a long way short of a Harry Kane replacement.

“I said when he signed that I still have question marks about whether he is good enough to replace Harry Kane”, Pardew said post match on talkSPORT’s The Final Word.

“I think Solanke, for me, is overstretched at Spurs.

“I do. I’m not saying you can replace Harry Kane.

“I was looking at Solanke in the second half and I wanted a bit more from him.

“He’s a goalscorer. I think he’ll get 15, 20 goals, but you’ve got to have a heart and you’ve got to have spirit as well, that’s what makes top, top players, to dig you out of a situation.

“I didn’t sense that from him today. I was disappointed.”

The 27-year-old has provided a return of five goals in his 12 Premier League outings for Spurs so far this season.

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Alan Pardew thinks it must be remembered that Ange Postecoglou has been operating at Tottenham Hotspur with a handicap due to the club’s transfer policy.

Postecoglou is now under pressure at Spurs after his side suffered their seventh league defeat of the season at the hands of Chelsea on Sunday.

Spurs were leading 2-0 in the game against their rivals, but folded and were 4-2 down before an injury time goal from Heung-Min Son.

Questions are increasingly being asked by Tottenham fans about whether Postecoglou is the right man to take the club forward.

Former Premier League boss Pardew however thinks the Australian was not well supported in the summer as Spurs focused on younger players who need time to develop.

As such he feels Postecoglou was handicapped by the club’s policy.

“The transfer committee at Spurs is obviously geared up to take young players, very young players, who perhaps are not even ready to play in the first team”, Pardew said on talkSPORT’s The Final Word.

“Ange was handicapped in some description in terms of trying to get a team out there that were going to improve on last year.

“As a manager you are under pressure, like when I was at Newcastle, to support things you don’t actually think are right in terms of some of the transfers that you did.

“It’s just how it is sometimes.”

Postecoglou was able to land an experienced striker in the shape of Dominic Solanke in the summer, but other signings were mostly more towards the future.

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Rangers manager Philippe Clement is ‘really interested’ in how his team handle Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League later this week.

The Gers have had up and down performances under Clement this season, falling well off the title pace, and the Belgian’s position as boss has been questioned as a result.

Displays in Europe have been a regular bright spot however and Rangers’ last Europa League outing saw them thrash French side Nice 4-1.

Clement’s men have also won their last three Scottish Premiership games on the bounce without conceding a goal and now he is relishing the challenge of playing Tottenham.

Spurs have lost seven times in the Premier League already this season, but Clement sees the game as a big test and is ‘really interested’ in how Rangers do.

“Spurs is going to be a really big test. This team never played at this level against that type of opponent”, Clement said to BBC Scotland.

“I’m really interested in how we will react, how we will make our decisions on the pitch, because it needs to be faster than in the league games.

“The team can only grow getting experience like that.

“We’re in a really good place in that way, but we need to prove it on Thursday against one of the better teams in the Premier League, so it’s one of the better teams in the world with a really big difference in budget of course.

“That’s the level my players want to play and I want to play and I want to see them play also to challenge that type of team.”

On the same day Rangers beat Ross County 3-0, Spurs threw away a two-goal lead against Chelsea to lose 4-3 and the pressure will be on Ange Postecoglou for his side to quickly respond.