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Tottenham still looked ‘fragile’ in their win over Manchester United, claims former Chelsea star Frank Leboeuf, who is not sure the victory is a turning point for the club.

Spurs picked up a morale-boosting 1-0 win over the Red Devils on Sunday, with James Maddison returning from injury to score the only goal of the game.

Back-to-back victories for Ange Postecoglou’s side have seen them climb to 12th in the Premier League table, not where they want to be, but a much healthier state than they were in a couple of weeks ago.

The injury nightmare that they have been through in recent months appears to be easing, with not only Maddison but goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario returning to the starting XI.

Leboeuf was impressed with the Italian stopper, but his performance demonstrated how open Spurs were at the back, even against a blunt Manchester United team.

Alejandro Garnacho, in particular, had a fabulous chance to score for the Red Devils but fired his shot over the bar from inside the box in the first half.

The Frenchman reckons Spurs are still showing signs of weakness, partly due to ongoing injuries to the likes of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, and should not be getting too excited about their form just yet.

‘Vicario is back and has been very good today,’ Leboeuf told ESPN FC. ‘He’s been under criticism a lot during the beginning of the season and he’s come back and had a huge impact today. But it’s still fragile.

‘If Vicario was the man of the match it’s because Manchester United created dangers.

‘I found, because of injuries and absences, I found Spurs very vulnerable at the back. If Garnacho had been a little bit more precise they would have been 1-1 at half-time and maybe it would have been a different game.

‘You can say, “we had a very good game, we feel better, now we can start from there and it’s going to be a new era for us this season.” No, no no, it’s still very fragile from Spurs.’

Postecoglou was delighted to have Maddison and Vicario available again, hailing the pair’s impact on their return to the starting XI.

‘It was enormous to have them back, not just for me, but for the players, for the staff, the fans,’ Postecoglou said.

‘They are top players, and we have missed them, even though the other guys have done everything in their power to contribute. There is a reason the experienced players are there and today they really stood up for us.’

Brennan Johnson and Wilson Odobert also returned and came off the bench, with Postecoglou adding to the BBC: ‘Even the guys coming on, Brennan and Wilson, great to get them back into it.’

The Australian did, however, confirm that three players suffered knocks in the win over United, although he doesn’t expect them to be serious injuries.

Son Heung-min, Kevin Danso and Rodrigo Bentancur were all taken off due to minor problems.

‘He got a knock on his knee,’ Postecoglou said of Danso. ‘Him, Sonny and Rodri all got sort of knocks. I don’t think it is anything significant. But the beauty of it now is we can actually get them to recover instead of trying to patch them up and throw them out [onto the pitch] again [in] midweek.’

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Micah Richards believes Ruben Amorim hasn’t yet grasped how to handle the media pressures that comes with being Manchester United manager.

United’s start under Amorim continued to worsen as the Red Devils suffered a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday to slide down to 15th in the Premier League table.

Jamis Maddison’s first-half strike was the difference in an edgy encounter which condemned Amorim’s side to their 12th league defeat of the season – their most in the top flight in 31 years.

And with a slew of key first-team players unavailable due to injury, the task for Amorim does not appear to be getting any easier as they prepare for a tough trip to Goodison Park at the weekend against an in-form Everton.

After the game, the under-fire United boss pushed back against the suggestion that his job was under threat, but conceded that it jobs remains ‘so hard’.

And while Amorim’s style of play and tactical inflexibility have come in for criticism, Richards believes that the United manager’s handling of the media is also not helping his cause.

‘Some of the comments that he’s making, like when he said he’d rather play the goalkeeping coach instead of Rashford, or the toing and froing with Ange before the game, I just feel like he’s honest but in a naive way,’ Richards said on the Rest Is Football podcast.

‘At first, I thought he had conviction but now I feel like he doesn’t understand the scrutiny of a Manchester United manager and everything he says.

‘When he said this is the worst team in United history, whatever quotes he wants to use, what he doesn’t understand is that’s a headline every single week.

‘If he doesn’t like a player, if he doesn’t like Rashford, that’s his decision. We can accept that as pundits, that’s your decision, we respect your decision.

‘But all the other stuff around it he’s actually making it harder for himself. He doesn’t understand what he’s doing because everything is chaos. It’s chaotic.’

‘I don’t want to tell him to focus on the football but stop giving people nuggets to make bigger stories than there needs to be.’

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Amorim also faced criticism for not bringing on any of his academy players until the dying moments of Sunday’s contest.

But the Portuguese coach insisted that he needed to be careful with United’s young talents.

‘It is the hardest competition in the world,’ he said. ‘I am trying to be careful with them. I felt the team was pushing for the goal and I felt I don’t want to change. But they will play.

‘You try to read the game, understand what you see in training. The team were pushing for the goal and I didn’t feel the need to change.’

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Tottenham’s win over Manchester United was ‘one of the worst games of football in the Premier League in a long time,’ according to former top flight midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker.

James Maddison scored the only goal of the game after just 13 minutes as Spurs picked up the victory in a clash between two woefully under-performing teams this season.

Ange Postecoglou’s team climb to 12th in the table with the win, while Manchester United are languishing in 15th.

Reo-Coker, who played in the Premier League for Aston Villa, West Ham and Bolton, was bemused by the lack of quality on show from the two sides.

The 40-year-old felt Spurs were the more impressive and deserved the victory, but had nothing good to say for the Red Devils, with the game as a whole written off as a dud.

‘I can’t even describe the game of football, if you can even call it a game of football, that I had to witness,’ Reo-Coker said on CBS Sports Golazo. ‘I’m a big Premier League fan but I think that’s one of the worst games of football in the Premier League I have seen in a long time.

‘It’s exactly where two teams are, but I give more credit to Tottenham. When you look at Tottenham and how they want to play, you see an identity with Ange and what he’s actually trying to do. They might not have the players but they at least try and stick to it.

‘With Manchester United, I look to see what positives can I say about Manchester United? I find it hard to have one positive thing to say. It’s really, really sad times for Manchester United.

‘The performance wasn’t there. I don’t see that the players know what they’re doing still in this whole football philosophy, this style of playing, I don’t think he has the players for it.

‘It’s another performance where you say, that performance leaves way more questions than answers.’

Manchester United have won just 29 points from their 25 Premier League games, scoring 28 goals in that time.

Much closer to the relegation zone than the European places, Amorim is well aware of how dire the situation has become.

‘If you see the table, it’s impossible to feel comfortable,’ he said. ‘We just want to win, improve our performance, because we are Manchester United and we need to win the next game and improve. There is no comfort in any situation in this club.’

The club’s stated aim to win the Premier League by 2028 feels a very long way off at the moment, but the manager says that is the target that has been discussed and they are sticking to.

‘Yes, we talk about that, our focus is to win the Premier League and we can change everything in a few years,’ he said. ‘In this moment, we are in a difficult position, but we need to work every day and focus on the little steps.’

Amorim takes his team to in-form Everton for their next outing on Saturday after the Toffees climbed above them in the table over the weekend.

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Anfield legend Robbie Fowler believes his former club Liverpool should ‘have a look’ at signing Micky van de Ven from Tottenham.

Liverpool fans are sweating over the future of star defender and club captain Virgil van Dijk, who will be out of contract come the summer.

Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold have also entered the final six months of their contracts at Anfield, with Liverpool keen to get at least one of the trio to extend their stay on Merseyside.

But the Reds must at least begin to think about life after Van Dijk and their former striker Fowler believes Van de Ven could be an ideal replacement.

Van de Ven has enjoyed an impressive if injury-prone spell at Tottenham since his £43m move from Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg in 2023.

The 23-year-old, who is currently out injured and missed Sunday’s much-needed victory over Manchester United, has established himself as one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League over the past 18 months.

Fowler reckons the Netherlands international would ‘look right in a Liverpool shirt’ and could be the man to replace Van Dijk should he depart Anfield this summer.

Ex-England striker Fowler named Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen as another option for Liverpool as they brace themselves for an important summer given the possible high-profile departures.

‘When it comes to potentially replacing Virgil van Dijk, I’m a big fan of both Dean Huijsen at Bournemouth and Micky van de Ven at Tottenham,’ Fowler told BoyleSports.

‘Having said that, we are talking about players who are not as good as Van Dijk, he is the absolute stand out in the Premier League and all effort should be made to keep him at the club.

‘As a football fan you want your club to keep improving and keep signing good valuable players, but first of all it’s about keeping your best players at the club.

‘He is a Rolls Royce of a player and I do think that the game looks too easy for him at times, he is a tremendous player and a tremendous leader. We’re in the realms of just giving him what he wants to ensure he stays.

‘There are good players out there but no one as good as him, if he does go then it should be someone that knows the Premier League.

‘Someone who knows the speed and the intensity. But replacing Van Dijk with anyone is a gamble.

‘I’m the sort of fan that thinks if you’re not out there signing good players then you’re slipping behind the competition and are slipping backwards.

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‘If you’re not doing that and improving the squad you can plateau. When it comes to Micky van de Ven, he’s a very, very good player despite having his injury problems.

‘I think he is strong, fast and I think he would look right in a Liverpool shirt. I know Tottenham fans won’t want to hear that but it’s a compliment to him as a player that I think the league leaders should have a look at him.’

Tottenham have struggled to cope with their long injury list in recent weeks but beat Manchester United 1-0 thanks to James Maddison’s first-half goal.

Van Dijk and Liverpool were also in action on Sunday, beating Wolves 2-1 to move seven points above Premier League title rivals Arsenal, who won earlier in the weekend.

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Ruben Amorim insists he is not worried about his job despite Manchester United’s woeful form continuing with defeat at Tottenham on Sunday.

James Maddison scored the only goal of the game as Spurs beat the Red Devils 1-0 in the Premier League clash in north London.

The victory took Tottenham up to 12th in the top flight while United remained 15th as they suffered their 12th defeat in 25 league matches.

Amorim only arrived from Sporting in November but such has their been abysmal form and level of performance that he is already under pressure.

It seems very unlikely that the Portuguese would be dismissed before the end of the season but results mean that he is being asked about his future.

‘I am not worried,’ Amorim told the BBC. ‘I understand our fans, what the media think about it. I hate to lose, that feeling is the worst.

‘The rest I am not thinking about. I am here to help my players. I understand my situation, my job, I am confident on my work and I just want to win games.

‘The place in the table is my worry, I am not worried about me.’

Manchester United were poor, once again, but did create some chances, with the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee spurning opportunities.

‘It was the difference of the game, they scored and we didn’t,’ said the manager. ‘We had the opportunities. We had situations in transitions, trying to get a result, but in the end they scored and we didn’t.

‘We want to recover the players, I think we can recover some players for the next game. We have to be together to finish the season and start over.’

Speaking before the game at Tottenham, Amorim admitted that the struggles are proving exhausting, not just for him but everyone at the club.

‘It’s ups and downs. It’s a fight every day, with everything – with a lot of media – then you have to cope with a lot of games,’ he told Sky Sports.

‘Then when you are in this club – in any club – but in this club, if you cannot push for a lot of wins in a row, you are always fighting. That can be exhausting not just for me, for everybody in the club, and for the players.

‘We need to keep fighting and focus just on the small things, and for me the small thing is the next game.’

United’s next outing is at in-form Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.

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Manchester United have been rocked by an injury nightmare ahead of their Premier League clash with Tottenham this afternoon.

With Lisandro Martinez already sidelined for the rest of the season, Amad Diallo is now facing a significant period out with an ankle injury.

The Ivory Coast international, United’s best player under Ruben Amorim, could even miss the rest of the season.

The problems don’t stop there – United will be without three midfield options in Kobbie Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte and Toby Collyer this afternoon after picking up injuries in training this week.

Mainoo is facing a number of weeks on the sidelines with Ugarte and Collyer’s issues thought to be more short-term.

It leaves Amorim with the midfield options of Christian Eriksen and Casemiro, two players who have struggled for gametime since their last start against Newcastle United on 30 December.

With Johnny Evans, Luke Shaw and Mason Mount all still unavailable,a number of youth team players have been drafted in to bolster the numbers.

Chido Obi, Sekou Kone, Jack Moorhouse, Harry Amass and Elyh Harrison have all made the journey down south with Kone and Moorhouse two options in central midfield.

Tottenham will have little sympathy for United given their own injury woes.

Ange Postecoglou passionately defended his side after the FA Cup defeat against Aston Villa last Sunday having been left to manage a staggering injury crisis over the last 10 weeks.

Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert also returned to training as they near their returns.

Dominic Solanke not thought to be far behind but the former Bournemouth striker, who picked up a knee injury in mid-January, will not be involved today.

Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero have both endured injury-hit seasons and remained sidelined.

Van de Ven made his return from a hamstring problem last month, playing 45 minutes in the Europa League victory over Elfsborg but has not featured in the squad since.

Romero meanwhile has not featured since his brief comeback against Chelsea in December with Spurs exercising extreme caution over the pair. Radu Dragusin meanwhile is out for the season with a serious knee injury.

Mathys Tel scored his first goal for the club against Villa on Sunday. United were interested in signing the forward in January before talks with Bayern Munich collapsed. He can show them exactly what they might be missing up top on Sunday.

United and Spurs are marooned in 13th and 14th respectively with two points separating the two ahead of kick-off.

Predicted Tottenham XI to face Man Utd

Kinsky, Porro, Danso, Gray, Spence, Bergvall, Bentancur, Moore, Kulusevski, Song, Tel

Predicted Man XI to face Tottenham

Onana, de Ligt, Maguire, Yoro, Dalot, Fernandes, Casemiro, Dorgu, Zirkzee, Garnacho, Hojlund

Where to watch Tottenham vs Man Utd? Kick-off time and TV channel

Tottenham vs Man Utd kicks off at 4:30pm on Sunday 16 February.

Live coverage is available on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event with a live stream available on the Sky Go app and NOW TV.

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If Tottenham fans were looking for a permanent escape from the misery of supporting their club, relocating to North Korea might not be the worst option.

Ange Postecoglou’s side have endured a terrible run of form which culminated in last weekend’s FA Cup fourth round defeat against Aston Villa.

Spurs had exited the Carabao Cup at the semi-final stage just three days earlier after they were pilloried for capitulating against Liverpool, surrendering a one-goal advantage from the first leg and limping to a 4-0 defeat.

Hopes of a top four finish and a return to Europe’s top tier competition evaporated long before the turn of the year and with Spurs currently languishing in 14th place there is little left to play for on the domestic front.

The grim details of the club’s decline would be hard to track down for any fan located in North Korea, with dictator Kim Jong-un having banned coverage of the north London club along with their Premier League counterparts Wolves and Brentford.

The despot’s regime insists no games involving teams with players from his hated neighbours are broadcast there.

South Korea currently boasts three players in the Premier League with Spurs skipper Son Heung-min the most high-profile of the trio.

Hwang Hee-chan, meanwhile, has been with Wolves since signing from RB Leipzig three years ago and Kim Ji-soo has made two top flight appearances for Brentford this season.

Premier League football is shown in North Korea, but coverage is restricted to 60 minutes and, according to a report, airs before early evening news bulletins but, bizarrely, four months after matches have been played.

The findings come in a report by the independent US think tank Stimson Center’s probe into North Korea.

State TV is a major vehicle for propaganda but sport is ‘one of the few moments each day when state TV is not trying to send an overt or underlying message to its viewers,’ analysis found.

The Center’s Martyn Williams said: ‘We thought it was interesting.

‘We just saw a lot of football on KCTV. It’s the main international sport they broadcast.’

Tottenham, meanwhile, are set to be boosted by the return of several key figures for Sunday’s visit of Manchester United, Kim’s favourite team.

Spurs were without 11 players for last weekend’s FA Cup defeat at Villa Park, but boss Postecoglou has worked with Guglielmo Vicario, Destiny Udogie, James Maddison, Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson in training this week.

Italy international Vicario has not featured since he fractured his ankle in the 4-0 win at Manchester City on November 23 and Postecoglou has used three different goalkeepers during the ensuing three-month period.

‘It’s been a good week, fair to say, in terms of the health and well-being of the group of young men I look after,’ Postecoglou smiled.

‘The guys who have been playing have benefited from a couple of days off.

‘On the injury front, good to have some significant players back for training purposes to start with because it raises the quality and level of our training, but in terms of helping us Vicario, yes trained really well and good to go.

‘Madders is good to go. Then we’ve had Destiny, Wilson and Brennan training with the group and they’re in a good space as well, so it’s been a good training week.’

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Gary Neville and Roy Keane have made their predictions for Sunday’s Premier League clash between Tottenham and Manchester United.

Both sides head into Sunday’s clash in need of a positive result as they look to make up ground on the rest of the league after disappointing starts to their campaign.

Tottenham recorded an impressive 2-0 away victory against Brentford last time out in the league but since then have recorded back-to-back defeats as they continue to deal with an injury crisis to several key players.

Ange Postecoglou’s side had a one-goal advantage heading into their Carabao Cup semi-final second leg with Liverpool but were handsomely beaten 4-0 at Anfield.

Spurs were then dumped out of the FA Cup last weekend after a 2-1 away defeat to Aston Villa.

The north London club sit 14th in the table and have won just one of their last eight games in the league.

United, meanwhile, have won four of their last five games in all competitions but still remain unconvincing under new manager Ruben Amorim.

Having lost 2-0 at home to Crystal Palace last time out in the league, United bounced back in the FA Cup with a 2-1 win against Leicester albeit courtesy of a controversial late winner from Harry Maguire.

Now facing the out-of-form Spurs, United will be after a spot of revenge having been thrashed 3-0 at Old Trafford in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.

And given Tottenham’s current form, both Neville and Keane were confident in predicting an away win for their former side.

‘I think United win. 2-1 United,’ Neville said on The Overlap with Sky Bet.

Keane followed up with a quip about the home side’s injury situation, joking: ‘Have Spurs got their players back? Is (James) Maddison back?’

But the former United captain eventually also settled on an away win.

‘I’m going to go United. 3-1 United,’ he said.

Having endured a relentless schedule, Postecoglou’s side will be grateful for a week in training to prepare for Sunday’s clash.

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However, Keane was not convinced that the added rest will suddenly turn around Tottenham’s form.

‘My only thing with Ange is he mentioned they have no midweek games for a couple of weeks,’ he said.

‘But it’s not like you can just get a magic wand out on the training pitch and all of a sudden they make the players better.

‘What happens if United go and beat them next week when they’ve a full week of and players back? Then they will definitely be looking at the manager.’

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Tottenham could be handed an overdue injury boost in time for their Premier League clash with Manchester United this weekend.

Ange Postecoglou passionately defended his side after the FA Cup defeat against Aston Villa last Sunday having been left to manage a staggering injury crisis over the last 10 weeks.

Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert are also close to rejoining the group while Dominic Solanke is not thought to be far behind. The former Bournemouth striker picked up a knee injury in mid-January.

Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero have both endured injury-hit seasons with Poestecoglou set to provide an update on the pair and the rest of his squad on Friday.

Van de Ven made his return from a hamstring problem last month, playing 45 minutes in the Europa League victory over Elfsborg but has not featured in the squad since.

Romero meanwhile has not featured since his brief comeback against Chelsea in December with Spurs exercising extreme caution over the pair. Radu Dragusin meanwhile is out for the season with a serious knee injury.

Mathys Tel scored his first goal for the club against Villa on Sunday. United were interested in signing the forward in January before talks with Bayern Munich collapsed. He can show them exactly what they might be missing up top on Sunday.

United’s injury woes have cleared up in recent weeks but their problems remain, just about scraping through to the FA Cup fifth round against Leicester last Friday.

Patrick Dorgu made his debut that evening, playing 45 minutes on the right. Rasmus Hojlund endured another woeful evening up top but Joshua Zirkzee strengthened his case after coming off the bench, scoring his side’s equaliser.

Alejandro Garnacho also emerged off the bench that evening, lifting his side with an impressive second-half performance that will surely earn him a starting spot in north London.

Kobbie Mainoo’s under-par season continued last week with Manuel Ugarte and Bruno Fernandes looking like Amorim’s first choice midfield pairing.

United and Spurs are marooned in 13th and 14th respectively with two points separating the two ahead of kick-off.

Predicted Tottenham XI to face Man Utd

Kinsky, Porro, Danso, Gray, Spence, Bergvall, Bentancur, Moore, Kulusevski, Song, Tel

Predicted Man XI to face Tottenham

Onana, de Ligt, Maguire, Yoro, Dalot, Fernandes, Ugarte, Dorgu, Diallo, Garnacho, Zirkzee

Where to watch Tottenham vs Man Utd? Kick-off time and TV channel

Tottenham vs Man Utd kicks off at 4:30pm on Sunday 16 February.

Live coverage is available on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event with a live stream available on the Sky Go app and NOW TV.

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Louis Saha has tipped a Premier League manager to replace Ange Postecoglou if he does lose his job at Tottenham.

The 59-year-old Australian is still clinging on despite Spurs being knocked out of both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in the space of four days.

Tottenham’s dismal Premier League form – they are just 14th in the table with only eight wins from 24 games – would be enough for many owners to pull the plug on their manager.

But the Spurs hierarchy have decided to stick by Postecoglou, who essentially promised to win a trophy this season before Tottenham were eliminated from both domestic cup competitions.

The north London club still have aspirations of winning the Europa League but it is hard to imagine such an outcome given Tottenham’s form and current injury crisis.

If Spurs do sack Postecoglou, former Premier League striker Saha believes Tottenham will try to poach Marco Silva from Fulham, though he hopes the Portuguese boss remains at Craven Cottage.

Silva, 47, has spent five successful seasons at Fulham, taking the west London club not just back into the Premier League but into the top-half of the table.

Saha, who played for both Fulham and Tottenham, believes Silva can ‘build something special’ at Craven Cottage but fears he could be tempted by an offer from Spurs.

‘Marco Silva has been brilliant for Fulham, and he’s one of those managers that has improved in the Premier League,’ the ex-France international told Paddy Power.

‘He wasn’t getting results like this at his previous clubs, but he’s kept his style and managed to bring in players at Fulham and make them better, which is a huge achievement for him.

‘I can see the attraction of him joining a bigger club like Tottenham if they do replace their manager, but I do wish the best for Marco because he’s done well.

‘I don’t want him to go because I like Fulham playing the way they play. He can bring them into Europe and onto a bigger stage – he can build something special.

‘The atmosphere around the club is brilliant, and they can still improve by bringing in some world-class players and building even bigger.’

Following back-to-back cup defeats – to Liverpool and Aston Villa – Tottenham will be desperate to get back to winning ways on Sunday when they play host to Manchester United.

‘We have a couple of weeks now where we don’t have midweek games,’ Postecoglou said after his side’s FA Cup exit.

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‘This group has done an unbelievable job for two and a half months. I can’t praise them enough, playing twice a week since November. They’ll get the chance to reset now and finish the season strong.

‘Europe is still very important to us, we’re still in a great spot there, and we’ll hope to get some players back over the next two weeks.

‘We’ll get players back which will help. We had 11 first-team players out today. Take that out of any team for one game and they would struggle – we’ve been doing that for two and a half months.

‘The players are going out there and giving everything they can. It would be a lot better if they had some help.’

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