Spurs’ Maddison, Van de Ven out until New Year – Postecoglou،
Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham “can’t afford any more injuries” after confirming Micky van de Ven and James Maddison will no longer play in 2023.
Van de Ven injured his hamstring just before Maddison limped off with an ankle problem during Monday’s 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea.
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Maddison had initially been called up to Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad, but withdrew on Friday morning as the extent of the problem became clear.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s trip to Wolves, Postecoglou highlighted his side’s growing fitness problems and confirmed that Richarlison will also be sidelined following groin surgery.
“Micky has a hamstring injury that we knew was pretty significant,” Postecoglou said. “Probably a few months for him, looking forward to the new year.
“Madders is a lot worse than we thought. Obviously he hurt his ankle, but the next day he wasn’t feeling well, so we sent him for a scan. Again, it’s not not great for him, so probably for the new year.
“Richy had the operation we had scheduled anyway because he has been fighting since day one and with the international break coming up we thought it was the right time to do it. He should not have only a month if all goes well.
“We are aware that we are going to have to make some changes, but the guys coming in have trained hard and understand how we want to play.
“I know people have said that not having been in Europe or the cups was an advantage, but if we had been, some of these guys would have had game time. That’s the tricky part. From our point of view, we can” “We can’t afford more injuries, we have to be very careful about the type of playing time we give people. »
Reflecting on Van de Ven’s injury, Postecoglou cited the absence of Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero, who will both be suspended at Molineux after being sent off against Chelsea.
“All absences have an effect on the team,” he said. “What’s unusual for us is that we lost three of our four defenders. That’s where we’re affected more than anything else. If it was just Micky, it wouldn’t bother us not as many, but we have to bring three different players into a four-man defense and that’s the big challenge for us.”
Ben Davies is available again following an ankle problem as Tottenham look to overcome the aftermath of their first defeat of the season – a game in which there were nine VAR checks and 21 extra minutes.
Postecoglou believes the long stoppages created by VAR could lead to more injuries in the future.
“I’m not going to draw a direct correlation to Micky’s injury, but I was half tempted to throw balls at them so they could play,” he said.
“That’s why we have warm-ups, but if you go into a game… The fact that there was only 47 minutes of play the other night, 110, that’s not not ideal for the kind of athletes we have out there. That’s a concern.
