Alasdair Gold thinks Postecoglou may have ‘sent a message’ to Daniel Levy on Sunday
Alasdair Gold believes that Ange Postecoglou’s decision to name two goalkeepers on the bench against Aston Villa was intended as a message to Daniel Levy about the need to strengthen the squad in January. Tottenham are in the middle of a major injury crisis at the moment, with James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Richarlison, […]
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Alasdair Gold believes that Ange Postecoglou’s decision to name two goalkeepers on the bench against Aston Villa was intended as a message to Daniel Levy about the need to strengthen the squad in January.
Tottenham are in the middle of a major injury crisis at the moment, with James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Richarlison, Manor Solomon, Ryan Sessegnon and Ivan Perisic all out with medium to long-term injuries.
In addition, Pape Matar Sarr was not fit enough to play against Aston Villa while Yves Bissouma and Cristian Romero were suspended for the game, and to make matters worse, Rodrigo Bentancur had to be withdrawn with an ankle injury after 32 minutes.
Despite missing so many key players, Postecoglou did not abandon his front-foot, attacking approach and it would have paid off had his side not been wasteful in front of goal.
(Photo by Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
Did Postecoglou send a message to Daniel Levy?
Gold believes that the Australian’s decision to name Fraser Forster and Brandon Austin on his bench was meant as a signal to the hierarchy that he is short of numbers.
The journalist wrote in his column on Football.London: “It’s become so commonplace, particularly at Tottenham, that it’s quite easy to spot the old message to the chairman ahead of a transfer window with the substitutes’ bench.
“Sometimes the manager won’t make a single change during a game because of the weakness of the options available to him, sometimes they name two goalkeepers on the bench and sometimes they don’t even select a full set of substitutes.
“For Postecoglou, he ticked both of the latter two boxes, for he named both Fraser Forster and Brandon Austin on his bench and only selected six outfield players alongside them, two of them teenagers and one in Alejo Veliz having turned 20 not too long ago.
“Antonio Conte once did similar in naming a smaller bench but explained that he did not want to disrupt the preparations of the U21s who had their own match.
“For Postecoglou there was no such excuse for this home game. The U21s had no match this weekend after the international break so more of Wayne Burnett’s side were available to use if needed. A handful trained with the first team ahead of the Villa game but ultimately only Jamie Donley and Alfie Dorrington were named in the squad.
“It felt like an early transfer message of sorts to Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to make it clear just how ravaged by injury his squad has been and how some of what is left does not particularly fit the Postecoglou’s system.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While Tottenham’s squad is short of numbers in some areas, the reality is that any club would struggle if they had as many injuries and suspensions as the Lilywhites currently do.
I do not think Ange is the sort of person to send veiled messages to the hierarchy. He will be direct with Levy and co regarding what is required in January.
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