Anze Postecoglou is not ready to write off Tottenham’s Premier League campaign just yet, despite dropping more points on Sunday.
Spurs were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Wolves with three minutes remaining on another difficult afternoon, with Destiny Udogi becoming the latest player to limp off.
With Rodrigo Bentancur also booked late and set to receive a one-match ban when they visit Newcastle on Saturday, Tottenham could be without 10 players. However, Postecoglou will not give up hope of being able to climb the table amid some important cup fixtures in January.
“It’s still pretty tight. I just think that at some point we will get a relatively healthy team and when we do, we will be able to perform at a consistently high level,” Postecoglou stressed. “We have already shown this year that we can beat anyone. There is a chance that you can run, but at the moment it is secondary to the first part. I could see how hard they were trying and if we had been at our best we would have got the third goal and maybe even the fourth goal.
“I mean we were inches away at times from getting the goal that we needed to and I think we lacked a little bit of that dynamic movement that we needed. A lot of these people are still finding some kind of energy to try, but you know we’re definitely not as fast as we could be.
Given the efforts of his players during a busy December, Postecoglou has given the squad Monday and Tuesday off ahead of this weekend’s match with Newcastle, but again suggested they need reinforcements in the January transfer window.
Postecoglou said: “Yes, it was always planned. We knew it was the first week where we didn’t have a midweek game, so I think the whole group probably needed a few days to get away from everything and recover.
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“It’s been pretty intense for a real small core group of players, especially over the last four or five weeks and I think it’ll help them spend a few days with their families and give them a chance.” Get well physically as well as mentally.
“I’ll just keep going. We have to work and try to get some help for these players. Our role is to try to give them everything we can and support them to perform at their best.”