The Tottenham Hotspur manager appears to have done well during the international break ahead of the return of the Premier League.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou appears to have received an unexpected boost from his international peers ahead of Saturday’s Premier League match against Luton Town.
Spurs return to action on Saturday afternoon, looking to rebound from a disappointing setback at Fulham before to the international break. Postecoglou‘s players have started returning to training at Hotspur Way this week, and the Australian will be surprised at how many he was able to put back into full training.
Richarlison and Pedro Porro were unused substitutes in Brazil’s friendly stalemate with Spain in Madrid on Tuesday, while Pape Matar Sarr was also on the bench in Senegal‘s victory over Benin in France. Destiny Udogie was left out of Italy‘s friendly win against Ecuador on Sunday, despite having played the entire match on Thursday night. Guglielmo Vicario made his debut in the second encounter, starting and keeping a clean sheet after sitting out the first game.
Radu Dragusin only played the first half of Romania’s defeat to Colombia in Madrid, whilst Rodrigo Bentancur played the entire second half of Uruguay’s loss against Ivory Coast in France. James Maddison came in for about 20 minutes for England and provided the ideal assist for Jude Bellingham’s last-gasp equaliser against Belgium at Wembley.
Son Heung-min also played the whole 90 minutes in South Korea’s World Cup qualification double header against Thailand, scoring in both games and earning his 125th cap for his country. Dejan Kulusevski assisted in both of Sweden’s friendly matches while also playing every minute.
Wales was heartbroken after losing a penalty shoot-out to Poland in their play-off final, preventing them from competing in the Euros. Ben Davies captained his country for the entire two hours and scored in the shootout, while Brennan Johnson was removed after 70 minutes. Joe Rodon, on loan at Leeds, also played the entire 120 minutes.
Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso will be the latest Tottenham players to return. Both of them started for Argentina in the early hours of Wednesday morning here in the UK, when they defeated Costa Rica in the United States. Romero played the entire 90 minutes, while Lo Celso contributed 72 minutes with his legs.
So, while a few members of Postecoglou‘s team saw action, the majority did not, including Bissouma and Timo Werner, who missed their respective Mali and Germany squads and trained at Hotspur Way for the entire fortnight. During his press conference on Friday afternoon, Postecoglou will provide an update on Micky van’s recovery from his hamstring injury.
Tottenham now has two games in three days, with Saturday’s home game against Luton followed by a trip to West Ham on Tuesday night. Postecoglou will most likely employ his entire squad to ensure that he has plenty of sharp players and reduces the chance of injury for the season’s final few games.
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