Ange Postecoglou has revealed whether Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are in line to feature against Bournemouth and has made an interesting admission about his decision not to use the pair in the first leg against Alkmaar.
Both Romero and Van de Ven made the trip to the Netherlands with the Tottenham squad, but both players were unused substitutes at the AFAS Stadium as Alkmaar overcame the Lilywhites 1-0.
Ange Postecolgou revealed why he did not risk Romero and Van de Ven on Thursday, with the state of the pitch in Alkmaar leaving him with re-injury worries. The Tottenham head coach has now further elaborated on his first-choice defensive pair.
Ange Postecoglou says Cristian Romero and Micky Van de Ven will play vs AZ Alkmaar
Ahead of his side’s Premier League clash against Bournemouth, the Tottenham boss has once again been speaking about the Dutchman and the Argentine, and about his decision not to use them mid-week.
The 59-year-old insisted that his decision to be cautious with the duo is because of the feedback he gets from the medical department.
When asked about not using Romero and Van de Ven against Alkmaar, the Australian said (via Football.London): “
Anyone who hasn’t played for the amount of time they have and the position they have, it just didn’t make sense for us, and it wasn’t that kind of game where we needed central defenders, we were trying to score goals, so in my mind, there was no point.
“Look, I get the whole medical thing has obviously been a big issue for us and everyone is questioning every decision I make, but with the greatest respect, everyone here and in the outside world probably has five per cent of the information I do.
“If people think I am just going out there and making decisions on what I feel or my gut, then I don’t think you understand the position I am in and all the information I have.
“I have all the information and I am sure if I shared all the information, which I can’t for various reasons, you might sit back and say, ‘totally understand that’, but I also understand people will question everything I do at the moment, every decision I make against the prism that I don’t know what I am doing.”
When asked if both players can feature in the return leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Postecoglou responded: “Oh, I would say so, for sure, yeah. Maybe even Sunday, we’ll see how things go.”
Postecoglou’s selection conundrum for Spurs vs Bournemouth
If Postecoglou has been wrapping Van de Ven and Romero up in cotton wool for the all-important second leg against Alkmaar, then it is perhaps unlikely that we will see either of them start against Bournemouth.
Given how long the pair have been out of action, their bodies might not be able to cope with two games in a space of four days.
One suspects that we will thus see Kevin Danso and Archie Gray start again against Andoni Iraola’s men.
