Ange Postecoglou reveals Tottenham squad rotation plan for Europa League final
Ange Postecoglou has revealed whether any of the Tottenham players who featured against Bodo/Glimt will play against Crystal Palace and has given an insight into how he plans to manage his squad before the Europa League final.
With the Europa League final now less than two weeks away, Spurs fans will want to see all the key players wrapped up in cotton wool for the big clash.
The Lilywhites play two Premier League fixtures before the final in Bilbao as they host Palace at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday before making the trip to Villa Park on Friday.
Tottenham have nothing to play for in the Premier League, but they will not want to head into the final on the back of two defeats, especially given the momentum they have now built.
Ange Postecoglou explains Tottenham squad balancing act
The Tottenham head coach pointed out that the club have already been carefully managing the minutes of some key men over the last couple of months, revealing that it is not going to change.
The 59-year-old confirmed that those who started in Norway on Thursday will not feature against the Eagles tomorrow, given the additional exertions that come with playing on an artificial pitch.
When asked if Tottenham team selection will be complicated ahead of the final, the Australian said (via Football.London): “It’s a challenging one, but we’ve tried to navigate that for the last sort of couple of months. I think particularly Micky and Romero and Destiny to a certain extent, because they’ve missed a huge chunk of the season, and you always know when guys come back, you’ve got to really manage them because Romero’s and Mickey’s season, they had a couple of setbacks after coming back.
“We just didn’t want to go down that path. We’ve changed our structures and our processes so that when they come back, we keep them back.
“We’ve done that really well, I think the last two or three months, but part of that has just been managing their minutes so it will be a balancing act.
“I think they need to get some game time between now and then. Where does that happen? Look, unlikely tomorrow because I think what we do know about Thursday night, playing on an artificial pitch takes a lot out of the players, it’s fair to say they were sore.
“I remember when we played Tamworth, we actually got a couple of injuries in the game straight after that, I think, because of the surface. So we’ve got to be really careful about tomorrow’s game, but next Friday it’s a bit different. I think we’ve just got to make decisions we think is right. Ultimately, we want to be in a great condition come the final of Europa, so we’ll use that.”
Why some key players are likely to get minutes before the final
While Postecoglou’s priority will be to ensure that his key men avoid any injuries ahead of the final, the Tottenham Hotspur boss will know that not playing any of them in the two league games is not ideal.
The players will lack a bit of sharpness if they do not play for two weeks between the second leg against Bodo/Glimt and the final against Manchester United.
Over the next two league games, the Tottenham boss might hand around 30 to 45 minutes of football to most of the players that he sees starting the final.
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