Ange Postecoglou drops Tottenham Europa League team news hint and issues fresh injury update
Ange Postecoglou has indicated that Tottenham "do not really want to rotate hugely for each game" as they get set to play their first Europa League fixture. Spurs begin their 2024/25 European campaign on Thursday evening with a clash against Qarabag at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The fixture against the side from Azerbaijan is the first of eight games on Tottenham's calendar in the newly-formed league phase of the competition, with Ferencvaros, AZ Alkmaar, Galatasaray, Roma, Rangers, Hoffenheim and Elfsborg all to come before the knockout stage commences in February. Very much a competition Tottenham can go far in, Postecoglou's side are the current favourites with the bookmakers to lift the trophy in Bilbao come May.
The Australian does have the opportunity to rotate his team in Europe after bolstering his squad in the summer with a number of signings. After making wholesale changes for last week's Carabao Cup tie at Coventry City, the 59-year-old has hinted that there may not be so many alterations this time around.
"We've got a squad, a squad of players that we went into the season hoping to play 50-plus games in a year and you're not going to expect players to play all of them. You're hoping for around 35 games," he said when speaking at his pre-match press conference. "We don't really want to rotate hugely for each game."
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This year's Europa League will be operating with a new format after UEFA decided to change the traditional group phase. A total of 36 teams will now take part in one big league table, with all sides playing each different opponents in the league phase.
The new approach may have come in for criticism from some quarters but Postecoglou is certainly happy with it.
"I think I said before that in the old format there were some dead rubber games because teams knew who was going through," he explained. "This way there could be more in games and eight different teams with eight different styles. The main thing is that we're in it."
Ahead of the Qarabag game, Postecoglou revealed that Spurs have no fresh injury issues from last weekend's 3-1 win over Brentford. Attackers Richarlison and Wilson Odobert remain out, with Cristian Romero suspended for the match and Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon ineligible.
"We're looking good," he told Tottenham's official website. "Nothing from the weekend in terms of injuries, everyone pulled up really well so no issues there.
"Apart from the obvious absences [Cristian] Romero, [Djed] Spence and [Sergio] Reguilon who trained today but who, for different reasons, are ineligible."
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