Tottenham Faces Injury Crisis Ahead of Brentford Clash
Tottenham’s season starts with a familiar problem: a treatment room that looks busier than the dressing room.
Roberto De Zerbi takes his side across London to face Brentford on Saturday evening with as many as 13 players potentially unavailable, the bulk of them wearing white rather than red and white. For a club trying to drag itself away from back-to-back 17th-place finishes, it is hardly the clean slate the Italian would have wanted after a frantic summer rebuild.
De Zerbi’s plans hit by mounting absences
The message from the manager on Friday was blunt. Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro are out. No late checks, no “we’ll see tomorrow”. Out.
“No, Micky is not on the list for tomorrow, like Pedro Porro and the other players are all inside,” De Zerbi said. “James Maddison is inside, Dominic Solanke is inside, Udogie is inside, Mateus Fernandes is inside.
“Pape Sarr, no, because he felt pain two days in his hamstring. Nothing important, but we don’t take risk with him and especially in this moment.”
That last line tells the story of his approach. Spurs have already walked the tightrope with injuries in recent seasons and slipped. De Zerbi is not interested in repeating it.
Van de Ven had rejoined full training and, on paper, looked close. De Zerbi still refused to gamble.
“Today he worked with us, with the group and he is going very well,” he explained. “He suffered a problem during the pre-season of Australia, I don’t know if it was the flight, but not a big problem.
“We have Senesi, we have Ben Davies and in the right condition to play the game tomorrow.”
So the Dutch defender waits. So does Porro. Sarr joins them, even if his hamstring issue is described as minor. The likes of Maddison, Solanke, Udogie and Fernandes are “inside” the squad, but how many minutes their legs can actually give him is another question entirely.
Star quality stuck on the sidelines
The short-term concerns sit on top of a more stubborn layer of bad news. Dejan Kulusevski, Wilson Odobert, Xavi Simons and Mohammed Kudus remain long-term absentees.
“I think it's important also the management of the players, when the players have some problem, we have to stay calm, don't take risks,” De Zerbi said.
“We have Kulusevski, we have Odobert, we have Xavi Simons, injuries. Kudu is almost ready, that is a big point for us, but these three players are top players for us, and we're looking forward to watch them on the pitch.”
It underlines the scale of what he is trying to do. Spurs have turned over the squad, brought in new talent, tried to reset the mood after two grim campaigns. Yet some of the most exciting names in that project are still watching from the stands.
The optimism of a busy window now has to coexist with the reality of patchwork team selections.
Brentford’s issues lighter but still present
Across the technical area, Keith Andrews has problems of his own, though nothing like the volume facing De Zerbi.
Antoni Milambo is still working his way back from an ACL injury, even if the signs are encouraging.
“Antoni is a few weeks behind with the [ACL] injury,” the Brentford boss said. “It’s not an exact science, naturally, but he’s had a really positive couple of weeks. He’s been training with the group for a number of weeks - sometimes modified, sometimes full training. He’s making really good strides.”
Sepp van den Berg will also miss out with a groin issue that has disrupted his pre-season.
“We’ve had to manage that in a certain way,” Andrews said. “He needs a little bit more rest, unfortunately. He’s had a disjointed pre-season - it hasn’t flowed as well as we’d have liked - so we’re going to have to look after him in the short term. He’ll miss the first few weeks of the season.”
Brentford, then, are short in places but largely stable. Tottenham are anything but.
De Zerbi’s first Premier League line-up of the new campaign will already ask his squad to stretch, improvise and absorb early pressure. The question is simple: can a patched-up Spurs side start rewriting their story, or does another season of struggle begin before they’ve even found their rhythm?
