How a lack of European competitions impacts Spurs
After finishing eighth last season, Tottenham have focused solely on English football during the 23/24 campaign. The number of competitions was further reduced when Fulham ousted Spurs from the Carabao Cup back in August.
Fortunately for supporters, Ange and company have been on fire with Spurs climbing top of table following their first eight games. Despite the early success, however, it would be preemptive to simply assume the streak will continue.
The squad is currently in great form despite numerous injuries, and the upcoming set of fixtures seem reasonable with a return to Premier League action on Monday against Fulham. Nevertheless, a 38-game campaign is long and arduous, and therefore it’s important to consider what a lack of play could do for the team.
On the one hand, Ange will be thankful to rest his starting XI, a core group of players which he has rarely tampered with. That is, of course, with the exception of the front line.
Injuries to key players like Micky van de Ven or James Maddison could set the team back tremendously.
VDV has been phenomenal and got his first international call up this past week, putting in solid tackles and coming off the bench in both EURO Qualifiers for the Netherlands.
https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial/status/1714212372489842790
Maddison’s performance and Player of the Month award both speak for themselves.
The other consideration to make without Champions or Europa League matches, however, is the lack of minutes some teammates will be getting. With players like Oliver Skipp finding limited time on the pitch each week and zero minutes for England, it’s fair to assume that in the case of an injury, back-up options of this sort will not be ready to hit the ground running.
With this in mind, it is crucial that Johan Lange under his new tenure as Technical Director be aggressive in the upcoming window to sign talented players who Ange may feel more inclined to rotate in and out of the starting group.
Until then, hopefully the squad can remain healthy. Once the window rolls around, the club will need more leniency from Levy to dip into the rest of the Kane-budget and find reasonable backups that Ange can count on.