Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou has confirmed Micky van de Ven’s substitution at half-time against Elfsborg was pre-planned.
The defender made his long-awaited return to the starting lineup as Spurs beat the Swedish side 3-0 on a fantastic night for the club’s youngsters.
Dane Scarlett, Damola Ajayi and Mikey Moore all scored their first goals for the club as Postecoglou’s side finished fourth in the Europa League table.
They will now avoid an unwelcome two-legged play-off later this month and are instead granted automatic entry into March’s last-16 round, where Spurs could face either Real Sociedad, Galatasaray, AZ Alkmaar or FC Midtjylland.
Van de Ven lasted only the first-half on Thursday but Postecoglou has confirmed that was a pre-planned decision as Spurs look to ease the Dutchman back into action.
Postecoglou’s side travel to Brentford on Sunday before making the journey to Liverpool for the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final, in which they hold a 1-0 lead.
“The three [players substituted – Van De Ven, Heung-min Son and Rodrigo Bentancur] at half-time were all planned, all three are OK. We've got a big week coming up and just trying to manage our players,” confirmed the Spurs boss.
The news is less positive, however, in regard to Radu Dragusin.
The Romanian replaced Van de Ven at the break but was forced off not long after, having appeared to jar his knee.
Postecoglou added: “Unfortunately Radu's hurt his knee now. I don't have any further information but it didn't look good as he was coming off so we'll just have wait and see but it's disappointing. Micky got through it fine, it was always going to be 45 and he felt fine."
