Cristian Stellini has admitted that the amount of players in the treatment room at present is making it difficult for him to make key changes to his Tottenham team. Already without Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, Emerson Royal, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies and Ryan Sessegnon through injury, Spurs will now have Lucas Moura in the stands for Saturday's game against Brighton & Hove Albion following his dismissal in the draw at Everton.
In a similar boat to last season when Antonio Conte had a limited number of experienced players to call upon from a rather youthful substitutes' bench, Stellini has said that the players that are currently available to play cannot necessarily help change Tottenham tactically. The injuries have also stopped Spurs from using a system that they had been working on over the past month.
"At the moment nothing special because we don't have enough players because we have a lot of injuries and it doesn’t allow us to change anything tactically," admitted the Italian in his pre-match press conference. "We’ve been preparing for a system in the last month but the injury situation means we can not use it so we have to calm down now and we have to be patient and lucid.
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"The players know everything and now we have to be strong and consistent as we’ve been working with them for the last 18 months and if we are lucky or good to win a game we have to try to score more goals."
Academy players Alfie Devine and Romaine Mundle were on the substitutes' bench at Goodison Park at the start of the week. Both unused on the night as Stellini opted to make only two alterations, the acting head coach has indicated that the young duo are ready to play if called upon.
"Yeah, yeah if we need them, we will use them," he told football.london. "We have some good players that are ready to play, also in the Premier League. We have Alfie Devine, Romaine Mundle, we have players that we trust in them to play a part of the match or a match in the Premier League."
Desperately needing to find a way to get back to winning ways against Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, Tottenham fans want to see a positive display from the side after their recent struggles. Stellini knows what he wants to see in terms of his Tottenham vision.
"This game is really important for us because it came after two drawn matches. Matches we could win so it's very important to play a great match against Brighton that is a tough team in this moment since Christmas," said the Italian.
"First in the league for chances created from open play, passes attempted and shots on target. It is a team with the ball that is very good, with a great manager that arrive here and is quickly doing a great job.
"We knew this manager for a long time because he's an Italian guy and we respect him and Brighton, but we are Tottenham, and we play in our stadium and so we have to play stronger, and play in our way and in a way we can hurt them. We know very well which is this way and we are well prepared to play tomorrow. "
He added: "Yes we speak a lot about this but also we deserve to find the way to be Tottenham and to play the football that is strong in the tackle, strong in the pressure and strong with the ball. We have to be complete."
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