Ange Postecoglou has revealed why Timo Werner was absent from the Tottenham squad against Manchester United.
The German international did not even make the bench for Thursday night’s chaotic 4-3 Carabao Cup quarter-final victory for Spurs in north London, an omission that seemed notable given that it came just a week after he was publicly criticised by his manager for an “unacceptable” performance that led to his half-time withdrawal in the 1-1 draw away at Rangers in the Europa League.
Loanee Werner had been in the squad for the game immediately following that trip to Ibrox, coming on for the final 13 minutes of the 5-0 Premier League rout of bottom club Southampton at St Mary’s on Sunday evening.
Some have questioned if Tottenham may yet choose to send the ex-Chelsea forward back to parent club RB Leipzig during the January transfer window, though Postecoglou said last week that he was not even considering that possibility.
And it turns out there is nothing to read into from his omission against United, with Werner not involved due to a bout of illness.
“Yeah, he was sick mate, it's just the way we're going, it's just like he woke up this morning with a fever and the doc went and saw him, he had a high fever and we had to rule him out unfortunately, so it's just the way things are,” Postecoglou said in his post-match press conference.
Tottenham remain in the grip of an ongoing selection crisis caused by a mixture of injuries, illness and suspensions, with Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie, Ben Davies, Rodrigo Bentancur, Wilson Odobert and Richarlison all missing against United on Thursday.
Asked if Werner joining that list of absentees summed up Spurs’ plight at the moment, Postecoglou responded: “Pretty much, yeah. I mean I don't roll up to game day looking for good news, let me tell you, so yeah, it's just incredible.
“Like I said, this is 10 players off a senior list, and it's just ridiculous and the fact that we're still putting in these levels of performance with guys, Archie [Gray], Djed [Spence], these kind of guys, I mean.
“We're getting, I believe, some real enormous growth in this period that maybe won't be evident until down the track, but I just think there's so much sort of good stuff in there at the moment, even though it's a tough period still.”
