Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou says the club is “working hard” to try and make some signings this month to allow his injury-hit squad to compete.
Spurs face Newcastle on Saturday afternoon with Postecoglou without players thanks to an illness problem.
They are already without defenders Mickey van de Ven, Ben Davies and Christian Romero, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and forwards Richarlison, Wilson Odobert and Mikey Moore.
To add to the problems, midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur is suspended for Saturday and left-back Destiny Udogie has been ruled out for six weeks with a hamstring injury.
Postecoglou said: “It’s not a matter of pressure, but the club is working hard to try and get some help for the competition group. The club is working hard for this.
“January is not an easy month, it is not an easy time to bring in people particularly quickly. At the same time, we want to do what’s best for us instead of panicking and bringing in people who will be a good fit.
“Richarlison and Mikey (Moore) are the next two taxis out – hopefully next week sometime. Ben (Davies), (Mickey) Van de Ven and (Christian) Romero are all at the same time which is the end of January.”
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Tottenham have won just three of their last 13 games and were beaten by Liverpool just before Christmas. They have an EFL Cup semi-final against the Reds coming up next week, but the Australian has not put his finger on what is causing their injury problems.
He said: “I think it’s probably a combination of different things. The number of games, the way we play.
“I guess the difficult thing for us is that quite a few of our injuries have been re-injuries, which we’re looking at. I don’t think it’s unique to us. I think you see that in all clubs, but we’ve been hit a bit more extreme. (Guglielmo) Vicario, it’s not a muscle injury – it’s long-term, but it’s exasperating the situation we’re in.”
“Tuchel will be impressed”
New England manager Thomas Tuchel will be in the stands for Saturday’s game, with striker Dominic Solanke out to impress.
The much-hyped Bournemouth signing has scored 10 goals for Spurs this season and Postecoglou is confident the new boss will like what he sees.
“Dom (Solanke) has been excellent for us,” he said.
“He’s scored goals, but his game and his ability to help the team in all aspects of our football – defensively, link-up play, continuing to be a presence in the box, very clever with his movement and really holding that position .back without help and without rest.
“That says a huge part of his character and the kind of person he is. I can’t speak highly enough of him. The load he’s had to carry for us over the last two months without much help from us allowing him to recover and yet he’s still putting in a massive performance every week – I’ve no doubt Thomas Tuchel will be impressed with him.”
