Tottenham Hotspur have not had the best luck with the health of their new players. First, record signing Dominic Solanke injured his foot in Tottenham’s first week draw with Leicester City, ruling him out for the following game and slowing his acclimation to Tottenham’s team. Now new dribbling winger Wilson Odobert could be out for a long time after suffering what appears to be a minor thigh injury in Spurs’ last-minute League Cup win over Coventry City on Wednesday night.
It’s still early days and we don’t know the full extent of Odobert’s injury or how long it might take for him to recover, but Ange Postecoglou said in his post-match press conference that it looks like the injury could be “quite serious.” Timo Werner also picked up an injury that required him to be substituted, and his status is also currently unknown. Yuck.
“Hard to say, Wilson looked pretty significant so we’ll just wait and see. Timo, again, I’m not sure if it was just tiredness but yes, it was a bit of a shame for both of them. Obviously both play in a similar position as well. We hope it’s nothing too significant.”
This obviously has implications for Tottenham’s next run of fixtures, which is pretty brutal – Tottenham host Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday before welcoming Qarabag to London in their first Europa League game of the season, and there are games at Manchester United and Ferencvaros in Hungary to follow. Both Odobert and Werner should play key roles for Spurs during this period, either as regulars or as rotation options, and if one or both are out for an extended period, it will put a real strain on the remaining Tottenham attackers.
I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one on TV, but Odobert was able to walk off the field under his own steam. I hope that means it’s a relatively minor hamstring injury as far as injuries go – maybe a slight strain or a grade I muscle tear. That’s my hope, at least. But Ange’s “quite significant” comment could mean the physios disagree, and that could be annoying. There’s nothing to do but wait and see what comes out in the next few days.
The good news is that Destiny Udogie’s substitution at half-time was NOT due to injury, but a planned substitution for Djed Spence. Ange confirmed that he wanted to give Udogie some extra minutes to help him return to full fitness, but Spence was always going to play in the second half.
“Yes, it was always the plan for (Udogie) to play 45 minutes tonight. He missed a lot of pre-season, so it’s a balancing act with him to give us some playing time because he’s not 100 percent fit. Tonight the plan was always to let him play 45 minutes and Djed 45 minutes.
“…(With) Djed, and like you said with Brennan, I talked about him coming in yesterday, working hard on his game and as an attacking player you’re always judged on certain things. I said if he gets through this period and just stays positive and plays the way he can, he can make a big contribution for us and he deserves credit. He scored a beautiful goal tonight.”
Odobert’s injuries almost certainly mean that Brennan Johnson will start at right back against Brentford. Hopefully his late winner against Coventry in the League Cup will be a motivating moment for him and he can go on and become the important player that Ange Postecoglou and Spurs fans expect him to be in this next run of games.
