Ange Postecoglou has explained his decision to bench Dejan Kulusevski for Sunday’s Premier League clash with Fulham, as well as Dominic Solanke’s absence.
Spurs were looking to build on their stunning 4-0 win away at Manchester City last weekend and took the lead in the 54th minute through Brennan Johnson.
However, they could only hold onto that lead for 13 minutes, with Tom Cairney equalising for Fulham just five minutes after coming on.
A truly bizarre substitute outing for Cairney ended when he was sent off in the 83rd minute. However, even this couldn’t swing the match back in Tottenham’s favour, with the Lilywhites having to settle for a point that sees them seventh in the Premier League table.
Spurs were met with boos from their supporters at the full-time whistle as they continue to show no signs of consistency.
Ange Postecoglou explains Kulusevski and Solanke decisions
Things might have been different had Postecoglou played the in-form Kulusevski from the start.
But despite only coming on in the 68th minute, Kulusevski has still hit the 1,300-minute mark this season, with no Spurs player clocking up more matches across all competitions (20) so far.
Postecoglou says Kulusevski is in need of ‘protection’ against fatigue and injury.
“Yeah, we’re going have to protect our players because as I said, we’re within our numbers and Deki has played every minute,” Postecoglou told supporters (via Football.London).
“I mean, I’ve rarely subbed him off. So we’ve just got to be careful with him and with a few others, but, you know, at the moment we just don’t have too many options, so we’ve just got to try and manage them the best we can and obviously that affects performance.
“I think he got through the game well, and I guess for Thursday should be in good shape.”
Spurs also had to cope without star striker Dominic Solanke, with Postecoglou revealing he missed the match through illness and remains touch and go for the trip to his former club, Bournemouth, on Thursday.
“I hope so,” Postecoglou responded when asked if Solanke will be back in midweek.
The Australian continued: “He trained yesterday but he came in today and didn’t look well at all so we sent him home. It’s obviously an illness, not an injury so we need to see how it settles down in the next couple of days but hopefully, it’s nothing too significant.”
