Antonio Conte has seemingly ruled out the possibility of Eric Dier playing in midfield against AC Milan in the Champions League this week, as they would not have enough time to prepare for such a tactical change.
This comes after a week of non-stop injury problems for the Lilywhites after their superb 1-0 win over Man City last weekend.
First, it was announced that Hugo Lloris would be out for between six and eight weeks following a knee injury picked up in that very win over Pep Guardiola’s side (Telegraph). Then it was reported that Yves Bissouma needed surgery to fix an issue with his ankle (Tottenham).
Ryan Sessegnon is also expected to be sidelined with an injury for the next six weeks, leaving Ivan Perisic as the only natural left-wing-back option (Football.London). And, finally, Rodrigo Bentancur will miss the rest of the season after he ruptured his ACL against Leicester this week (Guardian).
However, it appears the lack of midfield numbers will not see Eric Dier return to his old position, at least not yet anyway.
Conte said (Football London): “For sure we didn’t have the time to take into consideration this option. Rodrigo he had an injury two days ago and for this reason to take also the option, the time was so short that I didn’t think of other solutions.
“The solution we have in our house with the two young players, Skippy and Pape Sarr. We are talking about two young players. They are the first game in the Champions League.
“They are really young, 20 and 22 years-old, but we have to be good to help them overcome the emotion, but we trust them.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
Although it would never have been my first choice, I am actually looking forward to seeing Skipp and Sarr take to the field together. It is very much a match with zero expectations on such a new and young partnership, but they have the perfect chance to rise to the occasion.