Tottenham have lost four of the last five in the Premier League and sit 12th
Ben Davies has suffered a setback while Radu Dragusin is struggling to be fit
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Ange Postecoglou has promised to hold his nerve through Tottenham's latest sequence of misfortune and misfiring form.
He dismissed the idea pressure must be building and anxiety seeping in, instead insisting his players are behind him, fully on board with his adventurous playing style and that the club's recruitment department are trying to ease what he considers the worst injury crisis of his coaching career.
'I get where people kind of look at my situation and think "Jeez, he needs to do something or else he is in trouble" but I don't think that way,' said Postecoglou. 'It's not how I am wired.
'My motivation is try to create teams who win things and have success. That doesn't really change. I will keep doing what I am doing. It doesn't add any pressure or I don't feel any extra anxiety about anything. I firmly believe we will get through this and come out stronger and create the team we want to be.'
Spurs have lost four of the last five in the Premier League and suffered another untimely blow yesterday(FRI) with Ben Davies ruled out for at least two more weeks after suffering a setback on his return to training after three weeks out with a hamstring problem.
Djed Spence misses Sunday's game against Wolves, banned after a red card in the Boxing Day defeat at Nottingham Forest. Radu Dragusin is struggling to be fit with an ankle injury from the same game.
With Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven still out, it leaves Postecoglou desperately short in central defence. Yves Bissouma and Alfie Dorrington will lead the contenders to partner Archie Gray if Dragusin is out.
Even so, Postecoglou tried to remain positive. 'We're not that far off,' he said. 'A week ago, I was sitting here after winning a Carabao Cup quarter final and having beaten Southampton 5-0. And we're in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup and still in great position in Europe and there's the FA Cup.
'Our league position is not great but it's super tight. If you look at some of the teams four or five points above us, I don't think that's going to stretch by any great lengths over the next period because all teams you see are suffering at some point. Ours is probably a bit more extreme than others but I'm confident we'll work through that.
'There's still everything for us to play for this year to make it a season where we can have success.'
Reinforcements, though, would certainly help. 'The players need some help, more importantly, and the club is working really hard to try make that happen,' said Postecoglou, but the January market can be difficult, and Tottenham intend to hold their discipline in line with recent windows.
Richarlison and Mikey Moore are expected back in training next week, before the Premier League game against Newcastle, and Yang Min-Hyeok, an 18-year-old South Korean winger, can be registered in the New Year.
Yang signed from Gangwon in July but completed the K-League season before making the switch to London.
Postecoglou insisted the players were still firmly behind his methods. 'They are still trying so hard,' said Postecoglou. 'That's the first thing you look at as a manager, are the players still responding or are they out there looking to an alternative?
'It's human nature to think we need to do something different or we're obviously undermanned, let's change something. I haven't sensed that. The players still want to tackle this the way we are tackling it. It's a credit to them.
'But it's up to me to guide them through that and show them all these things are temporary, and that you will get through it. If we do get through them in a positive way, the bonus and the benefit is that makes you stronger.
'There's always people in life who people look at a bit curiously because they do things a bit differently and they're a bit of a joke until they get it right then all of a sudden they're a genius. That's probably relevant to us right now.'