By MATT BARLOW
Published: 15:32 EST, 11 December 2024 | Updated: 15:46 EST, 11 December 2024
Ange Postecoglou made his first return to Ibrox since leaving Celtic with a fire extinguisher to hand.
Tottenham's injury problems deepen with fears Micky van de Ven could be out for three weeks with his latest hamstring injury and Cristian Romero for twice as long with a thigh muscle problem.
Postecoglou called it the worst injury crisis of his managerial career by 'a fair stretch' although refused to put a definite timescale on how long his first-choice central defenders will be out.
With Ben Davies also injured, however, he did confirm teenage midfielder Archie Gray is most likely to play alongside Radu Dragusin against Rangers in the Europa League and going into a congested festive period featuring a Carabao Cup quarter final against Manchester United and a Premier League clash with leaders Liverpool before the transfer market opens.
'With him and Radu, they're the two main sort of defenders,' said the Spurs boss. 'We've still got five or six games to navigate, so we may have to get creative at some point and deal with it in a different way.'
Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and forwards Richarlison, Wilson Odobert and Mikey Moore are all out absent through injury and illness and Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon are not selected for the Europa League squad.
Ange Postecoglou is preparing to make his first return to Scotland with Tottenham on Thursday
Micky van de Ven (left) and Cristian Romero will miss Thursday's clash with long-term injuries
Spurs teenage midfielder Archie Gray is most likely to play in defence against Rangers
Postecoglou also tackled the fall-out of Romero's public criticism of the Tottenham transfer policy in interviews with Spanish media after his injury in Sunday's 4-3 defeat at home to Chelsea.
Romero appeared to take aim at chairman Daniel Levy and the board, claiming Spurs had failed to strengthen the squad to compete with Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.
'Those are the things to imitate,' said the Argentina international. 'You have to realise something is going wrong, hopefully they realise it.'
Postecoglou said Romero had apologised. 'He was obviously very emotional,' the Spurs boss added.
'He's passionate about having success at the club and the way he expressed it was not right was in a public sense. I don't feel and it's certainly not my belief that our challenges at the moment are down to one thing or one person, I don't believe that. I never have believed that.
Radu Dragusin (left) is likely to start at centre-back for Spurs in the Europa League
'Whatever we need to do, we have the power to do that but it'll only happen if we stay united as a group particularly through difficult times, get through to the other side. I fully believe if you can do that, you come out stronger.
'A lot of what he said was good, some wasn't right and shouldn't have been done in public. We deal with these things in our own four walls. The same way I wouldn't criticise a player or anyone else, we shouldn't be doing that in a public sense.'
Beyond all that, Postecoglou is guaranteed a hostile return to Ibrox for the first time since his Celtic team lost 3-0 in May 2023, just days before he confirmed he would leave for Tottenham.
'I think you know what kind of a reception I'll get,' he smiled when asked. 'I've got a pretty clear idea of how challenging it is to play them here in front of that crowd, with the atmosphere. But at the same time, it's exciting, you look forward to big games and I'm sure the players are as well.'