Ange Postecoglou has new Tottenham suspension worry after Yves Bissouma and Destiny Udogie bans

The suspensions are piling up for Tottenham this season after Yves Bissouma and Destiny Udogie picked up red and yellow cards respectively in the 2-0 win at Nottingham ForestNottingham Forest

 

After further unfortunate bans, Ange Postecoglou will once again have a small squad to work with when Everton visits. After being shown his fifth yellow card of the season during Tottenham’s 2-0 victory against Nottingham Forest on Friday night, Destiny Udogie was given a one-match ban and will have to watch from the sidelines.

Yves Bissouma will also find himself in the stands after he was given a red card for a high challenge on Ryan Yates. The Mali international will miss Spurs’ next four games as his second dismissal of the season means he will serve an extra game on top of the usual three-match ban for a straight red.

As the Lilywhites have a host of players out injured, it really is the last thing Postecoglou needed at present as the team look to make it three wins on the trot. The boss was asked in his post-match press conference about his side’s disciplinary issue and mentioned that his players must learn to play their style of football “without crossing a line”.

“Well, it’s an issue but it’s not so much discipline,” he said. “Tonight – like I say I haven’t seen a slowed down version – but it’s just a desperate lunge more than anything malicious.

“The guys are having to adapt to learn to play our football without crossing a line but I loved the commitment they showed. Unfortunately we paid a price because it’s not just this game, he obviously misses a big chunk of football but it is what it is.”

Cristian Romero was perhaps very lucky to get away without a one-match ban for the Everton match after looking set to be cautioned for a foul on Cheikhou Kouyate before the referee let him off. Currently on four yellow cards in the Premier League this season, a fifth would have brought up a suspension for the Argentina international just like Udogie.

As the cut-off point for a one-match ban for obtaining five yellow cards in the first 19 Premier League games of the season doesn’t come until after the full-time whistle in the upcoming fixture at Brighton & Hove Albion, there is still the possibility that the World Cup winner either misses out against the Seagulls or Bournemouth. It is not just Romero who Postecoglou will have concerns about, though.

Pape Matar Sarr is also on four yellow cards for the term in the Premier League after seeing yellow for a foul in the 54th minute at the City Ground. Already without Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur and possibly Giovani Lo Celso if he doesn’t recover in time from his injury for the Everton game, Postecoglou and Spurs really cannot afford to have any more midfielders absent from action.

It means Sarr is going to have to tread very carefully indeed in the next two fixtures against the Toffees and Brighton. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Dejan KulusevskiHojbjerg, Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro are next in line on three yellow cards, meaning they would have to be booked in both of Tottenham’s next games to receive a one-match ban for the showdown against Bournemouth on Sunday, December 31.

Having a real headache with injuries of late, it is now suspensions that are causing Postecoglou and Tottenham a real issues

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