Tottenham Faces Liverpool with Key Absentees
Tottenham head to Anfield stripped of options and wrapped in subplots.
Roberto De Zerbi confirmed on Monday that Sandro Tonali will miss the Carabao Cup third-round tie against Liverpool after suffering a knock, adding the Italian to a growing list of absentees for the trip to Merseyside.
Spurs patched up, Udogie returns
Speaking at Hotspur Way, De Zerbi ran through a team sheet full of crosses rather than ticks. Dejan Kulusevski is out. Pedro Porro is still unavailable. Tonali has “felt a knock” and will not travel.
One shaft of light: Destiny Udogie is finally back.
“Kulusevski not available, Pedro still not available, Udogie yes. No Sandro Tonali, he felt a knock,” De Zerbi said via football.london, offering a blunt summary of a squad stretched early in the season.
The absentees do not stop there. Mykhailo Mudryk, Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert will also sit out the tie, stripping Spurs of pace and unpredictability in the final third.
And then there is Richarlison.
Richarlison saga rumbles on
On paper, the Brazilian could feature. He is not registered for the Premier League, but he is technically eligible for the Carabao Cup. In reality, he will not be anywhere near the matchday squad.
“Richarlison, you already know everything, so nothing changes with the Carabao Cup or Premier League,” De Zerbi said, making it clear that this is not a competition-specific call.
He then drew a hard line around the situation.
“I said last press conference. I know what happened in the last 45 days. It's not right if I explained. It's not my behavior, the relationship. The problem is between the player and the club. I stay within the club. It's coach and club together.
“At the start of this season, I spoke to him many times to convince him to stay, and he didn't want to. I can't go every day to pray for him to stay.”
No grey area. No olive branch. De Zerbi has moved on; Richarlison, for now, is on the outside looking in.
New protagonists up front
With so many forwards missing or unavailable by choice, De Zerbi will lean on a different cast at Anfield.
“[Dominic] Solanke is a good player. He needs to improve his physical condition and stay positive because he can score many goals with us,” the Spurs manager said, backing the striker to grow into the role.
He also name-checked Omar Marmoush and Savio as players who can step into the spotlight in North London in a way they perhaps have not before.
“[Omar] Marmoush and Savio were not the protagonist but that is different here,” De Zerbi said, hinting at bigger stages and bigger responsibilities.
Anfield in the cup is as big a stage as any to prove it.
Iraola juggling Liverpool’s load
On the other side, Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola is wrestling with a different kind of problem: fatigue.
For the Reds, this is the third match in seven days. The schedule has bitten hard.
“It's the third game (in seven days) it's the worst scenario in terms of schedule, we haven't been lucky,” he told reporters, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo.
“After this one we have a little bit more before we play Bournemouth and you noticed the gap between Ipswich and Atletico and Atletico and Fulham. It's a big difference.”
The Spaniard knows he cannot simply roll out the same XI every time and hope for the best.
“We have to get used to it. You can put the same players in every game. The problem is there will be a moment they are really tired, and there is more risk of injury.
“There are players who play every three days and have no issues; they can accept it, and performances don't change too much. Then there are players where the risk is bigger and the performances are different.
“And we are in a position where I have to learn who is ready to play and who is ready to rest, so their performance level doesn't drop. I had an idea with some of them, but for some of them it is new as they haven't played as many games before.”
So Anfield will host a cup tie shaped by absentees and experiments: Spurs without Tonali, Kulusevski, Porro and Richarlison; Liverpool walking a tightrope between rhythm and burnout.
For one manager, it is about patching together an attack. For the other, it is about finding out who can survive the grind.
