On Thursday evening, Ange Postecoglou was boosted with the return of the likes of Carl Starfelt and Tom Rogic from injury after their lay-offs in the last month.
The former Socceroos boss would have been delighted to see the effective duo return and put in another good performance, which seen the Hoops take home all three points.
However, things didn’t exactly go to plan when it came to the returning stars, in particular Tom Rogic.
Speaking in the aftermath of Thursday nights game, Postecoglou revealed that the original plan was to take Rogic off at some stage in the game to make sure he doesn’t pick up another similar knock.
But the plan was forced into a change when his side sustained a further three injury knocks to Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh and Jota.
“It’s not just the work we do with the players, but the work we do with the guys who are coming back to make sure they are ready because it’s not easy to come into our squad,” he said, as quoted by the Scotsman.
“We play very high tempo; it’s very demanding on the body, so the boys have to be ready to go.
“The backroom staff, medical team, sports science, all do great work with these guys. It was great to see them slip into it so well. Tommy was never meant to play 90, but with the injuries, we had to make a call for him to keep playing.
“It’s not just about 11 players; we are going to need the whole squad to get through this series of games.”
So far this campaign, we have had our fair share of injuries, which isn’t exactly ideal given the depth in quality within Ange Postecoglou’s squad.
However, both Rogic and Starfelt put in a great shift to see out the three points, which is going to be key in a month like December with so many fixtures.
Ange will be hoping that the fresh injury knocks his side picked up arent too long term. But, thankfully, we have had some players returning at the right time, ready to give their all for the team.
