Ange Postecoglou explained that Timo Werner missed our Carabao Cup quarter-final victory against Manchester United on Thursday evening due to illness.
The winger's fever this morning left Ange with 10 players sidelined for the huge tie against United, but the squad performed admirably again, taking complete control at 3-0 before United's comeback as a thriller ended 4-3 in our favour. We now face Liverpool in the semi-final over two legs in January and February.
Asked about Timo's absence in his post-match press conference, Ange said: "Yeah, he was sick, it's just the way we're going, he woke up this morning with a fever and the doctor went and saw him, he had a high fever and we had to rule him out, unfortunately, so it's just the way things are."
Asked if that summed up the situation in terms of injuries, Ange added: "Pretty much, yeah. I don't roll up to game day looking for good news, let me tell you! It's just incredible. Like I said, this is 10 players off a senior list, and it's just ridiculous and the fact that we're still putting in these levels of performance with guys, Archie, Djed, these kind of guys, I mean, we're getting, I believe, enormous growth in this period that maybe won't be evident until down the track, but I just think there's there's so much good stuff in there at the moment, even though it's still a tough period."