Team news | Ange’s updates on Johnson, Romero and van de Ven

Ange Postecoglou gave updates on the fitness of Brennan Johnson, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven after all three were forced out of the action in Sunday’s 4-3 loss against Chelsea.

Cuti was first to depart, minutes after a storming start saw us lead 2-0 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Somewhat of a surprise returnee alongside Micky in central defence, the Argentina international picked up a quad injury on 15 minutes. Brennan was next to go due to illness at the start of the second half. Micky, back after six weeks out, missing seven games with a hamstring issue, worryingly went down holding the back of his leg after 79 minutes. Thankfully, it appears it was only tightness.

Speaking to our Review Show, Ange told us: “Brennan just wasn’t feeling well, he wasn’t feeling well at half-time, but wanted to give it a go. We got him back out there, but he just wasn’t right. The plan with Micky was always to play him 60, 70 minutes. Again, I wasn’t worried about Cristian, I thought he could play 90, and give Micky 60 or 70, but we had to keep him out there a bit longer. It doesn’t seem like he’s done anything, just felt a bit tight. Hopefully he’ll be fine.”

Asked about the injuries in his post-match press conference, Ange told the media: “Romero is just obviously hugely disappointing. He felt something in his quad. He trained really well. He wasn't the one I was worried about, to be honest, but, you know, it's just like I said, the way the season's going for us. unfortunately. So, we just have to wait and see.

“Brennan just didn't feel well. He didn't feel well at half-time, but he wanted to give it a go, but he just wasn't feeling 100% so I had to take him off. The plan was always for Micky to play 60, 70 minutes. I thought Romero would be okay to play 90, but Micky, probably 60, 70. So we were always going take him off. He didn't feel anything significant. He just felt tightness, but we were always going to take him off anyway.”