Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has insisted that his side can cope despite having lost defender Toby Alderweireld after the influential centre-half suffered a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury.
“Always you are going to miss the players that are not fit but that is normal,” said Pochettino, whose side host Brighton on Wednesday. “But for me football is about the team, it is not about individual players.
“Of course some players have more influence on the team but I think we have a good enough squad and players that can play, and win or lose it is about the quality of performance if we miss one or another player.”
The Belgian international suffered the injury during the first half of Spurs Champions League game against Real Madrid and was initially expected to return to full fitness by early January.
However the 28-year-old now looks set to miss his club’s key games against Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Juventus.
Spurs defence looks to have been weakened following Alderweireld’s knock as they have kept just two clean sheets from eight games against Crystal Palace and APOEL Nicosia.
