Ange Postecoglou vows the ‘madness’ will continue despite double injury blow leaving him without stars James Maddison and Micky Van de Ven until the new year as Tottenham look to bounce back against Wolves

• Ange Postecoglou will stand by ‘mad’ tactics for game against Wolves 
• Tottenham picked up their first league defeat of the season against Chelsea
• What is the WORST Premier League hat-trick? – Find out on It’s All Coming Up

Tottenham have been hit by a huge double blow with star men James Maddison and Micky van de Ven ruled out until January.

The pair both limped off in the first half of Spurs’ 4-1 home defeat by Chelsea on Monday — England midfielder Maddison with a kick to his ankle and £43million summer signing Van de Ven having pulled his hamstring.

They add to a list of long-term absences that also includes Richarlison, after the Brazil forward underwent pelvis surgery. Maddison was named in the England squad on Thursday for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia, but has withdrawn.

‘Micky with the hamstring injury, we knew it was fairly significant, probably a couple of months for him, looking into the new year,’ said Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou. 

‘Madders is a lot worse than we thought. The next day wasn’t great — again, probably into the new year for him.’

Tottenham are set to be without both Micky Van de Ven and James Maddison until the new year after both suffered injuries in Monday’s defeat to Chelsea

Ange Postecoglou has admitted that Maddison’s ankle injury is ‘a lot worse’ than Spurs had initially hoped

Richarlison is also on the injury list after he underwent an operation on a pelvis injury this week

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Spurs can go back top of the Premier League with victory at Wolves on Saturday lunchtime but travel to Molineux without their three walking wounded plus the suspended Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie. 

Ben Davies is back from injury at left back, but midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg may have to step in as a makeshift centre back with Romero and Van de Ven out.

Postecoglou, however, insisted the club have dealt with worse this season even after this week from hell, having lost Harry Kane to Bayern Munich in August.

Asked how Spurs would respond to their first big test of this season, he replied: ‘The first test? After losing the greatest ever player in this competition the day before the start of the season? Nah, piece of cake.

‘Mate, there are tests all the time. In my whole career, I figured out there are only two states of being as a manager — under siege, or it’s coming.

‘It’s being a bit disrespectful to this group of players to say that everything has gone their way, because it hasn’t.’

Postecoglou was named Premier League manager of the month for October on Friday, making it a hat-trick of awards this season in his first three months in England.

The Australian, 58, employed an astonishingly high line when reduced to nine men by Romero and Udogie’s red cards against Chelsea, which the Blues unpicked three times late on for Nicolas Jackson to score a hat-trick and condemn Spurs to their first league defeat of the season. But Postecoglou has no regrets about his tactics and promised more ‘madness’.

Postecoglou has said his ‘mad’ tactics have helped to take him ‘from Australia to the Premier League’

‘I don’t try to lose games purposefully, trust me,’ he said.

‘I’m very much on trying to win. I get it’s unconventional, but you don’t get from Australia to the Premier League by being conventional. Trust me, this isn’t the first time people have questioned my madness.

‘It’s got me to where I am and I continue to do it because I believe we can win that way, not because of any other reason.

‘There were times on Monday where it went to an extreme, only because the players felt like that was our best way to stay in the game and get the equaliser.’

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