Postecoglou warns Spurs stars off social 

WARNING: Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou. Pic: Kieran Cleeves, PA Wire.

Ange Postecoglou has advised his Tottenham players to take social media with a pinch of salt after a difficult week for Ryan Sessegnon.

Full-back Sessegnon had surgery on his right hamstring on Monday, after an operation on his left hamstring last summer, and called for people to “be careful what you say online” in a post on his social media channels.

Sessegnon, 23, has endured a torrid time with injuries and faced plenty of abuse on Twitter and Instagram over his fitness woes, but boss Postecoglou likened those platforms to a prison yard.

“I guess the easy thing to say is, ‘look just stay off social media,' and that’s easy for me to say,” Postecoglou said.

“I can do that but I guess for younger people it’s a vehicle for them or a platform for them to have a voice, which I kind of understand.

“They’ve also got to be mature enough to also know that sometimes the audience, I think for want of a better term, social media is like walking into the prison yard and saying you’re innocent.

"You’re not going to get a hell of a lot of sympathy. Most of it is going to be coming back at you.

"If you’re kind of prepared for that then (fine), but if you’re jumping into there to try and feel good, my sense of it is, I’m not all over it but you’ll rarely come away from it feeling really good about yourself."

Sessegnon is set to spend the rest of the season on the treatment table and is currently joined by Richarlison. Postecoglou will also be without Pedro Porro (muscle) for today's visit of Crystal Palace.

Early cup exits mean Spurs will only play 41 matches this season and asked if they can make the most of Aston Villa and Manchester United juggling cup commitments, Postecoglou admitted: “I don’t know.

“It depends how you use that time. If you ask me would I rather be in Europe? Absolutely, 1000 per cent I’d rather be in Europe at this time playing games.

“A club like us, who want to compete at the highest level against the best, you need a strong squad and to have a strong squad you need consistent games, consistent game time and opportunities."

“I had the other extreme last year of 60-plus games at Celtic, but I found that a lot easier to manage than having a disrupted season like we’ve had this year.”