Tottenham defender Radu Dragusin came off at half time vs Newcastle United
Tottenham Hotspur suffered their 10th defeat of the Premier League season on Saturday—a 2-1 loss to Newcastle United at home.
Ange Postecoglou’s side got off to the best possible start when Dominic Solanke headed home from a beautiful Pedro Porro cross in the fourth minute. More than a minute later, Newcastle equalised with Joelinton and Anthony Gordon teaming up to take advantage of Spurs’ slack passing at the back.
Alexander Isak gave the Magpies a 2-1 lead in the first half and his strike eventually turned out to be the winner. It was just another forgettable day in the office for the under-pressure Ange Postecoglou, who had a headache selection before the game after the Tottenham camp was infected with an illness bug.
The likes of Fraser Forster, Radu Dragusin, Archie Gray and James Maddison all missed training before the Newcastle game due to an illness bug that hit through the Lilywhites’ squad earlier this week. As a result, Forster was not fit to feature in goal that led to Brandon Austin making his Premier League, while Maddison managed a place on the bench.
Due to a defensive crisis that has sidelined Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies for weeks and months, Postecoglou has had to rely again on Radu Dragusin and Archie Gray in central defence. However, the Australian tactician decided to take off Dragusin at half time, causing panic within the Spurs fanbase over another potential injury setback.
After the 2-1 defeat to Eddie Howe’s side, Big Ange faced the media in not a jovial mood. When asked to provide an update on why Dragusin was substituted at half time, the Spurs gaffer stated (h/t Football London):
“Just a bug. Radu and Archie were bed-ridden all week. Fraser, obviously he’s still bed-ridden and struggling with it, there’s a couple of others struggling. Like I said, at half-time [Radu] didn’t have any more to give. On Thursday, we literally had 11 fit players for training.”
Tottenham’s performances this season have been absolutely chaotic, leaving the fans more and more frustrated. The lack of quality, management and application as per the situation of games, in and out of possession, and inability to maintain leads, have been shocking, to say the least, regardless of Big Ange’s squad being severely hit with injury problems. Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown slammed Spurs’ lack of consistency after the defeat to the Magpies.
-> Martin Keown highlights one major problem with Tottenham after Newcastle loss
However, Spurs fans could sympathize with the gaffer and the players for giving their all against an in-form Newcastle side after an illness bug had ravaged its way through the squad earlier this week. And that was evident with the performances of many players, including Dragusin, who didn’t look at his peak fitness levels on Saturday afternoon. The Romanian struggled to cope with the Newcastle forwards and played his part in Isak’s goal.
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Tottenham currently sit 12th in the Premier League, and given how things have been going on for months, feels like it’s going to be fairly difficult to break out of mid-table mediocrity this year. As for the players who are ill and injured, the sooner they get back to full fitness the better.