Tottenham defender Radu Dragusin was imperious vs Liverpool in the Carabao Cup
Tottenham Hotspur ended their four-game winless run on Wednesday evening by beating Liverpool 1-0 in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.
It was a strong team performance from Spurs that had so many players stepping up to the occasion and delivering the goods. New signing from Slavia Prague, Antonin Kinsky performed extremely well in goal on his debut and kept a clean sheet against an excellent Liverpool attack. Lucas Bergvall put in his best performance in a Tottenham shirt, while Archie Gray was excellent in defence as well.
Another player who was magnificent on the night was Radu Dragusin. The 22-year-old, signed from Genoa last January, has had to wait patiently for his chances owing to the presence of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven’s presence ahead of him in the centre-back pecking order. With both Romero and Van de Ven suffering injury problems and missing chunks of the campaign, he has been getting opportunities to prove himself at the club.
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However, the Romanian’s performances have been lukewarm until the Liverpool game, where he truly came of age. It was undoubtedly the best performance Radu Dragusin has put in a Tottenham shirt thus far.
Ange Postecoglou faced the media on Friday afternoon ahead of Spurs’ trip to National League side Tamworth FC for the FA Cup third-round clash. When asked about Dragusin’s performance vs Liverpool in midweek, the Spurs boss stated (h/t Football London).
“I’ve said all along that some of our players are getting unfairly judged because of the situation we’re in. He’s only 22 and it would be fine if he was playing with older players around him but he’s playing with an 18-year-old who isn’t a centre-back and he’s had three different goalkeepers.
“He was great the other night, really focused and with his organisation. With Toni that’s probably the most organised we’ve been in a while and the midfield did really well to protect them. I’m sure Liverpool won’t have many matches where they’ve created as few openings as they did.”
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Indeed, Dragusin has not had an experienced partner alongside him in central defence this season. Instead, he has enjoyed most of his starts alongside 18-year-old midfielder Archie Gray at the heart of Tottenham’s backline. There have been changes in goal following Guglielmo Vicario’s ankle surgery, affecting the team’s defensive organisation and shape. Furthermore, the injury to left-back Destiny Udogie has not helped the team’s cause either.
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These have been among the mitigating factors behind Tottenham’s poor defensive displays, and Dragusin has been a victim of that. At 22, the Romanian international is still not the finished product in any case and requires more time to adjust to the rigours of Premier League football.
With more time, maturity and an experienced player beside him, perhaps we get to watch Dragusin putting in consistent displays for Tottenham and proving his naysayers wrong.