Ange Postecoglou admits Radu Dragusin injury ‘didn’t look good’ in latest Spurs blow
'It didn't look good.'
It was a good night for Tottenham on Thursday as they beat Elfsborg 3-0 to reach the Europa League last 16, but there was yet another injury headache for Ange Postecoglou as Radu Dragusin limped off.
It was an evening for Spurs’ youngsters as Dane Scarlett (20), Damola Ajayi (19) and Mikey Moore (17) scored the goals to beat the Swedes.
It took until the 70th minute for Tottenham to go ahead through substitute Scarlett, but they romped home from there.
There was bad news, though, as Dragusin became the latest fitness issue for the Tottenham boss to contend with.
The Romanian had come on at half-time to replace the returning Micky van de Ven as Postecoglou was managing the Dutchman’s minutes after injury.
Dragusin lasted just 20 minutes, though, and had to be replaced himself, with the Spurs manager admitting that the knee issue did not look good.
‘Unfortunately Radu’s hurt his knee now,’ said Postecoglou. ‘I don’t have any further information but it didn’t look good as he was coming off so we’ll just have wait and see but it’s disappointing.
‘Micky got through it fine, it was always going to be 45 and he felt fine.’
Van de Ven’s return is perfectly timed as his fellow centre-back heads for a spell on the sidelines along with a string of other Spurs stars.
Dominic Solanke, Guglielmo Vicario, James Maddison, Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner, Cristian Romero and Wilson Odobert are are all expected to miss the Premier League trip to Brentford on Sunday.
Postecoglou confirmed that Son Heung-min and Rodrigo Bentancur are fine, though, after coming off at half-time.
‘The three at half-time were all planned, all three are OK. We’ve got a big week coming up and just trying to manage our players,’ he said.
The injury situation is bad, but Postecoglou was thrilled with how the young talent stepped up to the plate on Thursday.
‘It was made in Tottenham tonight,’ he said. ‘Brilliant for the club. I’m sure there are academy coaches who will go to sleep tonight pretty excited.
‘We knew we’d have to rely on some young players tonight. We kind of have all the way through to be honest in this campaign and they stood up really well.
‘We were going to need some young boys to make an impact and not just the goal-scorers, we had another couple of 18-year-olds in there who continue to drive us on.
‘It’s a great night for the club and something the whole academy should be proud of.’
