Chadder View: Radu Dragusin must prove his worth for Tottenham against Fulham
When Micky van de Ven went down against Aston Villa, many Tottenham supporters would have had flashbacks to November.
After an incredible start to the season, I watched on from the stands as Spurs imploded against Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (6 November), with both van de Ven and James Maddison hobbling off injured in the 4-1 defeat.
This kicked off a terrible run of form in North London as we would then fail to win any of our following four league matches, a 3-3 draw against Manchester City at the Etihad (3 December) the only point we picked up during that miserable run.
Therefore, when van de Ven hobbled off at Villa Park (10 March) with the score still 0-0, it would have been fair for a few Tottenham fans, myself included, to concede defeat at this point.
However, Radu Dragusin’s introduction to the match demonstrated just how far our squad has come in such a short space of time.
Despite losing van de Ven to injury, we did not implode as we had done against our West London rivals but instead scored four without reply and went on to record arguably our biggest win of the season and put qualification for the UEFA Champions League back in our hands.
I will be the first to admit that I was incredibly surprised, but what I have been left more surprised by is the lack of acknowledgement in the days since for Dragusin’s contributions in the match.
While the attacking performance was impressive, it was arguably even more impressive that we managed to keep a clean sheet, something which has been a rarity in recent months, and Dragusin deserves a lot of praise for that.
Radu Dragusin has a massive chance to prove himself to Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham supporters against Fulham
While I would never have wanted to see van de Ven hobble off injured, I am curious to see Dragusin finally show everyone in North London what he can do.
Coming on to play the majority of the second half in a game as big as the one against Villa must have been nerve-wracking, but the Romanian showed no signs of any nerves between his introduction and full-time.
Villa didn’t offer much going forward, and Dragusin will face greater tests, but it is so far so good for the 22-year-old.
Ben Davies was the man tasked with stepping up in van de Ven’s absence previously this season, and while the Welshman did well, if Dragusin can continue to play in the same way as he did against Villa against Fulham at Craven Cottage (16 March), I will have much more confidence in our squad going forward.
In other Tottenham news, John Wenham of Lilywhite Rose has shared one thing which must be done after Spurs Women’s “phenomenal achievement”.
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