Liverpool v Tottenham: ‘Alarming’ claim made live on Sky Sports News
Kris Boyd believes Ange Postecoglou is dealing with an “alarming” situation at Tottenham ahead of the Carabao Cup clash against Liverpool.
Spurs have a one-goal advantage heading into the second leg at Anfield on Thursday (6 February) after Lucas Bergvall’s 86th-minute strike secured a 1-0 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 8 January.
However, the Lilywhites were rocked by the crushing news that Radu Dragusin will undergo surgery on a season-ending ACL injury, and Boyd spoke live on Sky Sports News (5 February, 10:16am) on the “alarming” situation.
He said: “There’s no doubt that Tottenham Hotspur’s injury list is alarming, and you look at Dragusin as well, it’s another ACL [injury]. It’s a horrible injury for a football player to get, and we wish him a speedy recovery.
“But he’s going to be missing for a [long] period of time, and that was another player who was brought in, who would be back up to the normal back two when they’re fit, of [Micky] van de Ven and [Cristian] Romero.
“Now it’s if anything were to happen to them, where do Tottenham go?”
Radu Dragusin will be a massive miss for Tottenham
The Romanian international stepped into the lineup with Van de Ven and Romero sustaining long-term injuries and has performed admirably in the most difficult of circumstances.
Often, he lined up alongside makeshift centre-back Archie Gray and heroically kept a clean sheet in the win against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup to put one foot into the final.
Nevertheless, Daniel Levy worked tirelessly throughout the final days of the winter transfer window to fix the glaring holes at centre-back.
Kevin Danso arrived on loan from Lens until the end of the season, but instead of fixing the problem, the 26-year-old will replace Dragusin as the only fully fit option in central defence in North London.
Indeed, Van de Ven and Romero are slowly returning to fitness, but Postecoglou will be wary of repeating past mistakes – he rushed the pair back into action during the 4-3 loss against Chelsea on 8 December aggravated their respective injuries.
Spurs also failed to convince Axel Disasi to reject Aston Villa for a move to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and tried and failed with a last-gasp £70million bid for Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi [Ed Aarons].
Postecoglou has now been forced to work with the limited options available to him as he aims to take Tottenham to their first cup final since 2021.
In other Tottenham news, Spurs receive a huge injury boost ahead of the Carabao Cup clash against Liverpool.
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