Sutton cannot believe what ‘reckless’ Dragusin did in Tottenham loss v Liverpool

Chris Sutton has branded Radu Dragusin as “reckless” after Tottenham lost 6-3 to Liverpool at home on Sunday.

The pundit hit out at the centre-back after he failed to win a header against Dominik Szoboszlai in the leadup to the Hungarian’s goal on 22 December.

He claimed that the Romania international should not have moved away from the defensive line and committed to the aerial duel if he was not certain he was going to win it.

“Dragusin, what was he thinking about going and trying to win that header, I think it was, against Szoboszlai which he didn’t win”, Sutton said on BBC Radio 5’s Monday Night Club (23 December).

“If you commit to that you have to be 100 per cent certain you’re going to go and win it, and he didn’t.”

Sutton also slammed Ange Postecoglou for refusing to change his tactics and throwing Dragusin and Archie Gray at the deep end.

“To go toe-to-toe with Liverpool when you have your best team, when you have [Guglielmo] Vicario in goal, when you have [Cristian] Romero as a centre-back, when you have [Micky] Van de Ven as a centre-back, that’s a risk, that’s a big risk anyway

“But, when you have Fraser Forster, with the greatest respect to Fraser, I think he’s an excellent goalkeeper, but he’s not great with his feet.

“And then, you have Dragusin, who is young and slightly reckless.

“Then you have Gray, who I don’t know how many times he has played centre-half in his career before he got to Tottenham, but he’s a right-back, he’s a midfielder.

“I do think that you’re there to be shot at when you… I don’t know whether hanging them out to dry is the right phrase, but to go up against Liverpool in the manner which they did and not to protect those two centre-halves, he does leave himself open for criticism.”

Chris Sutton blames Ange Postecoglou for Dragusin and Gray struggles at Tottenham

Injuries to Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Ben Davies have seen Postecoglou turn to Dragusin and Gray as his temporary centre-back pairing.

The duo held their own in the 5-0 win against Southampton the previous weekend and helped Spurs to a 4-3 win against Manchester United in the EFL Cup quarter-finals on Thursday, 19 December.

However, things went astray when Liverpool visited North London at the weekend, with Mohammed Salah and co firing six goals past Fraser Forster.

Postecoglou has since come under a lot of criticism for failing to give the makeshift centre-back pairing enough protection.

That, though, does not mean they are exempt from criticism, with Sutton rightly calling out Dragusin for a mistake.

Postecoglou will be hopeful of having Romero and Van de Ven back fit as soon as possible, while Dragusin will be determined to put Sunday’s disappointment behind him.

The 22-year-old will have the chance to make amends when Tottenham visit Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day (Thursday, 26 December).

In other Tottenham news, Spurs are facing the prospect of losing this Ange Postecoglou regular after a new transfer update dropped.

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