Despite showing initial promise, Tottenham Hotspur are a complete mess right now because, after 23 matches, Spurs are sitting 15th on the Premier League table and in their next endeavour, they are set to face Brentford on Sunday.
Ange Postecoglou is under increasing pressure as the Spurs manager because his team have not won in their previous five outings and are just 8 points above the relegation zone.
Tottenham have already lost 13 league games and things could go from bad to worse because Ange will be without a lot of important players.
Spurs long injury list vs Brentford: What changes will Ange make?
James Maddison, Brennan Johnson, Werner, Vicario and several others are all ruled out for the weekend and the latest addition to this ill-fated list is Radu Dragusin who picked up a knock during their win over Elfsborg in midweek.
Dragusin came off the bench in the second half but was taken off in the 66th minute with a knee injury. Talking in his pre-match press conference, Ange has admitted that the central defender is unavailable for Sunday.
The Spurs boss told the press on Friday: “He’s not available for this weekend at the moment and we just have to see the extent of it. It’s a knee, so we’ve got to let it settle down. There’s always concern when there’s a knee injury but we don’t know the extent.”
Amidst all the defensive injuries, Dragusin has been a consistent figure and his absence will be a major blow for the Lilywhites. He’s not been a top performer by any means but the 22-year-old has been a consistent figure in central defence, starting 14 Premier League matches so far.
Thankfully, Micky van de Ven has returned from his injury lay-off and he played 45 minutes vs Elfsborg. The 23-year-old will return to the starting lineup on Sunday, slotting in alongside Archie Gray.
With Maddison ruled out with a calf problem, Ange will use a plain 4-3-3 formation and 18-year-old Lucas Bergvall will play alongside Bentancur and Yves Bissouma.
Richarlison will play as a centre-forward because Dominic Solanke is also unavailable and this position will be a big cause of concern for the Spurs manager because the Brazilian international has played just 199 minutes of league football.
Spurs have struggled under several recent managers, but this season has been particularly disappointing and there are already talks of Daniel Levy sacking Ange Postecoglou. For now, Ange remains in charge, but if the results don’t improve significantly, Levy won’t hesitate to make a change.
