What Radu Drăgusin did to annoy Sheffield Utd fans when Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham problem was revealed

There was to be no late twist to the story as Tottenham secured a place in next season’s Europa League after returning to winning ways with a 3-0 win at Sheffield United. Needing just a point at Bramall Lane to confirm their place in UEFA’s second club competition for the 2024/25 campaign, Ange Postecoglou’s side looked certain to finish fifth, but there was always a little chance of Chelsea overtaking them behind their rivals by three points and had the better goal difference going into the final day.

Blues fans probably sensed Tottenham could slip away after Sheffield United made a bright start to the contest and created some very good openings in the opening 10 minutes. Ben Brereton Diaz opened up a chance over the crossbar minutes into the game when Ben Osborn capitalized on Radu Drăgușin’s low header and the striker hit the bar after Gustavo Hamer’s cross moments later, although the keeper raised the offside flag following the scare. .

After such a positive start from the South Yorkshire club, Dejan Kulusevski put Tottenham ahead with a wonderful drive that went in off the post. A move that involved Micky van de Ven, James Maddison and Son Heung-min, the Swede, who started the game as a forward, slotted the ball home in style and Spurs never looked back from that moment.

Tottenham could only have gone within a goal at the break, but it could have been a much healthier scoreline had Wes Foderingham not denied Kulusevski, Son, Maddison and Pedro Porro with excellent goalkeeping. Rodrigo Bentancur was also incredibly unlucky to see his low effort from the edge of the box hit the bar and trickle across the goal line with Cristian Romero on the volley when he should have handled it better from an inviting delivery from Porro.

Needing another goal to give them a two-goal cushion and kill any hopes of a Sheffield United reply in the process, it finally arrived in the 59th minute with Porro firing in an unstoppable effort from the edge of the box. After several Foderingham heroics to stop Van de Ven nets, Brennan Johnson played Porro and the right back scored a copy of his racket against Burnley eight days earlier.

Seeing Kulusevski add his second of the afternoon and Tottenham’s third, it could have been four in the dying minutes, but Johnson somehow tapped the ball home from Son’s delightful delivery. In the end it was a routine win for Tottenham as they secured a place in next season’s Europa League, Postecoglou was full of praise for his side after the whistle as he also labeled Foderingham as ‘outstanding’ .

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“I thought it was pretty good,” he said football.london in the post-match press conference. “I thought it was important to put in a decent performance today and win the game for a number of reasons. I thought the boys did pretty well.

“It’s always a bit difficult the last game of the year, Sheffield United have nothing to play for so it can be easy not to have the right mindset but I thought for the most part we had that tonight.

“Three goals… I thought Wes Foderingham was outstanding. Overall I think it was an important win and a good performance.”

It was the ideal way to bring the curtain down on such a season and end the term on a positive note.

Son and Maddison positive

While Kulusevski will of course rightly receive the plaudits for an excellent display up front, a number of Tottenham players caught the eye at Bramall Lane on Sunday. Porro looked more like his old self and scored four goals for the season, the Spaniard unlucky not to add an eighth of the term to his name after slotting in a great ball that Romero really should have converted .

Son and Maddison also proved to be key players in the win as they caused the hosts a number of problems after previously struggling to regain their best form at a time when Tottenham were efforts for a top-four ranking. For Maddison, the league season is probably ending at the wrong time for him, after putting in some better performances in the last few games of the season.

However, it could bode well for Gareth Southgate and England if Tottenham’s number 10 makes his Euro 2024 squad for the tournament in Germany. Maddison was in fine form at Bramall Lane and deservedly had an assist to his name for Kulusevski’s second of the afternoon.

The pair almost did the same in the first half but the Swede was denied by Foderingham after his team-mate played him through. The stopper then frustrated Maddison towards the end of the first half after Son’s through ball pinned the former Leicester City man. free in the box.

Son was another who carried the game in front of the visitors and looked much better to play on the left flank. The 31-year-old led the line for Tottenham in the game due to Richarlison’s absence, but that had a negative effect on his form as he received very little joy from defenders and contributed just two goals and two assists. the last two months of the mandate.

Getting a pass for Kulusevski’s opener and then seeing his shot powerfully saved by Foderingham midway through the first half, Son was instrumental to Tottenham’s second and third goals of the afternoon. Porro’s goal came from a hip spin from the Spurs captain which sent Jayden Bogle the wrong way before bursting into the area for Foderingham to deny Van de Ven and Porro to fire home a few seconds later.

It was Son who then set Maddison free for the final goal of the day after producing a delightful ball with the outside of his right boot from the left lane. His team-mate put the ball over the goal with a first-time pass and Kulusevski made no mistake to double his tally.

Confidence coursed through Son’s veins and it showed from the whipped delivery to the back post that put the ball on a plate for Johnson to convert. The winger really should have scored from a few yards out and his reaction said it all as he rested his head on the billboards behind the goal clearly in disbelief that he hadn’t scored.

Perhaps not the way Tottenham wanted to end the season with the team missing out on a Champions League spot by two points, Postecoglou could certainly take some positives from the convincing win in Sheffield.

A rare clean sheet

Free signings have been hard to come by for Tottenham in the 2023/24 Premier League season. That’s why it was nice for Guglielmo Vicario and Co. to record a shutout in their final game of the tenure.

Vicario, who has been an ever-present for Tottenham in the Premier League season, has registered seven clean sheets in his 38 appearances throughout the campaign, his previous coming in the 4-0 demolition of Aston Villa at the start of March. Sheffield United’s goal on Sunday was only the second time in 2024 that Tottenham have not conceded a goal in a Premier League game.

Tottenham’s 61 goals conceded in the Championship this season might have been an improvement on last year’s 63 goals, but their runaway defense proved problematic when it came to trying to secure a place in the top flight. among the first four. Spurs will always be susceptible to conceding because of Postecoglou’s style of play, but it is an area they really need to improve next season if they are to progress as a team.

After all, the top three of Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool have conceded 34, 29 and 41 goals respectively from their 38 league games. Even 15th-placed Everton have conceded fewer than Tottenham, having conceded 51 goals over the course of the league season.

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After some early trouble as the visitors went close through Brereton Diaz, the only other time Vicario and Tottenham looked set to be troubled was when Cameron Archer was played through on goal following a quick Sheffield United attack. However, Pape Matar Sarr came to Spurs’ rescue as he got a vital touch on the striker’s attempt to deflect for a corner.

With Vicario targeted by teams throughout the season, with the keeper having some issues from clean sheets towards the start of the year, the Blades tried to trouble the Italian from a long throw from Jack Robinson in the first half. Making defender Auston Trusty stand right in front of the keeper, Vicario had nothing and pushed the American a few times before he eventually fell to the ground.

Blades midfielder Oliver Arblaster was not a fan of Vicario’s actions and moved on to question the keeper, but he was soon denied by Romero. Once play finally resumed, after the referee spoke to Vicario and Arblaster, Dragusin, who was handed his second successive start at Tottenham, went and stood in front of his goalkeeper and gave him some much-needed protection .

Ensuring there was no way through for Trusty, the Romanian pushed the centre-back a few times and it’s fair to say it didn’t go down well with the home fans. His final push on the player, which saw the ex-Arsenal man trip him up and send him flying for several yards, certainly irked the home faithful as they made their feelings clear.

Robinson’s throw came to nothing in the end as Vicario was on hand to collect the ball in both hands. Due to what happened in the moments before the defender launched the ball, the Spurs fans cheered as soon as Vicario collected the ball and the home fans unsurprisingly booed.

The goalkeeper was to receive the wrath of the home faithful early in the second half after going to ground from Bogle’s challenge. They were far from impressed and the former Empoli man was booed whenever he was in possession afterwards.

Just not giving the keeper enough protection at times from set-pieces is something Postecoglou and his coaching staff need to look at next season as they need to ensure their woes don’t continue into the 2024/25 campaign. Dragusin protecting his teammate would certainly work, but that may depend on whether the January signing is a starter in the head coach’s Spurs team from August onwards.

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