Ange Postecoglou blasts Spurs key player for his action which will cost him and his team for the whole season
Postecoglou warns Romero tackling is in the spotlight
Key Tottenham defender Cristian Romero has received a warning from Ange Postecoglou that the rest of the season will see a lot of attention paid to his tackling.
Only recently having served a three-match ban for his red card against Chelsea earlier this month, Romero came under fire on Sunday for an ill-advised lunge on Callum Wilson in the closing moments of Spurs’ 4-1 victory over Newcastle.
Romero received a four-match suspension if he had been sent off, which would have further severely weakened Tottenham, who already lacked eight first-team players, ahead of their trip to Nottingham Forest on Friday. VAR examined the incident and decided to proceed with caution.
It’s safe to say that Postecoglou will be the center of attention for the remainder of the year, as he acknowledged on Thursday.
“When he takes on a task, it doesn’t matter if it’s anything obvious like the Chelsea match or last week, which I found to be just as awkward as anything else.
He comprehends that and is aware of it. It’s not a topic for lengthy conversations, I believe; he just needs to make the necessary adjustments throughout the game.
“It’s pretty evident the impact he has on us when he’s playing and when he’s not and we much prefer to have him out there.”
Romero’s suspension kept him out of all Spurs games, and his suspension came at the same time that teammate defender Micky van de Ven was injured in his hamstring. Van de Ven won’t be back in action until January.
Postecoglou is eager to add a center-back in January even though he is happy with Romero’s relationship with Ben Davies, a left-back by trade.
“As a team I thought we were a lot more organised with our press (against Newcastle),” Postecoglou said.
“Romero has a significant impact on that, but Ben Davies was also quite good last week, in my opinion. He is now playing a lot of games, but we must always remember that he is not a center defender.
“Ultimately, we still need to sign another centre-back because at the moment we are a little bit on tenterhooks because if something happens again we are short and we are already short.”
Giovani Lo Celso would miss the match at Forest due to a strain he picked up during training this week, according to Postecoglou.