Paul Robinson: Tottenham defeat v Chelsea more ‘serious’ than simple bump in the road
We’re delighted to welcome former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson as our exclusive columnist as each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium…
Paul Robinson admits Tottenham’s defeat to Chelsea on Monday could be more than a bump in the road for Ange Postecoglou and his men.
Spurs didn’t only lose 4-1 but they also lost Micky van de Ven and James Maddison to injury and Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie to red cards.
Van de Ven’s injury lay-off could be a lengthy one [Daily Mail] while Maddison might be ready to play against Wolves this weekend at Molineux.
Udogie is banned for that match in the West Midlands on Saturday (11 November) but Romero won’t be available again for Spurs until they play West Ham in North London on 7 December.
Robinson has praised Spurs for how they stood up to the test of going down to nine men and also how Postecoglou reacted to all of the incidents after the game.
However, the former Tottenham goalkeeper does have issues with how VAR is being used in the Premier League after yet another game week where it dominated headlines.
“It’s a blip, but it’s going to be a problem,” Robinson told Tottenham News.
“We’re all talking about this game days after it and it was a fantastic game and it was a fantastic spectacle. Even though Tottenham lost 4-1, I still thoroughly enjoyed watching the game.
“I hated conceding the goals and losing the game, but I loved the attitude of the Spurs players, the manager’s attitude is refreshing.
“We talked about Mikel Arteta after the Newcastle game and the difference between him and Postecoglou after the VAR decisions. But let’s be honest, I don’t think Postecoglou could have complained too much about the VAR decisions in that game. There was a lot of talk about how many there were, but I don’t think they got many of them wrong, to be honest.”
“My issue with VAR is it’s taking too much time and the games are too long. The human element of refereeing is going out of the game.
“Let the referee on the pitch referee, let him make a decision, use VAR for line decisions and offside onside et cetera.
“The game for Spurs was a bump in the road. Is it more serious? Yes, I think it is.”
In other Tottenham news, Robinson believes this player has become a victim of his own versatility at Spurs.