Tottenham told to act on Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal after ‘heated’ incident
Tottenham duo Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal have been told to address their attitudes by Alan Hutton following a “heated” incident in the clash with Liverpool.
Spurs’ Champions League hopes suffered another dent as they were well beaten at Anfield by Jurgen Klopp’s side, with a late comeback from the Lilywhites not enough to salvage even a point after a poor first half.
As the two teams made their way to the tunnel at half-time, with Spurs 2-0 down, Romero and Emerson were spotted getting into a scuffle on the pitch by the Sky Sports cameras before they were quickly separated by Guglielmo Vicario.
While Hutton admits emotions can sometimes get the better of players, he has urged both defenders to calm down on the pitch from now suggesting their actions could see pundits and fans begin to question their character.
“It should be in the dressing room for me,” Hutton told Tottenham News.
“I understand, it’s an emotional game and I’ve lost it at times myself but I’ve always held back. You’re angry because a lot of it was Tottenham’s fault, they kind of played their way into trouble and I thought Royal just looked out of place.
“Romero I thought had a really good game, he was blocking the ball on the line, he was tackling and he’s done well even though they conceded a lot of goals and that was probably just that pent-up frustration.
“I don’t like to see that on the pitch where it is more than that and it becomes a little bit heated. Leave that for down the tunnel, it shouldn’t even happen down there or in the changing room but I understand emotions can get the best of you from time to time.
“Do it there, don’t do it in the public eye where you can be criticised or where people will start questioning you and what you’re like as a player. Do it in the changing room where nobody can see.”
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As Hutton suggests, it is natural that players’ emotions will occasionally get the better of them, but it isn’t a good look for Spurs or both stars to have an altercation in the middle of the pitch, especially when tensions are already high in North London.
Emerson was nowhere near his best at Anfield and was rightly slammed by pundits and fans alike for his display, but it won’t have done his confidence any good to have a teammate confront him on the field in that manner.
Similarly, Romero already has a reputation as a hothead and it won’t do him any favours with officials if he’s spotted getting in these sorts of exchanges. This sort of ridiculous error has to be cut for Spurs to move forward under Ange.
In other Tottenham news, the door is now open to complete a summer move for Conor Gallagher after updates at Chelsea
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