Guglielmo Vicario blows Gary Neville away in Tottenham loss v Manchester City, ‘Wow’
Tottenham fell to a slender defeat against Manchester City – albeit it would have felt like a result worth celebrating for different reasons – in their final home game of the Premier League season.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring in a tight contest in the 51st minute, before adding a late second from the penalty spot, meaning City leapfrog Arsenal at the top of the table – explaining the quiet glee around the ground at full-time.
City created just a couple of opportunities of note prior to that breakthrough moment, both of which Guglielmo Vicario was equal to in a brilliant display.
Guglielmo Vicario denies Man City’s Phil Foden
The first of those saves, a close-range stop to somehow keep out Phil Foden’s well-struck volley from close range, left Gary Neville blown away on commentary duties for Sky Sports.
“Wow,” Neville said [14 May, 8:17pm]. “What a mess [from Cristian Romero], and what a save.”
It really was a superb stop, as was his save to keep out Kevin De Bruyne early in the second period. Those were two of the only two saves Vicario made over the 90 minutes.
As per Sofascore, Vicario prevented 0.58 goals. It goes without saying, then, that without him between the sticks, it would have been a bigger margin of defeat.
This performance comes on the back of a number of high-profile pundits, former Spurs boss Tim Sherwood among them, criticising the Italy international in recent weeks.
Vicario has been accused – rightly at times, it must be said – of failing to collect balls into the box. Against City, he registered one punch.
Guglielmo Vicario can be Tottenham’s long-term number one
The 27-year-old also impressed with his distribution, completing 97 per cent of his passes (35 out of 36) – the most of any Tottenham player who started the game.
In fact, Vicario also made two clearances, which only Romero and Pedro Porro (both three) could better, showing he really is a sweeper-keeper.
Vicario’s shot-stopping ability and distribution is nothing new, of course, and there is no doubt that improvements can be made when it comes to collecting balls into the box.
His 32 high claims, prior to the City match, was bettered by five other Premier League goalkeepers – a list Aston Villa’s Emiliano Martinez tops with 45.
In games such as this one, though, Ange Postecoglou will be confident that Vicario is very much the number one going forward in this long-term project.
In other Tottenham news, supporters have every right to be buzzing as a highly-rated youngster has agreed terms with Spurs.
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