Jamie O’Hara fumes at ‘naughty’ Tottenham star Cristian Romero despite win over Newcastle
After a difficult couple of weeks, Ange Postecoglou and Tottenham got back to winning ways with an excellent 4-1 win over Newcastle United on Sunday 10 December.
After a difficult evening against West Ham United, Spurs bounced back with an impressive attacking display to dismantle Eddie Howe’s, side but also put in a defensively sound performance to thwart the Magpies’ forward talent.
One player who was seemingly back to his best was Cristian Romero with the Argentine international shining at the heart of Postecoglou’s defence.
However, the 25-year-old had one moment of controversy as he was booked in the closing stages for a heavy challenge on Callum Wilson, with Jamie O’Hara believing that Romero was fortunate to avoid another sending-off.
Speaking on talkSPORT (12 December, 9:40) he said: “He should have been sent off, it’s a naughty tackle. I just don’t understand what goes through his head. He’s a fantastic player, a world-class player and I know he plays on the edge, you’ve just come back from a three-game suspension.
“If he gets sent off he gets four games. He needs to learn, I just don’t think he can. I think it’s just in him as a player and the way he tackles is just so aggressive and he is a problem for us.
“He is brilliant when he’s on the pitch, the problem is, he doesn’t spend enough time on it.”
What makes Romero such a force in Tottenham’s backline also happens to be his biggest downfall as he is one of the most committed tacklers in the Premier League. Against Newcastle he entered a whopping five challenges, coming away with possession in 60 per cent of the tackles. [Fotmob].
There have been few defenders better in the tackle this season than the 25-year-old. When compared to other Premier League centre-backs he places in the top four per cent for tackles attempted per 90 minutes and the top six per cent for tackles won per game [Fbref].
Across his 13 league matches this season, the Argentine international has tackled 78.9 per cent of the players who have attempted to dribble past him, a figure that places him in the 82nd percentile of his positional peers in the division.
On top of that he contested 14 duels over the course of the match, coming out on top in 10 of those battles including winning the ball in 100 per cent of his three aerial contests. No player for either side won more duels across the whole match.
However, the Argentine international also committed three fouls in the game, including the dreadful tackle on Wilson. No other member of the Tottenham backline committed more than one foul in the rest of the game and as a collective Spurs only gave away 10 free-kicks in the match.
This will be a worry for Postecglou in the coming weeks as Romero is committing more fouls per game this season than 71 per cent of centre-backs in the Premier League. While he is fouling players in this manner, he will always be leaving himself open to suspension.
Tottenham won’t want to take that aggression out of his game as it is part of what makes him such a good defender. But if he keeps commiting fouls in the manner he did against Newcastle, Spurs won’t be able to rely on his services.
As Cundy suggested Postecoglou has to try and sort this habit out sooner rather than later, otherwise Romero could cost his side valuable points and harm their chances of qualifying for the Champions League.
In other Tottenham news, Jeff Stelling has been blown away by the “brilliant” impact Guglielmo Vicario has had at Spurs