Jamie Redknapp rages at ‘spiteful’ Cristian Romero after what Tottenham ace did v Newcastle United
Tottenham fans will have had their hearts in their mouths against Newcastle United as Cristian Romero needlessly almost found himself in hot water again on Sunday (10 December).
Spurs ultimately ran out comfortable 4-1 winners at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but Romero was extremely lucky to see out at the game.
Coasting at 3-0 up, the Argentina defender caught Callum Wilson with an ugly challenge on the ankle that Chris Kavanagh only showed a yellow card for and VAR opted not to intervene.
It drew a strong opinion from Jamie Redknapp on Sky Sports (10 December), who said: “It’s spiteful that’s what it is, and some people go ‘oh he cares’, he’s just going to cost his team because he can play on the ball, he’s good technically and when he’s switched on he’s a very good defender he reads the game well.
“But there are so many times when he could get sent off or he makes a rash decision, he goes into challenges that he shouldn’t. He’s vice-captain now, and he has to set good examples, you can’t keep doing that, going into challenges like that, it’s a red card all day.”
It is hard to argue that Romero should not have been sent off and it nearly ruined an otherwise outstanding day for Spurs, who ended a run of five games without a victory in which they had taken the lead.
In general, Romero had performed pretty well, winning 10 of his 14 duels, making five tackles, and completing one clearance (SofaScore).
He also finished with a 90 per cent pass accuracy success and nailed both of his two attempted long passes.
There were some flaws to be ironed out, he was dribbled past once, gave away possession on six occasions and committed three fouls – one of which was the Wilson challenge.
What makes that foul even more stupid is the fact Romero has already been sent off this season, only returning from a three-match ban for getting sent off in the 4-1 loss to Chelsea.
This could have seen him banned for four games and really would have hurt Spurs who are short on options at the back with Micky van de Ven injured.
Gary Neville summed it up on co-commentary when he said: “He’s got away with it this time, but one thing is for certain that Spurs have to do something about it, you don’t want to take away his aggression away because it’s the best part of his game but he has to control it a lot better than he does it happens so often.”
It was foolish and it was reckless and, as Redknapp rightly said, it was spiteful.
In other Tottenham news, Son Heung-min showed Ange Postecoglou where he went wrong v Newcastle.