View: Tottenham learn their goalkeeping future is in safe hands despite heavy defeat to Chelsea
It is very rare that a goalkeeper can walk away with their head held high after conceding four times, however, that is exactly what Tottenham shot-stopper Guglielmo Vicario did on Monday 6 November.
Ange Postecoglou’s unbeaten start to life in the Premier League came to an end as Mauricio Pochettino handed his former side their first defeat of the 2023/24 league campaign, leading Chelsea to a 4-1 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It was a game full of drama and a contest which will certainly be remembered for years to come as disallowed goals, VAR checks, injuries and red cards reigned supreme in north London, with Spurs seeing two players sent off and ending the match with just three of their starters still on the pitch.
It is safe to say that after the start the home side made when Dejan Kulusevski put them ahead inside six minutes, had it not been for the dismissals of Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie, alongside the injuries to Micky van de Ven and James Maddison, the result could have gone very differently.
In the end, the nine players left on the pitch for Tottenham just had too much to do and couldn’t hold on as their London rivals scored three goals late on to seal the win.
While conceding four times at home usually leads to many pointing their finger at the man between the sticks, Vicario cannot be faulted one bit on this occasion, and if anything, his stock has in fact gone up, as bizarre as that may seem.
He was described as “sensational” by Jamie Carragher after full-time on Sky Sports Main Event on Monday night (6 November), as transcribed by The Express, with the former Liverpool centre-back going on to label him a “revelation.”
And it is hard to disagree with the pundit.
As per Sofascore, Vicario made three saves, with two of those coming from shots he faced from inside the box.
One of those two saves was particularly impressive due to just how close he was to it. As Marc Cucurella got the better of Pedro Porro and lined up to take his shot, he was faced by the 27-year-old who threw his body on the line to prevent the ball from getting past him.
As fantastic as this save was, what was most notable was his ability to sweep up for his defence, which was understandably left a bit short at times.
The Italy international attempted six runs out of his box to deal with balls forward and was successful in dealing with all six of them.
It is a performance which should come as no surprise considering the start to life Vicario has made in England. As per fbref, he is in the top two per cent of his positional peers in the Premier League this season in regard to his save percentage (79.2 per cent per 90) and his defensive actions outside the penalty area (3.00 per 90).
With time still on his side, it seems that Spurs might have sorted out their goalkeeping future for the next decade, and Hugo Lloris has quickly become a memory of the past.
In other Tottenham news, Postecoglou has made an “impossible” admission after defeat against Chelsea.