Credit: Imago

Richie Mills

Sun 12 April 2026 12:10, UK

Cristian Romero has waxed lyrical already about new Tottenham Hotspur head coach Roberto De Zerbi, but now is the time for the defender to do his talking on the pitch.

Earlier this month, Romero admitted that he is “not having the best time” at Tottenham amid their relegation struggles.

Indeed, West Ham’s win over Wolves on Friday sent Tottenham into the bottom three for the first time since August 2015.

Romero is singing De Zerbi’s praises, but for too long this season, the Argentina international has shirked his responsibility of leading this woebegone Tottenham team.

Ahead of Tottenham’s trip to Sunderland on Sunday afternoon, Romero needs to start leading by example, rather than drawing negative headlines.

Cristian Romero’s confusing Tottenham season

In an attacking sense, Romero has had a good season. A return of six goals and four assists in 31 games in all competitions is a respectable return for a central defender.

However, eight yellow cards in the Premier League and two sendings off, the second of which led to a four-match ban, do not make for pleasant reading.

His Sofascore rating for the season in the league is 7.11, and in each game, he averages 1.3 interceptions, 2.5 tackles, and 3.9 ball recoveries, but he has made one error that has led to a goal.

If Tottenham want to stay up, they simply have to keep Romero on the pitch. That requires the 27-year-old to stand up and be counted.

For now, though, the Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid-linked defender has given De Zerbi his backing.

In part of his latest Sky Sports interview, he says, “In these few days that I’ve had with him, you can already see the difference on the pitch. You can see the smiles again.”

Romero does add that their result against Sunderland will determine whether or not that positivity remains, but stresses Tottenham are “going to be good” with De Zerbi in charge.

Romero is not the only Tottenham player to come up short this season.

But when you are the captain, the expectations are higher. So far, he has fallen well short of his expected standards. It remains to be seen if that will change.

Tottenham inch closer to unwanted record

Although Tottenham are unbeaten in their last 15 Premier League games against Sunderland (10 wins and five draws), they haven’t won in the top-flight since 28 December.

Spurs are currently on a 13-game winless run in the league. Only once have they gone on a worse stretch, with the north London team previously going without a victory for 16 matches from December 1934 to April 1935.

Tottenham don’t want any more unwanted records when the full-time whistle blows at the Stadium of Light, as De Zerbi prepares to take charge for the first time.

All eyes will be on which team the Italian picks to face the Mackems, with the likes of Guglielmo Vicario and Mohammed Kudus the latest injury setbacks.

De Zerbi likes to play open, attacking football, but their defence is the biggest issue right now. Whether the 46-year-old can fix that in their final seven matches is up in the air.