One senior Tottenham man picked out for ‘diabolical’ criticism after ‘costing his team’ in appalling first half against Liverpool
Jamie Redknapp has slammed Tottenham defender Cristian Romero for his shocking decision-making in the 4-3 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield.
In a dreadful start to the match for Tottenham, Liverpool scored three times inside 15 minutes to build up a convincing lead. Curtis Jones opened the scoring for the Reds in just the third minute by beating Fraser Forster at the back post after a great cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
And Liverpool were 2-0 up just two minutes later, with Luis Diaz getting on the scoresheet during his first start since returning from a long-term knee injury. Mo Salah played Cody Gakpo in behind Eric Dier and he pulled it back for Diaz, who finished confidently by volleying home.
And incredibly, Tottenham were trailing by three goals in the 15th minute. Gakpo received the ball just inside the penalty area and was brought down by Romero, who criminally decided to go to ground and try to win the ball off the attacker via a sliding tackle.
Harry Kane did get Spurs a goal back before the interval, sending a first-time strike past Alisson after some good work by Ivan Perisic, but that did not stop Redknapp ripping into Romero at the half-time break.
“No pressure on the ball. They [Spurs] don’t tackle anyone, they just stand off it,” the pundit said on Sky Sports (30/04 at 17:26). “And then Romero decides to make such a rash, poor decision. I’ve seen some of his defending the last four of five games, diabolical. [He’s] not making the right decisions.
“And then he actually says [to the referee] ‘I got the ball’, no you didn’t. You got nowhere near it and you’re costing your team right now with those decisions.
“Good piece of play by Gakpo and this is a brave penalty, he [Salah] just lifts it into the top of the net. Good penalty.”
Spurs equalise, only to throw away draw
Spurs gradually grew into the game and hit the woodwork through both Romero and Son, while Pedro Porro forced an acrobatic save from Alisson.
Romero did atone for his penalty mistake somewhat by setting up Son for Spurs’ second goal with a clever ball over the top of the Liverpool defence.
And Spurs left Liverpool fans stunned by scoring in the third minute of stoppage time, as Richarlison came off the bench to head past Alisson from a Son free-kick.
Ultimately, though, the north London side came away from the game empty-handed as they threw away the point by giving Liverpool a fourth goal 60 seconds after Richarlison’s equaliser.
Lucas Moura failed to deal with a long ball, instead sending Diogo Jota through. And the Liverpool forward made no mistake when finishing into the bottom corner.
Meanwhile, exciting comparisons have been drawn between a Spurs managerial candidate and Pep Guardiola.
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