Jamie Redknapp has hit out at one Tottenham Hotspur star after a ‘shocking’ mistake against Manchester City in their defeat on Tuesday.
Spurs definitely gave Manchester City a good scare in a game which they had to win to secure top spot in the Premier League before the final day of the season.
The two sides went into the break level, and there must have been concerns – from a City perspective – that the tension would only build and build the longer the game remained goalless.
But City would score early in the second-half, with Erling Haaland tapping in a Kevin De Bruyne cross. But the move began after Cristian Romero was beaten in a challenge by Phil Foden.
Jamie Redknapp criticises Cristian Romero after Tottenham defeat
Foden, in truth, did not have to do a lot to win the ball from the challenge with Romero, and he made the most of winning possession, with City scoring shortly after.
Romero is obviously known for the full-blooded challenges he has had a tendency to launch into, which often land him in a bit of bother. And with that, Jamie Redknapp was almost left in disbelief at how easy Romero made it for Foden.
“From a Spurs point of view, Romero, that is a shocking challenge,” he told Sky Sports (broadcast on 14/5; 22:20)
“Sometimes he goes around kicking people and here, for whatever reason, he just tries to dip his foot in. He’s got to do better, he was kicking people in the first half. I’m not sure why he didn’t make a better challenge or better fist of it there.”
Mistake doesn’t overshadow Argentinian’s impressive stats
In fairness, Romero largely had a really impressive game. Whoscored shows that no player won more tackles than the four the 26-year-old managed, while he also made three interceptions and three clearances.
There is no question that the £42 million man has shown a lot more maturity this season, collecting just four yellow cards in the Premier League before the end of March.
And if he doubted how likely he was to win the ball in the challenge with Foden, he may have felt that he was better off staying on his feet in that area of the field as Tottenham would have had the time to potentially regain possession.
Unfortunately for Spurs and Romero, City were able to take full advantage of that opening.