View: 43% Tottenham star must do more as O'Hara calls him 'Headless chicken' v Ipswich

Jamie O’Hara correctly called out Cristian Romero after he was “all over the place” for Tottenham in their 2-1 defeat to Ipswich on Sunday.

Speaking on talkSPORT (11 November, 9:42am), O’Hara said that despite Romero having a reputation as a “great defender”, his display against the Tractor Boys on 10 November was not up to scratch.

Ipswich won it with two goals inside 12 late first-half minutes, the second seeing Romero step miles out of his six-yard box to leave Radu Dragusin exposed, allowing Liam Delap to fire home with ease.

O’Hara said: “Romero – listen, as much as I love him and everyone talks about how he’s a great defender – if you watch how he defends, he runs around all over the gaff.

“He’s like a headless chicken at the back; he never actually just stands in the middle and defends the two posts. They’re all over the place at the back, and it’s not acceptable.”

Tottenham need a leader rather than a liability in Cristian Romero

While it’s true that Romero has earned his status as a top-class centre-back at both Premier League and international level, he was all at sea in defence as Ipswich ran riot late in the first half on 10 November.

Though the Argentine completed 87 per cent of his 83 passes and threaded 10 of these into the final third [FotMob], he and Spurs were exposed at the back and frequently played themselves into trouble.

Romero’s attempts to fire the ball out of defence weren’t entirely successful either, with only 43 per cent of seven attempted long passes finding a man and a cross from the right-hand side also going astray.

However, the Spurs rearguard was hamstrung by Romero often being caught out of position, and his usually-dependable defensive numbers were lacklustre of a result.

Although Romero completed six ball recoveries, he failed to attempt a single tackle and put in just two defensive actions in total [FotMob] – both of which were clearances as things got frantic at the back.

Romero may have won seven of his nine duels against Delap and co up front for Ipswich, but it remains to be seen if he and Spurs can bounce back from a potentially disastrous defeat on home soil.

In other Tottenham news, one Spurs outcast has made a decision on his contract in North London as the January window approaches.

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