View: Tottenham ace cannot hide behind 93% display, slammed as 'Frightening' v Ferencvaros

Cristian Romero was surprisingly joined by Archie Gray in defence as Tottenham beat Ferencvaros 2-1 in Budapest on Thursday (3 October).

With Micky van de Ven dropped to the bench and Radu Dragusin suspended following his red card against Qarabag, Ange Postecoglou was left with few choices for his centre-back partnership.

While new signing Gray can be excused for his shakiness in the backline, having played primarily at right-back and midfield, Romero absolutely cannot as one of the most experienced members of the squad.

Spurs eventually took the lead through Pape Matar Sarr, but Ferencvaros had multiple chances to strike past Guglielmo Vicario before netting in the 90th minute, and Romero must be held accountable.

Speaking live via TNT Sports on Thursday (3 October, 6:07pm), Glenn Hoddle said: “Romero’s been frightening me so far. During the game, he’s missed a header and missed a tackle.

“He needs to get his game on song. With the young man [Archie] Gray next to him, he needs to nurse him along and show him how it’s done by an experienced player.”

Cristian Romero issued warning during Ferencvaros v Tottenham

With Postecoglou fielding a much-changed side from the 3-0 win over Manchester United, starting Will Lankshear, Mikey Moore, Ben Davies, Lucas Bergvall and Gray, perfection was never guaranteed.

This was the moment Romero needed to step up and become a leader, though he certainly took a while to get going, leaving his 18-year-old partner stranded in defence.

Gray was forced to commit a foul, winning just 40 per cent of his ground duels, and was dispossessed on four separate occasions [FotMob], though his performance improved a lot after his position change.

Of course, the Argentine is known for his accuracy on the ball and that was no different, maintaining an impressive 93 per cent passing accuracy [FotMob], but that did little to settle nerves in Budapest.

Even completing 100 per cent of his dribbles and hitting the target with 100 per cent of his efforts on goal, Romero could not escape the lack of leadership at the back.

Romero won 33 per cent of his attempted tackles (1/3), was dribbled past once, won 67 per cent of his ground duels, and committed two fouls against the Hungarian side, with some of his stats only improving in the final moments of the match.

The 26-year-old should have been providing an example, but even as a player of his calibre, he has a number of aspects to work on, especially ranking in the bottom 25 percentile for clearances [FBref], and those weaknesses were clear in Hungary.

In other Tottenham news, one ace should be nowhere near the starting XI, Ange was “raging” at him v Manchester United.

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