‘Weak’… Released VAR audio shares referee’s comments, suggests £17m Tottenham man wasn’t strong enough

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Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was slammed as weak by VAR during the recent clash against Everton.

We were forced to share the points at Goodison Park after the Toffees came from behind twice to earn themselves a point late on.

However, it is their first goal which has received some scrutiny with Guglielmo Vicario coming under pressure from a corner which was checked by VAR.

Vicario targeted from corners

The FA Cup defeat to Manchester City at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium saw the start of the pushing in the box on our Italian goalkeeper.

And it is something which Everton made very clear as a tactic from corners with Jack Harrison seen backing into our £17m goalkeeper trying to put him off.

The tactic worked as Harrison was able to get a goal out of it, but it did go through a VAR check first, with the audio having recently been released.

On VAR duty that day was the experienced Michael Oliver, he said: ‘I’m looking at the keeper first, Stands his ground, keeper’s weak agree with that. Keeper plays the ball. Right OK, so I’m happy with the challenge on the keeper.’

VAR shut down Vicario target

There have certainly been some examples where the Italian may not have been strong enough from the corners when coming under pressure from the opposition.

However, there have also been times when he has been fouled and nothing has been called.

It is definitely possible that we are in danger of the 27-year-old forming a bit of a reputation with referees when they are already saying things like he was too ‘weak’ from this corner.

Opposition teams are clearly targeting the Italian in his first season in the Premier League, despite him being largely excellent thus far.

His arrival as Hugo Lloris’ successor has been somewhat surprising at how quickly he has got up to scratch in England.

But we have to remember that he is still in his first season and there was always going to be some moments where he was seen as adapting to a new league.

We have had little to complain about with Vicario and he is showing his potential to be our number one for years to come.