Tottenham Hotspur suffered one of their most infuriating slip-ups to date under Ange Postecoglou as they threw away a two-goal lead at the break to lose 3-2 to Brighton.
Spurs looked magnificent in the first-half as goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison saw them head into half-time in cruise control. However, the second 45 minutes followed a completely different script, as Brighton came racing out the block leaving Spurs rattled.
As soon as Yankuba Minteh found the back of the net just after the restart, Tottenham didn’t have a clue how to react and 18 minutes later, they were behind.
The North London club’s defending was criminal and whilst many Tottenham fans are pointing fingers at Destiny Udogie’s poor performance, they have also spotted what Cristain Romero was doing during the defeat.
Cristian Romero’s unacceptable mistake vs Brighton
Romero played a key role in allowing Brighton to score their third goal as the defender was just caught balling-watching, allowing Danny Welbeck a free header.
The Argentine saw Spurs concede a similar goal on the opening day of the season against Leicester as he was again just a passenger and gave Jamie Vardy a free header to equalise.
He was Tottenham’s captain at the Amex Stadium, he should have been the one taking responsibility and organising the back-line to avoid the ball even coming in, let alone allowing the former Arsenal forward to win the header.
Micky van de Ven also had an off day against Brighton as the duo who looked so solid against Manchester United just folded under the pressure on the south coast.
Why Tottenham fans are fuming at Romero
Tottenham supporters were left fuming with Romero’s performance against Brighton and the way he was caught ball-watching for the third goal. After the match, they took to X to share their disappointment towards the 26-year-old.
One supporter pointed out: “Romero and Udogie didn’t cover themselves in glory. For the third goal, Welbeck runs off Romero with him standing still. The same thing happened in the first half but Welbeck missed.”
“Just watching it on MOTD, Romero had an absolute howler, played Rutter on for the second, with the whole defence in line then he’s five yards further back, and then lost Welbeck for the third, dreadful,” another fan claimed.
This supporter was seething with the whole of Tottenham’s back-line, stating: “We lost every duel. We didn’t put up a fight. Guys like Romero and Pedro Porro let Mitoma walk all over them. Van de Ven and Udogie on the other side of the pitch let Rutter and Welbeck make a fool of them. I’m angry.”
Going forward, Romero must learn to take responsibility for his own mistakes and understand that his role as captain is to organise the back-line. The defeat to Brighton was not on Postecoglou, but the back-line.
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