Tottenham’s dire home form continued on Sunday afternoon.
Despite taking an early lead, Spurs threw away another victory in front of their fans. They’ve now won just three of their last 18 league games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. One of those came against an awful Southampton side. Another against promoted Burnley. It’s a far cry from their unbeaten final season at White Hart Lane.
In this article, we’ll cover:
A 2-1 loss to Aston Villa saw Spurs miss a golden chance to go second. The defeat further served to highlight two key aspects of this current Spurs side. Firstly, the absolute disaster that is the Joao Palhinha-Rodrigo Bentancur midfield partnership. The duo are too defensive minded to start home games. Xavi Simons struggled with the pair at the base of the 4-2-3-1 setup.
Palhinha didn’t make a pass to the Dutchman on Sunday. Bentancur made just two. For context, the former made eight passes to Bentancur and Kevin Danso. The latter passed to the Austrian 18 times.
Secondly, the loss magnified the importance of Cristian Romero to Thomas Frank’s side. Frank was unfortunate to lose his captain during the warm up ahead of the Villa welcome. “He had a minor issue with his adductor. I expect it to be a minor thing,” the Dane said after the defeat.
Romero’s importance in build up
Not only is the Argentine a world class defender, but he’s vital to Spurs in their build up play. Frank’s side are a team that rely on line-breaking passes through the middle to help transition quickly. The issue is that none of the midfielders are able to play these passes. It’s where Romero comes to the fore. He’s essentially acting as a quarter-back for Spurs.
Excluding goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, only Pedro Porro (27) has completed more long balls than Romero (18) of all Spurs players in the Premier League this season. The Spaniard (167) is the only one to have attempted more forward passes (133).
Frank’s Spurs rank seventh for possession (55.3%) in the Premier League this season. They don’t dominate in the way Liverpool or Manchester City, meaning they need to get the ball upfield at the earliest possible opportunity. However, Spurs lacked the incisiveness without Romero against Villa.
Nominally he would have bypassed the duo of Bentancur and Palhinha as he sought to turn defence into attack. Romero’s absence, though, significantly hurt Spurs in the final third. Simons, making his first home start in the number 10 role, cast an isolated figure in attack. It’s little wonder he struggled to make a positive impact up until his 79th minute withdrawal.
Romero’s deputy Danso doesn’t boast the same ability to get the ball forward, and this was evident. None of his passes went to Simons, while 21 went to Porro as the former Lens man looked to the right-back to set the team on the frontfoot. It was so easy to read for Villa, who were able to rapidly regroup when Spurs won the ball at the back.
Reading of the game key
Furthermore, Spurs missed Romero’s forward thinking defensive approach. The Argentina international excels at stepping forward from the back. The centre-back ranks top for interceptions (11) of Spurs players. This means Romero is able to step out from defence to cut out attacks and quickly transition. By comparison, Danso has made two interceptions, though both came on Sunday.
This is not a dig at Danso by any stretch. Yet, it’s evident that Spurs are a weaker team without Romero in the side. This has been clear for years now, but more so under a more pragmatic manager. Spurs just do not have a player to play the line breaking passes when their captain is absent. Indeed, it was a similar story in the 2-2 draw with Bodoe/Glimt last month, a game Romero also missed.
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And with question marks over his availability for the Champions League meeting with Monaco in midweek, Spurs will hope the issue that saw him sit out the Villa loss is nothing serious. Frank has a huge few weeks ahead of him following Wednesday’s tie with the French side. They play Everton at the weekend, Newcastle next week and welcome Chelsea and Manchester United before the November international break.
Spurs fans were already aware of Romero’s talent, and his decision to sign a new deal was huge. There is an argument to be made he’s the best centre-back in the Premier League. His importance to this Spurs side was further highlighted by his absence in yet another home defeat. They’ll need him back as soon as possible to quickly bounce back from Sunday’s blip.