Cristian Stellini has been speaking about defender Cristian Romero’s on-pitch discipline and how they will work to improve it in the future without harming his game.
Romero is renowned for being a combative and highly aggressive centre-half which forms a huge part of his game and is one of the many reasons he is such an accomplished player, however, the same aggression can sometimes get the better of him.
That happened on Sunday evening when the 24-year-old was sent off against Manchester City after picking up two yellow cards. The first came for a sliding challenge on Erling Haaland early on in the game, and the second late on after brought he down Jack Grealish in his own half.
Thankfully, Spurs were able to see out the game and ensure they secured an important 1-0 win in north London to keep within touching distance of the top four.
The Argentina international will now miss the Premier League game against Leicester City on Saturday and was asked about the upcoming absence of the combative defender during this afternoon’s pre-match press conference at Hotspur Way.
He told Football.London: “If you get a yellow it’s because you did not get the ball. You have to work on the timing. He has to jump and tackle and win the ball. This is something we can work on. We will work on this aspect but keeping the same aggressiveness.”
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This is difficult since the last thing we want to do is take away Romero’s spark and passion and detract from what his game is all about. But, at the same time, we can’t have recklessness putting the whole team at risk in big games.
Spurs did well to hold on against City, and might not be as lucky next time something like that happens. I have faith that Conte and his backroom tem will sort this out.