Tottenham Hotspur defender Cristian Romero appears to have re-evaluated his game and is taking more responsibility not to foul his opponents, according to Garth Crooks.
The World Cup winner has forged a reputation as a tough tackling centre half who often finds himself in trouble with the referee, having picked up four dismissals during his time at Tottenham in 87 appearances across all competitions (transfermarkt).
Tottenham head coach Ange Postecoglou wasted little time in appointing Romero along with James Maddison in a vice-captaincy role to support Heung-min Son in the wake of Harry Kane’s departure to Bayern Munich.
Romero has forged a solid partnership alongside summer signing Micky van de Ven in Tottenham’s first team squad.
Van de Ven’s pace has allowed Romero to take a higher position at times and join in with some attacking phases with the Argentine having enjoyed a solid performance in Tottenham’s 4-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.
Cristian Romero is keeping his cool more often
The former Spurs player was particularly impressed with how Romero stepped up when van de Ven was forced off with a hamstring issue and performed well alongside January signing Radu Dragusin.
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Crooks wrote in his article for BBC Sport: “Last week it was Micky van de Ven who made my team selection, but this week it is Romero and for very good reason. The Argentina international was the coolest defender on the pitch and needed to be as it got a little heated at Villa Park. Romero became more prominent in the second half due to the departure of the impressive Van de Ven, who suffered an injury but was performing brilliantly at the time.
“Once Van de Ven left the pitch Romero took control and looked immense. Regular readers will know how furious I was with Romero because the defender was repeatedly getting sent off quite needlessly. However, he seems to have re-evaluated his game and realised that really good defenders don’t have to kick their opponents – just defend.”
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Romero certainly does seem to be keeping his cool on a more regular basis this season compared to previous campaigns.
The defender will also know there is little opportunity for the defensive dark arts following the introduction of VAR where every incident has the potential to be scrutinised and punished.
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