‘It was difficult’ – Nuno gives verdict on Romero, Gil and Gollini debuts

Nuno Espirito Santo has insisted that all three of Tottenham’s summer signings put in a decent showing despite the team coming away with a disappointing result against Pacos De Ferriera last night.

Pierluigi Gollini, Bryan Gil and Cristian Romero made their first competitive starts for the club yesterday evening, with academy starlets, Dane Scarlett and Nile John also making the eleven.

The performance was certainly not what the Spurs boss would have hoped for as the team looked disjointed both in and out of possession and struggled to create any clear cut chances.

The home side’s goal came just before half-time, with Romero not on the same page as his fellow defenders as Lucas Silva beat the offside trap and slotted the ball expertly past Gollini.

The goalkeeper barely had anything to do for the rest of the encounter as the Portuguese side were content to sit deep and hold on to their lead.

Gil looked lively in the first 20 minutes but he struggled to get into the game in the second half when space was hard to come by in the final third.

When asked what he thought of the performances from Pierluigi Gollini, Nuno said (via Charlie Eccleshare): “I think Pier had a good game.

“He was stable and in the action, he had to do he did well. With the goal, it was a one vs one situation and it was difficult.”

On Romero, he added: “Romero he played a good game, intense and this is what we want from our defenders, to be strong in duels.

And on Gil: “I think Bryan started well, but that’s my responsibility. I think we still have to find the right position for him and give him exact tasks.

“In this game, he changed two times his position and it’s not the best way to go to improve a player.”

Spurs Web Opinion

It was not surprising that the team looked disjointed given that many of these players had hardly played with one another.

One also has to take into account that the likes of Romero may not be fully up to speed for a couple of weeks after having returned to training only recently.

So one should not read too much into either individual performances or the collective display.

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