Jamie O’Hara has made a bullish claim about how good Tottenham defender Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven are, but Jason Cundy is having none of it.
The importance of Van de Ven and Romero to Tottenham was demonstrated last season by how sharply the results fell when the duo were out injured.
Towards the end of the season, Ange Postecoglou decided to play the Argentine and the Dutchman exclusively in the Europa League, and the duo were a key reason why the Lilywhites got their hands on the trophy.
The pair have played all four Premier League games so far this campaign, with Thomas Frank’s men conceding just one goal, and that has convinced O’Hara to make a big statement about the Spurs centre-back partnership.
Jamie O’Hara says Tottenham have the best centre-back partnership in the world
O’Hara has said on talkSPORT that Romero and Van de Ven are the best centre-back partnerships in world football.
The former Tottenham midfielder insisted that the duo would start for almost all of the big clubs, including Real Madrid, and suggested that only Virgil van Dijk is better than them.
However, Jason Cundy vehemently disagreed, opining that Lewi Colwell is a better centre-back than Van de Ven.
Why centre-backs cannot be judged only on goals conceded
Even leaving aside the fact that Romero and Van de Ven were injured for large parts of last season, it is not completely fair to hold them responsible for Tottenham’s defensive record.
A team’s defensive structure is more important than the personnel, and under Postecoglou, Spurs were extremely open.
The new Tottenham boss has a different approach, with Frank making it clear that clean sheets are his number one priority. Under the Dane’s defensive structure, the Spurs centre-backs look impenetrable.
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