Kieran Trippier has revealed that he found it quite hard to take when he was jeered by a section of Tottenham fans during his final season at the North London club.
Trippier spent four seasons at Spurs after joining the club from Burnley in the summer of 2015 and he developed into a top right-back during his time at the club, winning a place in the England team and even convincing the Lilywhites to move on Kyle Walker in 2018.
However, he had a significant drop-off in his final season at Spurs, with his defensive mistakes costing Mauricio Pochettino’s men on several occasions.
Trippier eventually joined Atletico Madrid, where he improved his defensive game under the tutelage of Diego Simeone, playing a valued part in the club’s title win in 2020-21.
The former Tottenham man has been one of the standout right-backs in the Premier League since joining Newcastle United 12 months ago.
He has now opened up on the challenges he faced during his final season at Spurs and revealed that his confidence was dented when he was booed by his own fans.
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The 32-year-old told the Vibe with Five YouTube channel: “When the World Cup, in 2018, I was in the media quite a lot. At the time, I didn’t know how to handle that maybe.
“In the first half of the season, I felt I did well, then in the second half, it was like a car crash. I was being questioned in the media. I was getting criticised. From when I was taking a corner at Tottenham. A section of my own fans booing me and stuff. And it’s not nice.
“At the moment, I didn’t know how to deal with it. I didn’t want to really speak to anybody about it. I felt embarrassed by speaking out. It was tough that, the second half of the season was tough, but I was getting picked every game by Pochettino still.
“It’s not like I wasn’t going into every game giving 100%, I was. I was giving silly mistakes away. I remember Marcus (Rashford) scored and we got beat at Wembley. I scored an own goal against Chelsea, it was a great finish.”
Spurs Web Opinion
While I can understand fans expressing their discontent with their team if there is a lack of effort (which is rarely the case), I do not think there is any other reason to boo your own players.
That only serves to further undermine their confidence rather than helping them turn their performance around.
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