Former Tottenham Hotspur player and talkSport pundit Jamie O’Hara insists Hugo Lloris and Cristian Romero should make themselves available for the club again in time for Boxing Day, despite playing in the World Cup final on Sunday evening.
Tottenham went into the international break with a fair bit of momentum behind them after a thrilling 4-3 win over Leeds United on November 12. Their next competitive fixture is against Brentford in the Premier League on December 26.
The international break saw 12 Tottenham players (including Joe Rodon, who is on loan at Rennes) head off to the World Cup. That number gradually whittled down as teams were knocked out of the tournament and sent packing from Qatar.
Meanwhile, the players who didn’t make it to the World Cup have been getting extra training sessions at the club and playing in mid-season friendlies. Similarly, some of the players who exited the World Cup early will be in line to play in the upcoming friendly against Nice on Wednesday evening.
As for Lloris and Romero, though, it’s unclear when they will be available to be selected by Antonio Conte after their heroics took their respective nations all the way to the World Cup final. According to O’Hara, they should be playing on Boxing Day.
When asked if Lloris will be back in action against Brentford, O’Hara said “I hope so, of course.
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“It’s the winter World Cup, at the end of the day, you’ve got to get straight back into it. I mean there will be players that miss Carabao Cup games, but you can’t miss a Premier League game. No, you’ve got to come back.
“This is massive now, Tottenham have got to try and get into the top four and into the Champions League, so I’d be expecting him back for sure.”
On Romero, O’Hara said: “It’s December 19, they’re playing on December 26. They’ve got plenty of time to have a couple days in Buenos Aries and live the life and do the open-top parade.
“But I’m expecting Romero to start against Brentford – we need him! It’s the winter World Cup, it’s not like it’s the end of the season.
“You’ve won the World Cup, you have your celebrations, and now it’s back to business. I’m expecting them to come back and be involved.
“I expect Romero to play, I expect Lloris to play and I expect us to get in the top four. We’ve got to go for it and get back on track. Before the World Cup Tottenham’s performances were shocking, so we’ll see what happens.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I’m inclined to agree with O’Hara on this one. These players are used to playing two or three times a week in the normal season, and the World Cup is no different to that kind of schedule. It’s not like Lloris is going to be celebrating, so he should be straight back in.
Romero, on the other hand, will want some time to enjoy his success, but he still has a good week until the Brentford game, and it’s not like he’s lacking in match sharpness now after seemingly recovering from his injury during the World Cup. Realistically, I don’t think he will play against Brentford, but he should.
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