Pundit spotted one Spurs star who made Mason shout and shake his head this week

Stephen Warnock has blasted Cristian Romero for his lack of discipline, insisting that the centre-back has mentally switched off since winning the World Cup with Argentina last year.

While the likes of Eric Dier and Davinson Sanchez have come in for scathing criticism from the Tottenham fan base for a long time, Romero had largely been spared that kind of treatment until recently.

Cristian Romero
(Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

However, that is now evidently starting to change as the Argentine continues to make rash errors and get caught out of position.

The 24-year-old brought down Liverpool’s Caody Gapko with a clumsy challenge in the box on Sunday, leaving the referee with no choice but the point to the spot.

Warnock revealed that he noticed on another occasion during the game at Anfield that Romero had completely vacated his position at the back and had wandered high up the pitch, leaving Ryan Mason exasperated.

The pundit suggested that it was evidence that the Argentine’s head is elsewhere at the moment.

The former Aston Villa defender told The Football Show on Sky Sports (04/05/23): “Where I was sat, I was watching Ryan Mason. There was a point in the first half where Romero is a centre-forward.

“He’s your right-sided of a three centre-back. He’s in the centre-forward position. I am watching thinking ‘What’s he going to do here?’ He’s screaming at him to get back in position. And he literally walked through the middle of the pitch.

“Ryan Mason stood, he put his hands on his hips and he just looked at the floor then shook his head. These are things you can’t legislate for in training, then take it into a game. 

“How can you do that in a Premier League game? Just wonder up front as a centre-back? It’s totally unacceptable. I just can’t believe it.

“He is the best of a bad bunch and, as of this moment, he isn’t great himself. Since he won the World Cup, it seems as though he has downed tools and he is in holiday mode.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Romero certainly deserves criticism as he has been poor right from the start of the season. However, I am sure it is fair to criticise him for making a run high up the pitch.

Teams who employ a back three these days sometimes use one of their centre-backs as a spare man while building attacks – something we saw from Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United and Graham Potter’s Brighton quite regularly.

In fact, even under Conte, we sometimes saw Davies being given the freedom to make those runs when we were playing against a low block at home.

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