Lee Dixon has criticised Tottenham defender Clement Lenglet for his defending in the build-up to Newcastle’s second goal in North London yesterday.
Despite starting the match in a positive fashion and carving out a few good chances in front of goal, Tottenham hit the self-destruct button to hand the Magpies the upper hand.
First, Hugo Lloris failed to clear the ball when sprinting off his line, although it did look like a foul on the Frenchman by Callum Wilson, with the Newcastle striker chipping into an empty net.
Shortly after, Miguel Almiron picked the ball up down Tottenham’s left and danced past an upright Lenglet as if he wasn’t there, before squeezing the ball under Lloris from a tight angle.
Lenglet is currently on loan from Barcelona, where he has his fair share of defensive errors, and has been rotated with Ben Davies so far this year under Antonio Conte.
Dixon said (Optus Sport 23/10, 5:26): “Lenglet, if you’re standing still when a player’s running at you at pace, you might as well take yourself off the pitch. You’ve got no chance at catching him there. It’s a comedy of errors.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
It appears at the moment that Conte has a choice on the left side of defence. Ben Davies is stronger defensively but sometimes lacks quality on the ball. While Lenglet appears to have a defensive mishap in him, but offers a lot of quality on the ball. Not ideal.
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