New boy Cristian Romero comes in for criticism as Spurs fall to first defeat under Nuno

Aminat AigbeAugust 19, 2021

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Tottenham Hotspur’s surprise defeat at the hands of Pacos de Ferreira has seen summer arrival Cristian Romero singled out for some heavy criticism online.

Silva makes the difference

Nuno Espirito Santo’s men were back in action a short time ago.

Spurs made the trip to Porto, for a meeting with Primeira Liga outfit Pacos de Ferreira in the qualifying rounds for the inaugural Europa Conference League.

The Lilywhites no doubt entered proceedings with their tails up, on the back of a shock season opening win over Manchester City.

When all was said and done on Thursday evening, though, Nuno and co. were brought back down to earth with a thud.

An altogether underwhelming display, during which the visitors failed to garner a single shot on target, ultimately saw Pacos emerge on the right side of a 1-0 final scoreline.

The game’s solitary goal arrived on the stroke of the interval, when a defence-splitting pass from Nuno Santos sent Lucas Silva clear to slot home confidently at the near post:

Spurs fall behind just before the break! 😮

Paços de Ferreira catch Tottenham on the counter as Lucas Silva finds the back of the net 😬 pic.twitter.com/SAwauf6okZ

— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) August 19, 2021

Romero targeted

Tottenham, in turn, have it all to do when the two sides face off for the return leg in North London.

In truth, though, the Lilywhites’ defeat tonight came almost wholly as a result of rotation on the part of their new boss.

Nuno opted to completely overhaul his starting XI to face Pacos, leaving the vast majority of his first-team squad at home, whilst handing opportunities to the likes of Ryan Sessegnon, Matt Doherty and youngster Dane Scarlett.

Also in from the off, meanwhile, were the club’s three summer reinforcements, in the form of Pierluigi Gollini, Bryan Gil and Cristian Romero.

Widespread excitement has of course surrounded the arrival of the latter, fresh off the back of both a starring season in Italy with Atalanta, and a Copa America triumph with Argentina.

To say that Romero’s debut outing for his new club proved disappointing, though, would be something of an understatement.

The 23-year-old, evidently still some way off match sharpness, endured a torrid evening at the heart of Spurs’ backline, struggling to deal with the threat posed by Pacos throughout.

And the Tottenham faithful, in turn, have not been at all shy in taking aim at their latest big-money addition, with some of the Twitter highlights showcased below:

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FT: Pacos de Ferreira 1 #THFC 0. Really poor from Spurs who created nothing all game + couldn’t sustain pressure when 1-0 down

Nuno may need to call on some of the cavalry next week – depending on how bothered he is about the competition

Rough full debut for Romero, Gil bright

— Charlie Eccleshare (@CDEccleshare) August 19, 2021

Have we still got the receipt for Romero?

— SMWRINLDN (@smwrinldn) August 19, 2021

Sess and Gil were good, Romero was shite https://t.co/obRKbq3313

— Spurs + England = depression (@AARONPTHFC) August 19, 2021

Is it too late to get the money back for Romero?

— Tom McQuillin (@tommcquillin1) August 19, 2021

Twice Romero failed to win the ball he went for close to the half way line and then just walked back as play went on. Shocking attitude.

— Rohit Karna (@DeleTubbies20) August 19, 2021

Romero is gonna have a mare in the Premier league

— richard mcraye (@RichardMcraye) August 19, 2021

Just goes to show our ‘squad’ is poor in terms of quality. Worrying debut too from Romero let’s hope he was just rusty🙏

— Lewis-Joe Michaels (@LewisYiddo) August 19, 2021

People aren’t going to like this myself included but this has been a poor debut from Romero. Hes looked well off the pace. Gotto judge everyone the same.

— Choffspurs 🇮🇹 (@Choffspurss) August 19, 2021