View: Pundit right to label Tottenham star 'weak' as proved vs Sunderland

Pat Nevin has described Tottenham Hotspur forward Richarlison as “weak”, and his performance against Sunderland didn’t disprove that claim.

If he wasn’t before, Roberto De Zerbi will know be totally aware of the size of the task he’s facing as Tottenham head coach.

Spurs travelled to Sunderland on Sunday afternoon hoping that a new era would finally bring an end to their 13-game winless run in the Premier League. Now it’s 14.

The wait goes on for a league victory in the calendar year of 2026, as it does for someone in a Tottenham shirt to step up and be the hero this football club desperately needs.

Alas, it was just more of the same for Tottenham against Sunderland, and the Lilywhites players must again be prepared to take heavy criticism for their showing on Wearside.

What did Pat Nevin say about Richarlison?

Richarlison could play a big role in Tottenham’s run-in, as his nine goals leave him comfortably leading the scoring charts for Spurs this season, as well as his penchant for late and dramatic strikes.

The 28-year-old is a 54-time Brazilian international, and has enjoyed numerous seasons scoring goals at Premier League level across his time with Watford, Everton and Tottenham respectively.

He’s also been on an improved run of form in recent weeks, scoring against Liverpool and Fulham, as well as bagging an assist against Atletico Madrid in the month of March.

Unfortunately though, he was not at his best against Sunderland, with pretty much all of his three shots on goal being tame and easy efforts for Robin Roefs to deal with.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live via BBC Sport on Richarlison’s performance against Sunderland, former Chelsea and Everton star (among others) Nevin delivered a mixed assessment of the Tottenham stars’ attributes.

“Richarlison has worked so hard there but you knew he’s going to get caught. And he runs out of legs,” the Scotsman said.

“He is a player that gives everything at every single moment, but sometimes he just looks a bit weak when it comes to the last moments.”

Was Nevin fair in his Richarlison assessment vs Sunderland?

It was a very disappointing day at the office once again for Tottenham against Sunderland, with very few, if any, able to come away from the game with much credit for their individual performance.

However, Richarlison was one of the standout players on the pitch for Spurs, but not for the right reasons, as he squandered numerous openings and was bullied out of the game.

As per Sofascore, he made zero tackle attempts, made zero interceptions, won just two of his seven ground duels and gave possession away 16 times against the Black Cats.

He also took just 31 touches in the match, carried the ball only four times, had a passing accuracy of 38 per cent and was inaccurate with his single cross attempt respectively.

So, Nevin’s assessment of Richarlison being “weak” in the moments that matter most was a fair one to make, as his stats from the Sunderland defeat provide significant evidence that this was indeed the case with him on Sunday.

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