View: Tottenham talisman proves talk is cheap after nightmare vs Nottingham Forest

Cristian Romero was once again all talk and no action after Tottenham Hotspur‘s dismal 3-0 defeat by Nottingham Forest on Sunday afternoon.

Captain Romero delivered a rallying cry to supporters ahead of the match, looking to build on the unity restored by the mid-week victory against Atletico Madrid.

However, that match proved to be a false dawn, with Spurs going down with barely a whimper at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to remain just a point above the bottom three.

Romero was spotted slumping to the ground after the full-time whistle, but did not shirk his post-match media duties, declaring the remaining eight games are all cup “finals”.

But talk is cheap, especially after Spurs’ humiliation against their relegation rivals.

Tottenham badly need action, not words

Supporters may well have rolled their eyes after watching Romero’s interview, in which he described Forest’s second goal, scored by Spurs target Morgan Gibbs-White, as stupid.

Pulling no punches, he said: “When we played here against Atletico Madrid, fantastic game.

“The first half [against Forest] was good but in the second half we lose confidence, lose the ball, concede another stupid goal. This is difficult but now it is finished.”

Whether or not it was intentional, Romero sounded like he was absolving himself of blame for the goal. In reality, he was glaringly culpable, perhaps more so than others.

One X account shared a close-up shot of the defender’s role in the lead-up to Gibbs-White’s finish, revealing he had slowly jogged back as the ball was fired across the face of goal.

“That’s not playing for the badge,” they insisted – a truly damning indictment.

But having watched on as Forest put the game out of sight, Romero then looked to circle the wagons again, vowing to give his all to spare Spurs from the Championship.

“I promise (to) put 200 per cent in every one and for me it is not easy, but we have to stay all together,” he added. “It’s a bad day, yeah, but we will go again.”

Only time will tell if these new words match up to reality.

Bizarrely, his slack tracking back aside, Romero’s statistics were steady.

According to Sofascore, he won both of his attempted tackles, made four clearances and also recovered on six occasions, preventing the damage from getting any worse.

Promisingly, the combative ace won five of his seven ground duels, helping to somewhat control Igor Jesus, and came out on top in six of his seven duels in the air.

Regardless, Tottenham could sell Romero or Micky van de Ven soon to free up room for Luka Vuskovic, who has been outstanding on loan at Bundesliga side Hamburg.

Spurs should sell Romero

Tottenham have every right to expect more from their skipper. He has put in too many abject performances this season, made worse by the fact that he is openly angling to leave.

Despite being given a lucrative new contract and the captain’s armband last summer, Romero has done nothing to play down fervent speculation around his future.

While matchgoers have taken well to his stinging broadsides at the club’s hierarchy, his concession that he would “see later” about an imminent switch does not help matters.

Spurs simply cannot have such a crucial player flirting with the idea of abandoning ship during a make-or-break period of the campaign, so Igor Tudor must put his foot down.

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