Player Watch Player Watch: Cristian Romero

[hughy]

Hate the negative comments around this guy, he is absoloute class, the way some of you are talking he is the second coming of Ben Thatcher.

He is a beast and a hell of a footballer I believe he is the second best CB I've seen at the club since 1990 only behind Ledley (and I loved Toby).

He's not snidey and this season has not been a liability, the red against Chelsea he was clearly trying to block the ball and just missed timed it. Deserved a red but it was a bit unlucky, I'd even argue the one against Wilson wasn't that bad and a bit of a slip. Even so, he's out there giving it all and he's actually calmed down this season. He's recieved a few cards but there's not been anything as bad as Son against Gomes (example).

He's strong in a tackle, but so are the majority of world class defenders. You build your team around this guy. Future captain, and he's going to be an absoloute legend.

Being "strong in the tackle" can only be used to defend him until he seriously injures someone. When that time inevitably comes I'd love to know what everyone's stance will be.

He was incredibly lucky the other day. He only slips because of the way he lunges forward, no other defender in our team does that. Even Emerson's red against Arsenal last year was less dangerous than Romero's at the weekend.

He was very lucky, and I'm still amazed he wasn't shown a red card. He needs to sort that side of his game out before A) he injures someone, and B) he starts spending more time in the stands than on the pitch.

 

[dontcallme]

I have a totally diff pov on this
The issue is not with Romero, the issue is with squad depth. Most of you berating him is because you couldn’t bear another 4 matches of Royal Davies, if it’s Vdv + Laporte (for eg), people would be much less concerned

and the thing abt Romero (and S Americans generally) is that they won’t let you forget if you have been a dick or rough on one of their teammates, in the current match or from years ago, they’d come for you.

for too long we have lived with the “soft” tag, and I quite relish the current vibe that opponents / pundits fear us. Old school in the sense of having a Roy Keane or Vieira on the pitch for us.

You’d get the red cards n suspensions now and then, but the psychological effect (won before even stepping on the pitch) is priceless.

So no, never sell Romero. Instead, buy another CB. Build what Ange wants, and watch us dominate teams and start winning honours!!

Mostly agree. Definitely agree that standing up for our team mates is important for us psychologically.

I just think on this occasion, given that we'd already won it was a reckless tackle that if punished with a red was detrimental to us.

Aggression can be great when used correctly and at the right times.

Romero sometimes does it out of anger or revenge, which isn't always the best thing.

But we shouldn't go OTT and think we need to replace him. He's been brilliant this season.

 

[RuskyM]

Did he slip or was he getting 'justice', because it can't be both.

I do love him but shit like Sunday, the tackle on Enzo and the Cucurella hair pull could (and have) led to suspensions and the team being worse. Is it Cuti's fault that we've not got any backup? No, but he's vice-captain now and he needs to pick his battles. I don't want him not to be aggressive, I just want it to not cost us games as it already has this season.

 

[Tucker]

I have a totally diff pov on this
The issue is not with Romero, the issue is with squad depth. Most of you berating him is because you couldn’t bear another 4 matches of Royal Davies, if it’s Vdv + Laporte (for eg), people would be much less concerned

and the thing abt Romero (and S Americans generally) is that they won’t let you forget if you have been a dick or rough on one of their teammates, in the current match or from years ago, they’d come for you.

for too long we have lived with the “soft” tag, and I quite relish the current vibe that opponents / pundits fear us. Old school in the sense of having a Roy Keane or Vieira on the pitch for us.

You’d get the red cards n suspensions now and then, but the psychological effect (won before even stepping on the pitch) is priceless.

So no, never sell Romero. Instead, buy another CB. Build what Ange wants, and watch us dominate teams and start winning honours!!

But this is a little like saying, “you wouldn’t be annoyed with your partner gambling away the contents of the joint account if you didn’t need it to pay the mortgage.”

The problem is we don’t have Laporte to come in, that’s the reality. Should we have a deeper squad? Yes. do we? No. Cuti would be well aware of those realities, and aware of the consequences if he was banned for the next four games.

His aggression is part of who he is, but he doesn’t need to make stupid tackles like the one he made. Not when we are 3-0 up in a game that’s done as a competition. It was brain dead and very nearly left us in the shit again.

I’m almost certain we’d be top now if he’d kept his head against Chelsea.

 

[newbie]

Being "strong in the tackle" can only be used to defend him until he seriously injures someone. When that time inevitably comes I'd love to know what everyone's stance will be.

He was incredibly lucky the other day. He only slips because of the way he lunges forward, no other defender in our team does that. Even Emerson's red against Arsenal last year was less dangerous than Romero's at the weekend.

He was very lucky, and I'm still amazed he wasn't shown a red card. He needs to sort that side of his game out before A) he injures someone, and B) he starts spending more time in the stands than on the pitch.

Spot on
His unbelievable good, he is also a massive liability till he learn!

 

[newbie]

But this is a little like saying, “you wouldn’t be annoyed with your partner gambling away the contents of the joint account if you didn’t need it to pay the mortgage.”

The problem is we don’t have Laporte to come in, that’s the reality. Should we have a deeper squad? Yes. do we? No. Cuti would be well aware of those realities, and aware of the consequences if he was banned for the next four games.

His aggression is part of who he is, but he doesn’t need to make stupid tackles like the one he made. Not when we are 3-0 up in a game that’s done as a competition. It was brain dead and very nearly left us in the shit again.

I’m almost certain we’d be top now if he’d kept his head against Chelsea.

He lost his head when he ran up the field, the crowd behind us where calling the sending off way before it happened you could see the red mist.

If the 2 nd goal had stood or CR had kept his cool we would have won, you could see the how lost the Chelsea players they didn’t know what to do.

 

[Japhet]

Ref didn't think it was a red
VAR didn't think it was a red
Ex ref didn't think it was a red

It wasn't a red, yet so many still going on that it should have been will stick to what the ref, var and ex ref all agreed on, on this one.

Whether it was red or not isn't really the issue. The issue is that he's just come back from a suspension that has cost us a huge amount. We've got no decent cover at CB and yet he still launches into a tackle like that. It's idiot behaviour. I'll be so fucking relieved when we sort out some decent CB cover.

 

[djhotspur]

Which makes it look a lot worse than it actually was imo. If he had stayed on his feet and not slipped, much like Trippier’s tackle on Deki a little while after, no one would have batted an eyelid.
Yellow card move on. People buy into the Gary Neville Oooooh that’s not good rubbish.
Far worse tackles every week.

Yeah and they said nothing of the two newcastle players that slipped and two footed our players, or Joelinton forearm into Porro.

Even in the Chelsea game, Reece James looks at our players and elbows him on purpose for a yellow, in the villa game a clear elbow on Gil, Arsenal game Nketiah on Vicario, plus then cash on bentacur. Theres countless examples of us not getting given the decisions

 

[Rosco1984]

He actually slipped which is why his left follows through on the opponent. It happened to many in the 2 d half today. It happens to Romero and the knives come out

The players clearly had it in for Wilson after his comments on his podcast about Richy. He saw an opportunity and did him it was pre-meditated and stupid as much as I do like that you could see our team had Richarlison's back and were clearly getting in Wilsons face like Vicario... Even better that it rattled him so much he ended up looking like a hypocrite in the press.

 

[Rosco1984]

I think the tackle was a bit unintentional. Yes he caught the foot but it's also when the Newcastle player moves the foot it makes him slip and go into him more.

Going by tackles since he got his red, yellow was at most he deserved.

the tackle was 100% intentional wilson had already lost the ball before Romero even took off he just wanted to do him and saw an easy opportunity.

 

[spursyido1]

I think most people will see what they want to see from it by now, but when I watched it back seeing the angle where Wilson rolls the ball away, then Romero slips. You can see why it wasn't given as a red or seen as reckless.

No doubt he needs to not keep putting himself in these positions but I can see the reason he didnt go from that angle.

 

[dontcallme]

the tackle was 100% intentional wilson had already lost the ball before Romero even took off he just wanted to do him and saw an easy opportunity.

Not sure how anyone can judge this situation with so much certainty.

 

[Wig]

Romero was fortunate to escape a red card, not necessarily on the evidence of the tackle in isolation, but more so just because all eyes are firmly on him with the preconception that he is reckless. Honestly I think if it were any other defender making that tackle, a yellow card would have been given and no one would give it another thought.

There is so much noise about Romero and his tackling now - from Neville groaning "Ohhhh" every time Romero lunges in, ball won or not, to pundits analysing tackles post-game saying he's endangering opponents and should have been sent off - that he needs to find a way to be a bit more careful going forward. He's part of the leadership group now and he needs to show that leadership on the pitch, not sitting in the stands suspended for another 4 games.

 

[mil1lion]

Did he slip or was he getting 'justice', because it can't be both.

I do love him but shit like Sunday, the tackle on Enzo and the Cucurella hair pull could (and have) led to suspensions and the team being worse. Is it Cuti's fault that we've not got any backup? No, but he's vice-captain now and he needs to pick his battles. I don't want him not to be aggressive, I just want it to not cost us games as it already has this season.

I thought it was a bit of both tbh. He went in hard with his right foot and the aggression causes his left foot to lose grip and the foot follows through. I don't think he necessarily means to follow through with his left which is what would have been considered a red card. He's just done one where he goes full on through the tackle but on a wet surface he's always going to follow through. In all honesty it's no worse than the Udogie one against Chelsea where he's just going 100% force into the tackle.

 

[easley91]

He reminds me of this Italian fella I play 7 a side with. Such a warm guy, is sure to talk to everyone and make them feel part of the group, always making sure the game is played fairly. Then he'll have one moment where he has a complete strop and storms off. Bizzare.

Does he have an 11-year-old?

 

[onthetwo]

The best defenders stay on their feet especially in this day and age so IMHO, until he learns that technique there will always be a caveat to his inclusion in any discussion about 'World Class' defenders..

 

[bubble07]

It should have been a red and he knew it as soon as he done it.

 

[Yid-ol]

Whether it was red or not isn't really the issue. The issue is that he's just come back from a suspension that has cost us a huge amount. We've got no decent cover at CB and yet he still launches into a tackle like that. It's idiot behaviour. I'll be so fucking relieved when we sort out some decent CB cover.

100% agree, but it's been made the issue as so many saying it's 100% red. I said the same that he needs to control himself in certain situations. The lack of depth isn't his fault, that's down to levy or someone in charge not bringing in someone better than what we have.

Hopefully early January and we sort this issue anyway.

 

[smallsnc]

But the red card he got, he stayed in his feet, got the ball and cleared it but his follow through landed on the guys leg.

The one last night he stayed on his feet, caught the guy on the ankle and then lost balance only when the Newcastle player moved his foot.

I agree with what you say, but the 2 things that he's being criticized over, he did stay in his feet.

The one against Newcastle, he was lunging. May have been on his feet at the time but was off balance and not really in control. He should have, moved his feet and get goal side of the play instead of taking the risk.

 

[Cochraam]

Romero was fortunate to escape a red card, not necessarily on the evidence of the tackle in isolation, but more so just because all eyes are firmly on him with the preconception that he is reckless. Honestly I think if it were any other defender making that tackle, a yellow card would have been given and no one would give it another thought.

There is so much noise about Romero and his tackling now - from Neville groaning "Ohhhh" every time Romero lunges in, ball won or not, to pundits analysing tackles post-game saying he's endangering opponents and should have been sent off - that he needs to find a way to be a bit more careful going forward. He's part of the leadership group now and he needs to show that leadership on the pitch, not sitting in the stands suspended for another 4 games.

I agree the reputational effects are important and mean he will be under increased scrutiny going forward. I guess it didn't hurt him this time, but I would worry that a reputation as a dangerous player will mean he'll see more cards than a player with a cleaner reputation. I'm reminded of Bale after he got his reputation as a diver; I distinctly remember him getting a yellow for diving when the replay showed he was definitely fouled and I think he had a few other penalties waived away that I think were pretty clear.