easley91
Well-Known Member
- Jan 27, 2011
- 19,054
- 54,719
Does that make Pape Grogu?
Player Watch Player Watch: Cristian Romero
- Thread starter THFCSPURS19
- Start date
mark87
Well-Known Member
- Nov 29, 2004
- 36,241
- 115,164
I'd have thought Soloman due to height.
easley91
Well-Known Member
- Jan 27, 2011
- 19,054
- 54,719
I was thinking the baby brother aspect that Pape seems to have garnered in the squad.
spurs mental
Well-Known Member
- Mar 10, 2007
- 25,317
- 49,978
Who are you and what have you done with Cristian Romero?
npearl4spurs
Believing Member
- Sep 9, 2014
- 4,251
- 11,118
There’s a line between being fired up and hard and celebrating and being an arrogant dick. Romero knows where the line is and I love him for it
Chinaspur
Well-Known Member
- Oct 1, 2005
- 2,917
- 5,298
Nice article in the Athletic:
In the 94th minute of Tottenham’s win against Sheffield United, Cristian Romero did something that would ordinarily have been entirely unremarkable. He blocked Cameron Archer to stop a counter-attack and was penalised for a foul.
As anyone who has watched Romero since he joined Spurs two years ago will know, fouls and cards are a staple of his game.
Except this season, they haven’t been, and that foul on Archer was, incredibly, his first of the season. This from a player who, in his previous 21 club matches, received 11 yellow and two red cards. One of the bookings in that sequence was against Sunday’s opponents Arsenal, and he was lucky not to get a second one in that game for a foul on Granit Xhakathat went unpunished. Looking back, it felt symptomatic of a player who in the second half of last season often seemed a step slow. His first season saw him commit a foul at a rate of 1.4 per game, which went up to 1.6 last year. It’s a very small sample size, but that figure is down to 0.2 for this campaign.
The lack of fouls is indicative of where Romero is compared to last year and the one before that. He is still extremely aggressive but he is that bit less impetuous. Tottenham’s improved structure and greater dominance of the ball also mean he is less often exposed and required to make desperate tackles.
Last season, Romero had a bad run of bookings (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
Off the pitch, Romero is said to have noticeably matured since Ange Postecoglou gave him the vice-captaincy. It was a decision that raised a few eyebrows, certainly externally, and there’s an acknowledgement from some at Spurs that it was a bit like giving responsibility to the naughty kid at school in the hope it’ll bring out the best in them.
So far, the decision has very much had the desired effect — on the pitch and off it. Against Sheffield United, soon after he had committed that first foul of the season, Romero was the peacemaker between Emerson Royal and Tom Davies as tempers boiled over. Just before, Romero had shown his passionate side, celebrating a clearance like a goal and then chest-bumping Royal.
No one wants to totally neuter the impetuous side of Romero’s game, and there was a fondness in Postecoglou’s voice when he said last week, “I’ll tell you what, I wouldn’t like to play against him. Most of the boys don’t like to train against him.”
Much of the explanation for why Romero is thriving this season compared to last can be found in those Postecoglou quotes. Romero now has a manager who loves him and vice versa.
This was not the case last season. As Romero put it during an interview in Perth in July: “The group were somewhat separate from the staff. When things are divided and not everyone is pulling in the same direction it becomes very difficult.”
Postecoglou is publicly very supportive of Romero (Mike Hewitt via Getty Images)
Despite this, Romero professed his loyalty to Tottenham during that same interview and said: “When I got offers from other clubs to move away for this coming season, I said no because I want to have my best years here.”
Reflecting on his situation at Spurs this summer, he believed that this could be the best season of his career. He liked the new head coach, he had been made vice-captain, he would be playing one game a week with a lot of rest, and he was given extra motivation by the idea that this could be the start of a major renewal for Spurs.
Another crucial factor was that he would finally be playing in his natural position, and in the same system as the one he plays in for Argentina. This is something that has tended to have been overlooked when analysing Romero’s time at Spurs. He plays as one of two centre-backs in a back four for Argentina, and had previously played as the middle centre-back in a back three for Atalanta. Under Antonio Conte, he played in a different role, as a right-sided centre-back in a three.
All of this contributed to Romero being raring to go by the time Tottenham kicked off the campaign at Brentford, a game in which he scored after 11 minutes.
Romero after scoring against Brentford (Photo: Julian Finney via Getty Images)
In his first two seasons, Romero was a difficult player to evaluate. He could be brilliant, but he could also be erratic. There is that disciplinary record, and head-in-hands moments like the ridiculously casual backheel by his own corner flag against Bournemouth in April when his team were losing, which nearly led to a goal.
However, given Spurs were such a mess last season, it was hard to know how much could be attributed to him or issues beyond his control.
Romero is a big talent, and anyone who has been in his presence will tell you that he has a considerable aura. On the pitch, that can manifest as a simmering, intimidating feeling of menace that makes life extremely difficult for opposition attackers.
Romero’s presence and the respect he has from his team-mates as a World Cup winner and former Serie A defender of the year was part of the reason Postecoglou gave him the vice-captaincy. It was also felt that with so many South Americans, it made sense to have a representative in the leadership group.
GO DEEPER
Tottenham's new leadership group: Can they provide what is so badly needed?
But the responsibility also made sense in footballing terms. Postecoglou talks about leadership coming in different forms. Leadership to him is fundamentally about anyone who can inspire his team-mates — be that through how they train or things they do on the pitch.
Romero typifies the bravery needed to play in a Postecoglou team. He is front-footed and aggressive, and loves stepping forward to initiate attacks. Romero could be an attacking weapon under Conte too, but the freedom he is being given this season is another reason he has enjoyed such a promising start to the season.
He has already scored two goals, and just as illustrative are the moments when he steps forward into midfield and the final third. It largely went unnoticed because of the madness that followed, but the corner for Richarlison’s equaliser on Saturday came as a result of Romero’s tactical and technical proficiency.
He recognises how deep Sheffield United are and receives the ball well inside their half.
With no one challenging him, he advances and dinks a lofted pass towards Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Hojbjerg wins the header and from there, Chris Basham concedes the corner that gives Spurs the platform to mount their comeback.
Romero’s willingness to take risks led to him being singled out by James Maddison last month as the player who had most impressed him since joining this summer.
“He defends forward, everything the manager asks for in his defenders,” Maddison told TNT Sports. “If we’re going to press high, you need your defenders to be super-aggressive and really buy into that, and you won’t find a more aggressive defender than Romero.
“Me and ‘Cuti’ (Romero’s nickname) got given the vice-captaincy and I can see why on his behalf. For someone who doesn’t speak the language brilliantly, he’s a leader in how he acts and represents himself. And sometimes I’m having to say, ‘Cuti, just calm down a little bit here’, because he’s so aggressive.”
Talking to the Evening Standard last month, Romero said of his appointment: “It was a beautiful surprise, I wasn’t expecting it. I’m always trying to transmit my energy to my team-mates. It’s a new role, I’m learning, but I have great examples (of leadership) from my former clubs and Argentina.”
There is a feeling that the leadership role has seen Romero engage with the club in a way he hadn’t previously.
He appears to be relishing the chance to marshal a back five, including the goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, that has next to no Premier League experience. Vicario, Destiny Udogieand Micky van de Ven are new to the division, and Pedro Porro only joined at the start of the year. Romero’s fellow defenders are said to have felt reassured by his presence, knowing he will always have their back.
Romero is appreciated by his new defensive colleagues (Luke Walker via Getty Images)
On the flipside, Romero is benefiting from playing alongside Van de Ven and the other defenders, who are collectively a big upgrade on last season. Van de Ven’s recovery pace gives Romero greater licence to take up the kind of positions seen in the example against Sheffield United above.
To give a sense of how much things have changed at Spurs since last season, let’s look at the last time Spurs played Sunday’s opponents Arsenal. The goalkeeper was Hugo Lloris (now third choice), and the other defenders were Eric Dier (yet to play this season), Clement Lenglet (no longer at the club), Ryan Sessegnon (injured since February) and Matt Doherty (released on a free a few weeks later). None have played a minute under Postecoglou.
With a stronger defence around him and better structures in place this season, it’s no surprise that the fouls and cards have come down. With Spurs having more of the ball (61.2 per cent possession compared to 49.8 per cent last season) and doing a lot more attacking, Romero can more readily pick and choose his moments to make those trademark meaty tackles.
The numbers back this up. It’s a small sample size but Romero has reduced how many challenges he is making. Last season, he made more ‘true’ tackles — a combination of tackles won, challenges lost and fouls committed while attempting a tackle — than any other Premier League centre-back, with 6.5 per 1,000 opposition touches. This season, that figure is down to 5.1.
He has also been much more successful in his actions, winning 91.7 per cent of his true tackle attempts this season compared to 58.1 per cent last season.
Romero is restricting the number of ‘meaty’ tackles he makes (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
Perhaps the biggest indicator of how different things are for Romero is the fact that the recent international break passed without major incident.
For most of his Tottenham career, Romero’s exploits with Argentina have been a source of anxiety. His first three international breaks after joining Spurs were the sort of scenarios a hapless character in a sitcom would find themselves in. First, there was the one where he missed four Spurs games because he had to quarantine in Croatia to satisfy COVID-19 protocols; in the next, he picked up an injury that ruled him out for three months; in the one after that, he joined up with the Argentina squad despite being suspended for the national team.
There was also the World Cup and the subsequent (and entirely understandable) hangover from that triumph, when Romero looked physically and emotionally spent for the second half of the season.
In this most recent international break, aside from a brief fitness scare, Romero was only making headlines for his performances. After the 1-0 win against Ecuador, he was even hailed as the best defender in the world by long-time admirer Lionel Messi.
When Postecoglou was asked if this was a fair assessment, he said: “Why not mate? I don’t argue with Messi.”
Moments like the one in the Ecuador game that saw Romero win a one-on-one duel and confront his vanquished opponent are what stand out for Messi and those watching.
Some appreciation from Lionel Messi after Argentina beat Ecuador (Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images)
The perception that Romero cares more about Argentina than Spurs is something he pushed back hard on during that interview in Perth, and it’s interesting to get the local perspective on why his performances were so different at international and club level last season.
“Last season Spurs was really inconsistent, and they couldn’t play like they wanted to,” says Francisco Canepa, an Argentinian presenter and commentator for ESPN, based in Buenos Aires. “But now with Postecoglou and with another structure and no Harry Kane, and maybe a bit less pressure, it’s a good chance to see what a leader Romero can be.
“He’s very committed to Spurs, even though playing for the national team is a very different experience.
“He is the leader of his defence. Without Ben Davies and Dier and players who were a bit older, Cuti is now the leader Tottenham needs. Postecoglou is in love with Cuti — loves the way he plays and trains.
“It’ll be good for Cuti — he’ll be less impulsive. He’ll be a leader and has to show it on the pitch. He has to think twice about crossing the pitch to go and make the tackle.”
His performances against Manchester United, Bournemouth and Burnley, in particular, were masterclasses in controlled aggression (as the below clips highlights).
The challenge now is to do it more consistently — once he does that, he will surely be viewed as favourably here as he is in Argentina.
“We see him as a world-class player,” says Canepa. “I compare Romero a lot with Sergio Ramos — a villain for the opposite team but a hero for his own team.
“Players like Messi need those warriors to feel safe and know that if they feel hurt, they have someone who will defend them and hurt their opponents.”
This is exactly how his Spurs team-mates feel about Romero.
It’s early days but the way Romero has bounced back this season has evoked memories of one of his Spurs predecessors, Jan Vertonghen. Like Romero, Vertonghen enjoyed a promising first season, struggled in a chaotic second as part of a team lacking direction, before recovering and excelling in his third.
Vertonghen went from strength to strength, and the hope is that Romero will do likewise.
Much bigger tests await, starting with Sunday’s north London derby at a ground where Spurs have only ever won once in the league. In a hostile, provocative atmosphere, against a strong team that like to dominate possession and territory, we will get an indication of how far Romero has come.
GO DEEPER
Cristian Romero: 'I’ve always had spirit, desire and aggression - if I ever lost that, I'd have a problem'
(Top photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
In the 94th minute of Tottenham’s win against Sheffield United, Cristian Romero did something that would ordinarily have been entirely unremarkable. He blocked Cameron Archer to stop a counter-attack and was penalised for a foul.
As anyone who has watched Romero since he joined Spurs two years ago will know, fouls and cards are a staple of his game.
Except this season, they haven’t been, and that foul on Archer was, incredibly, his first of the season. This from a player who, in his previous 21 club matches, received 11 yellow and two red cards. One of the bookings in that sequence was against Sunday’s opponents Arsenal, and he was lucky not to get a second one in that game for a foul on Granit Xhakathat went unpunished. Looking back, it felt symptomatic of a player who in the second half of last season often seemed a step slow. His first season saw him commit a foul at a rate of 1.4 per game, which went up to 1.6 last year. It’s a very small sample size, but that figure is down to 0.2 for this campaign.
The lack of fouls is indicative of where Romero is compared to last year and the one before that. He is still extremely aggressive but he is that bit less impetuous. Tottenham’s improved structure and greater dominance of the ball also mean he is less often exposed and required to make desperate tackles.
Last season, Romero had a bad run of bookings (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
Off the pitch, Romero is said to have noticeably matured since Ange Postecoglou gave him the vice-captaincy. It was a decision that raised a few eyebrows, certainly externally, and there’s an acknowledgement from some at Spurs that it was a bit like giving responsibility to the naughty kid at school in the hope it’ll bring out the best in them.
So far, the decision has very much had the desired effect — on the pitch and off it. Against Sheffield United, soon after he had committed that first foul of the season, Romero was the peacemaker between Emerson Royal and Tom Davies as tempers boiled over. Just before, Romero had shown his passionate side, celebrating a clearance like a goal and then chest-bumping Royal.
No one wants to totally neuter the impetuous side of Romero’s game, and there was a fondness in Postecoglou’s voice when he said last week, “I’ll tell you what, I wouldn’t like to play against him. Most of the boys don’t like to train against him.”
Much of the explanation for why Romero is thriving this season compared to last can be found in those Postecoglou quotes. Romero now has a manager who loves him and vice versa.
This was not the case last season. As Romero put it during an interview in Perth in July: “The group were somewhat separate from the staff. When things are divided and not everyone is pulling in the same direction it becomes very difficult.”
Postecoglou is publicly very supportive of Romero (Mike Hewitt via Getty Images)
Despite this, Romero professed his loyalty to Tottenham during that same interview and said: “When I got offers from other clubs to move away for this coming season, I said no because I want to have my best years here.”
Reflecting on his situation at Spurs this summer, he believed that this could be the best season of his career. He liked the new head coach, he had been made vice-captain, he would be playing one game a week with a lot of rest, and he was given extra motivation by the idea that this could be the start of a major renewal for Spurs.
Another crucial factor was that he would finally be playing in his natural position, and in the same system as the one he plays in for Argentina. This is something that has tended to have been overlooked when analysing Romero’s time at Spurs. He plays as one of two centre-backs in a back four for Argentina, and had previously played as the middle centre-back in a back three for Atalanta. Under Antonio Conte, he played in a different role, as a right-sided centre-back in a three.
All of this contributed to Romero being raring to go by the time Tottenham kicked off the campaign at Brentford, a game in which he scored after 11 minutes.
Romero after scoring against Brentford (Photo: Julian Finney via Getty Images)
In his first two seasons, Romero was a difficult player to evaluate. He could be brilliant, but he could also be erratic. There is that disciplinary record, and head-in-hands moments like the ridiculously casual backheel by his own corner flag against Bournemouth in April when his team were losing, which nearly led to a goal.
However, given Spurs were such a mess last season, it was hard to know how much could be attributed to him or issues beyond his control.
Romero is a big talent, and anyone who has been in his presence will tell you that he has a considerable aura. On the pitch, that can manifest as a simmering, intimidating feeling of menace that makes life extremely difficult for opposition attackers.
Romero’s presence and the respect he has from his team-mates as a World Cup winner and former Serie A defender of the year was part of the reason Postecoglou gave him the vice-captaincy. It was also felt that with so many South Americans, it made sense to have a representative in the leadership group.
GO DEEPER
Tottenham's new leadership group: Can they provide what is so badly needed?
But the responsibility also made sense in footballing terms. Postecoglou talks about leadership coming in different forms. Leadership to him is fundamentally about anyone who can inspire his team-mates — be that through how they train or things they do on the pitch.
Romero typifies the bravery needed to play in a Postecoglou team. He is front-footed and aggressive, and loves stepping forward to initiate attacks. Romero could be an attacking weapon under Conte too, but the freedom he is being given this season is another reason he has enjoyed such a promising start to the season.
He has already scored two goals, and just as illustrative are the moments when he steps forward into midfield and the final third. It largely went unnoticed because of the madness that followed, but the corner for Richarlison’s equaliser on Saturday came as a result of Romero’s tactical and technical proficiency.
He recognises how deep Sheffield United are and receives the ball well inside their half.
With no one challenging him, he advances and dinks a lofted pass towards Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Hojbjerg wins the header and from there, Chris Basham concedes the corner that gives Spurs the platform to mount their comeback.
Romero’s willingness to take risks led to him being singled out by James Maddison last month as the player who had most impressed him since joining this summer.
“He defends forward, everything the manager asks for in his defenders,” Maddison told TNT Sports. “If we’re going to press high, you need your defenders to be super-aggressive and really buy into that, and you won’t find a more aggressive defender than Romero.
“Me and ‘Cuti’ (Romero’s nickname) got given the vice-captaincy and I can see why on his behalf. For someone who doesn’t speak the language brilliantly, he’s a leader in how he acts and represents himself. And sometimes I’m having to say, ‘Cuti, just calm down a little bit here’, because he’s so aggressive.”
Talking to the Evening Standard last month, Romero said of his appointment: “It was a beautiful surprise, I wasn’t expecting it. I’m always trying to transmit my energy to my team-mates. It’s a new role, I’m learning, but I have great examples (of leadership) from my former clubs and Argentina.”
There is a feeling that the leadership role has seen Romero engage with the club in a way he hadn’t previously.
He appears to be relishing the chance to marshal a back five, including the goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, that has next to no Premier League experience. Vicario, Destiny Udogieand Micky van de Ven are new to the division, and Pedro Porro only joined at the start of the year. Romero’s fellow defenders are said to have felt reassured by his presence, knowing he will always have their back.
Romero is appreciated by his new defensive colleagues (Luke Walker via Getty Images)
On the flipside, Romero is benefiting from playing alongside Van de Ven and the other defenders, who are collectively a big upgrade on last season. Van de Ven’s recovery pace gives Romero greater licence to take up the kind of positions seen in the example against Sheffield United above.
To give a sense of how much things have changed at Spurs since last season, let’s look at the last time Spurs played Sunday’s opponents Arsenal. The goalkeeper was Hugo Lloris (now third choice), and the other defenders were Eric Dier (yet to play this season), Clement Lenglet (no longer at the club), Ryan Sessegnon (injured since February) and Matt Doherty (released on a free a few weeks later). None have played a minute under Postecoglou.
With a stronger defence around him and better structures in place this season, it’s no surprise that the fouls and cards have come down. With Spurs having more of the ball (61.2 per cent possession compared to 49.8 per cent last season) and doing a lot more attacking, Romero can more readily pick and choose his moments to make those trademark meaty tackles.
The numbers back this up. It’s a small sample size but Romero has reduced how many challenges he is making. Last season, he made more ‘true’ tackles — a combination of tackles won, challenges lost and fouls committed while attempting a tackle — than any other Premier League centre-back, with 6.5 per 1,000 opposition touches. This season, that figure is down to 5.1.
He has also been much more successful in his actions, winning 91.7 per cent of his true tackle attempts this season compared to 58.1 per cent last season.
Romero is restricting the number of ‘meaty’ tackles he makes (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
Perhaps the biggest indicator of how different things are for Romero is the fact that the recent international break passed without major incident.
For most of his Tottenham career, Romero’s exploits with Argentina have been a source of anxiety. His first three international breaks after joining Spurs were the sort of scenarios a hapless character in a sitcom would find themselves in. First, there was the one where he missed four Spurs games because he had to quarantine in Croatia to satisfy COVID-19 protocols; in the next, he picked up an injury that ruled him out for three months; in the one after that, he joined up with the Argentina squad despite being suspended for the national team.
There was also the World Cup and the subsequent (and entirely understandable) hangover from that triumph, when Romero looked physically and emotionally spent for the second half of the season.
In this most recent international break, aside from a brief fitness scare, Romero was only making headlines for his performances. After the 1-0 win against Ecuador, he was even hailed as the best defender in the world by long-time admirer Lionel Messi.
When Postecoglou was asked if this was a fair assessment, he said: “Why not mate? I don’t argue with Messi.”
Moments like the one in the Ecuador game that saw Romero win a one-on-one duel and confront his vanquished opponent are what stand out for Messi and those watching.
Some appreciation from Lionel Messi after Argentina beat Ecuador (Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images)
The perception that Romero cares more about Argentina than Spurs is something he pushed back hard on during that interview in Perth, and it’s interesting to get the local perspective on why his performances were so different at international and club level last season.
“Last season Spurs was really inconsistent, and they couldn’t play like they wanted to,” says Francisco Canepa, an Argentinian presenter and commentator for ESPN, based in Buenos Aires. “But now with Postecoglou and with another structure and no Harry Kane, and maybe a bit less pressure, it’s a good chance to see what a leader Romero can be.
“He’s very committed to Spurs, even though playing for the national team is a very different experience.
“He is the leader of his defence. Without Ben Davies and Dier and players who were a bit older, Cuti is now the leader Tottenham needs. Postecoglou is in love with Cuti — loves the way he plays and trains.
“It’ll be good for Cuti — he’ll be less impulsive. He’ll be a leader and has to show it on the pitch. He has to think twice about crossing the pitch to go and make the tackle.”
His performances against Manchester United, Bournemouth and Burnley, in particular, were masterclasses in controlled aggression (as the below clips highlights).
The challenge now is to do it more consistently — once he does that, he will surely be viewed as favourably here as he is in Argentina.
“We see him as a world-class player,” says Canepa. “I compare Romero a lot with Sergio Ramos — a villain for the opposite team but a hero for his own team.
“Players like Messi need those warriors to feel safe and know that if they feel hurt, they have someone who will defend them and hurt their opponents.”
This is exactly how his Spurs team-mates feel about Romero.
It’s early days but the way Romero has bounced back this season has evoked memories of one of his Spurs predecessors, Jan Vertonghen. Like Romero, Vertonghen enjoyed a promising first season, struggled in a chaotic second as part of a team lacking direction, before recovering and excelling in his third.
Vertonghen went from strength to strength, and the hope is that Romero will do likewise.
Much bigger tests await, starting with Sunday’s north London derby at a ground where Spurs have only ever won once in the league. In a hostile, provocative atmosphere, against a strong team that like to dominate possession and territory, we will get an indication of how far Romero has come.
GO DEEPER
Cristian Romero: 'I’ve always had spirit, desire and aggression - if I ever lost that, I'd have a problem'
(Top photo: Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
npearl4spurs
Believing Member
- Sep 9, 2014
- 4,251
- 11,118
If we are going to get any result, he will have to have a brilliant match. And this time I'm more confident than ever that he will.
SlotBadger
({})?
- Jul 24, 2013
- 13,919
- 43,646
Sloppy for the own goal and unlucky for the penalty, but his composure on the ball (playing passes into midfielders at the right time) and headed clearances were excellent.
fishhhandaricecake
Well-Known Member
- Nov 15, 2018
- 19,252
- 48,142
Yep he’s a really all or nothing player. Some bad but a lot very good.
yido_number1
He'll always be magic
- Jun 8, 2004
- 8,670
- 16,854
You can forgive both they just happen. His all round performance was a true leader at the back.
amathews3416
Well-Known Member
- Mar 3, 2008
- 1,696
- 6,110
Disagree on nothing he could do for the penalty. He has done this numerous times in a Spurs shirt by diving in on a block in the box with his hands over his head. Honestly can think of 4-5 occasions he has done it in the last couple of years. It makes it real easy to give a penalty when your hands are up there. It needs to be coached out of him.
glacierSpurs
Well-Known Member
- Sep 28, 2013
- 16,163
- 25,473
What's comforting to see is the back line continue to rally around him and he was not affected but taken over the armband and lead. Something which I think Ange did on purpose to place his confidence not just in him but all the lads to trust one another.
jezz
Well-Known Member
- Aug 21, 2013
- 5,651
- 8,654
The shot was scuffed that's why it hits his hand.
If the shot was true it hits his knee and it's blocked.
9 times out of 10 it's a good block.
Johnny J
Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
- Aug 18, 2012
- 18,536
- 48,902
Or at least his media person lol
Johnny J
Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
- Aug 18, 2012
- 18,536
- 48,902
I don't think I've ever seen a player dive in for a block with their arms by their sides. Your hands go up naturally.
Snarfalicious
Well-Known Member
- Jul 15, 2012
- 15,721
- 72,065
I thought he was excellent. He had some bad luck with the goals, but shit happens. It felt like he won everything, and I honestly don’t think Nketiah or Jesus wanted anything to do with him.
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