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Tottenham Hotspur captain Cristian Romero is suspended for manager Igor Tudor's first game in charge
Sam Allardyce has slammed Cristian Romero and instructed new Tottenham Hotspur boss Igor Tudor to strip him of the captaincy. The defender is unavailable for the north London derby on Sunday as he is serving a four-game suspension.
The 27-year-old was dismissed in the first half of Spurs’ defeat to Manchester United earlier this month. As it was his second red card of the campaign, the Argentina international was given an extended ban, ruling him out of Tudor’s first game in charge.
Romero has been a key player for Spurs since arriving from Atalanta in 2021. The centre-back was appointed the club’s new captain at the start of the season but iconic Premier League manager Allardyce has called for the defender to be stripped of the role due to his poor disciplinary record.
“He’s a typical player that doesn’t learn,” Allardyce said on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast. “There’s so much talent but he has got so many flaws and he’s not eradicating the flaws.
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“He is still doing the same things [from] when he first went to Tottenham. He’s still doing them now.
“So, one, you should strip him of the captaincy. And two, you say, ‘I want you to stay on your feet, I don’t want you to go to the ground and tackle anymore so stop it. I’m telling you now so do it and if you don’t do it, I might as well take you out of the side because you’re harming the results.’
“He’s giving the manager a bad reputation for not being able to control him. So, Thomas Frank should have nailed him, which I thought he would but he didn’t.”
Romero’s red card against United came in former manager Thomas Frank’s penultimate game in charge. In 21 league games, the defender has received eight yellow cards and been sent off twice.
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The World Cup winner has come under increased scrutiny since publicly criticising the club once again before his latest dismissal. Following Spurs’ draw with Manchester City at the start of February, Romero, who had been substituted due to illness, highlighted that the squad had been forced to deal with a lack of options.
Posting on Instagram, he said: "Great effort from all my teammates yesterday, they were incredible. I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially since we only had 11 players available — unbelievable but true and disgraceful.
"We’ll keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around, working hard and staying together. All that’s left is to thank all of you for being there and for always supporting us, the fans.”
New Spurs boss Tudor will hope to have Romero available for all remaining games of the season upon his return from suspension. Meanwhile, the club captain will be forced to watch on as his teammates strive for a win over Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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