When Cristian Romero put his head in his hands, it was perhaps an admission of guilt for the role he had just played in Danny Welbeck’s winning goal for Brighton & Hove Albion against Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday.
As Georginio Rutter powered past Destiny Udogie and Rodrigo Bentancur to loft a cross into the Spurs box, Romero stood still. Welbeck spun into space between Romero and Pedro Porro before jumping unchallenged to head the ball past Guglielmo Vicario. Romero did not look over his shoulder once during the build-up to check on Welbeck’s movement.
When Spurs lost 3-2 at home against Arsenal in April, Romero was the only player to emerge with any credit. The centre-back hit the woodwork twice in the first half, harassed Arsenal’s forwards and scored the goal which briefly brought his team hope of an improbable recovery having been 3-0 down at half-time.
“He was outstanding,” Ange Postecoglou said of Romero in his post-match press conference following that loss. “He’s a World Cup winner and I’ve just got to get some of what’s in him into some of the others.”
Romero added another medal to his collection in the summer as he won the Copa America with Argentina for the second time. He started all but one of their matches, sitting out a 2-0 victory over Peru in the group stage as they had already qualified for the quarter-finals, and made several important contributions.
He is one of Tottenham’s vice-captains and among their most experienced players. The 26-year-old is the oldest member of Postecoglou’s first-choice back four alongside Micky van de Ven (23), Udogie (21) and Porro (25). But that crucial lapse of concentration against Brighton (see below) has left some fans questioning his place in the starting XI.
And that is because it is not an isolated incident.
There have been other occasions this season when Romero could be argued to be at least partly to blame for Spurs conceding. In the opening game against Leicester City, for example, he left Jamie Vardy unmarked at the back post…
In the 2-1 defeat by Newcastle United at St James Park, Romero was caught out of position for both goals. For Harvey Barnes’ 37th-minute strike, Romero chased a clearance from a free kick and then failed to recover in time after Newcastle took a quick throw-in.
For Alexander Isak’s winner, when the rest of the defence dropped in anticipation of Joelinton’s through ball for Jacob Murphy, Romero stepped up. Murphy ran through on goal before setting up Isak for a simple finish. Romero was miles away.
In the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal in September, Gabriel barged past Romero to score the winner from Bukayo Saka’s corner. And the defender’s instant reaction was to turn to the referee to complain about being pushed instead of taking responsibility.
During Romero’s first couple of seasons with Tottenham, after joining from Italian side Atalanta in August 2021, he was often guilty of being erratic. He was sent off on multiple occasions, including in the second leg of a last-16 Champions League tie against AC Milan in March 2023 when Spurs were losing 1-0 on aggregate.
The centre-back seemed to grow and mature with the responsibility of being named vice-captain by Postecoglou last year, although he behaved rashly in the 4-1 defeat to Chelsea, kicking Levi Colwill off the ball before being sent off for a studs-up challenge on Enzo Fernandez. But he was generally far more reliable.
Tottenham conceded 61 goals in the top-flight last season as they adjusted to Postecoglou’s system but Romero forged a promising partnership with Van de Ven. Their skill sets complement each other perfectly. Romero is the aggressor who pushes up to win possession while Van de Ven uses his remarkable recovery speed to sweep up any through balls over the top. Postecoglou’s side won eight of their first 11 games last season and the pair started all of them together.
The graphic below shows that Romero’s “active” defensive actions — which include “true” tackles (ie, tackles attempted plus fouls plus challenges lost) and “true” interceptions (ie, interceptions plus blocked passes) — from last season, 10.1 per 1,000 opponent touches, placed him as the third-most active defender in the Premier League.
Maybe one of the reasons why Romero has underperformed this season is because he did not benefit from an extended break in the summer. Argentina beat Colombia in the final of the Copa America on July 14 and within three weeks he was back at Tottenham’s training ground for pre-season. Would anybody blame him if he felt physically and mentally fatigued?
Romero’s social media accounts provide us with a clue. A couple of days before the 1-1 draw with Leicester, he reposted a video on X of Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti talking about giving holidays to players during the season.
“The players need rest,” Ancelotti said in the clip. “We are thinking about giving in-season breaks, give a week off for a player so he can go and stay with his family — especially international players, who have very little rest because they usually don’t get even a day’s holiday in international breaks.”
Spurs only played 41 games last season as they were not in European competition and were knocked out in the second round of the Carabao Cup and the fourth round of the FA Cup. Their qualification for this season’s expanded version of the Europa League means they will have to cope with a much busier schedule.
Romero will travel with Argentina to Venezuela during the international break before they host Bolivia tonight. Since making his debut for Argentina in June 2021, he has largely been an integral part of Lionel Scaloni’s team. He started the final of the Copa America a month after his debut and helped his team beat Brazil 1-0, then featured in all of their knockout games at the World Cup in 2022, including the final against France. Romero has made 38 appearances for his country in just over three years. And those minutes all add up.
Tottenham spent £25million ($37.m) on Radu Draugsin in January to provide cover for Romero and Van de Ven. The problem is that Postecoglou has used him sparingly. Spurs fought off competition from Bayern Munich to sign Dragusin from Genoa but he has only made 11 appearances in the Premier League for a combined total of 523 minutes, according to Opta.
The 22-year-old performed excellently for Romania at the European Championship and flew out for the second half of Tottenham’s pre-season tour to Japan and South Korea. It might have made more sense for Dragusin to start against Leicester to allow Romero extra time to reach full fitness. The only top-flight game he has started this campaign was against Newcastle when Van de Ven was injured.
Dragusin’s clumsy red card against Qarabag in the seventh minute has not helped his cause. It meant he missed the majority of that game and was suspended for the 3-0 victory over Ferencvaros. The knock-on effect of Dragusin’s dismissal meant that Romero started with Archie Gray at centre-back in Budapest — compounding the original problem.
Tottenham’s first game after the international break is a Saturday lunchtime kick-off against West Ham. It means Romero, and the other players on international duty, will have even less time than normal to recover.
It could be the perfect opportunity to start Dragusin and give Romero a breather. It might be exactly what he needs to rediscover his best form.
Additional reporting: Mark Carey
(Top photo: Sebastian Frej/Getty Images)