Tottenham Hotspur Guglielmo Vicario has been the man of the moment this week. Despite being one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League statistically, the acrobatic shot-stopper came under immense fire again from a bloodthirsty fanbase after a couple of soft goals conceded in a horrid loss to Aston Villa last weekend.
Well, Vicario went out and delivered one of the biggest goalkeeping masterclasses of the year 2025 in a 0-0 draw in Monaco, almost inexplicably delivering a Champions League point to Thomas Frank in a game that Spurs had no business getting a result better than a 3-0 blowout loss.
Vicario showed that was no fluke with another strong performance and a clean sheet over Everton at the weekend, making a statement to all those Tottenham fans who doubted him that they simply haven't got a clue what they are talking about.
Now, Vicario wasn't the only high-profile Tottenham player to make a statement to the fans on Sunday. Fellow Serie A recruit Rodrigo Bentancur, however, has been on the receiving end of some more deserved criticism, struggling mightily after receiving an arguably premature contract extension, drawing continued starts over better and younger midfielders.
But on Sunday against Everton, the good version of Bentancur popped up again, as the Uruguayan international was in full control of the pitch in the stellar 3-0 win for Tottenham, even directly involving himself in a goal with an assist to the good.
Bentancur finished the match with a key pass, dribble completed, blocked shot, and about 85 percent of his passes completed. He was a real rock in the deep midfield role alongside Joao Palhinha, as the duo looked a lot better than they did in recent weeks, hearkening back to the start of the 2025/26 season when they looked like the solution for Thomas Frank in the middle of the park during the Danish manager's earliest days at the helm of Spurs.
Of course, Bentancur is going to have to do more than just produce one good bounce-back game for Tottenham in order to convince fans that he's the man to start on this team every week. It takes consistency against all opponents to do that, especially when players like Lucas Bergvall and Pape Matar Sarr have shown more short and long-term ability to Tottenham.
But Bentancur can still be a useful rotational player and a quality starter in the right circumstances, and maybe Frank is getting closer to finding out when those circumstances are right or wrong. They were very right for Bentancur on Sunday, given Tottenham were the dominant side.