Cristian Romero will be on the sidelines while Igor Tudor tries to guide Tottenham Hotspur back to winning ways
Sam Allardyce believes Igor Tudor should strip Cristian Romero of captaincy. The new Tottenham Hotspur boss will be without his skipper for the North London Derby on Sunday afternoon, having received a four-match ban earlier this month.
Romero was given his marching orders during the first half of the 2-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford after diving into a reckless tackle on Casemiro. The Argentina international arrived late, planting his studs just above the opposition midfielder's ankle.
Having already been shown a red card once before in the Premier League this season, Romero incurred a further one-match suspension. He served the first of his four-game ban last week as Spurs lost 2-1 to Newcastle United.
Not only will Romero be unavailable for the North London Derby this weekend, but he'll also miss two important clashes against Fulham and Crystal Palace in March. With the Argentine set for a spell on the sidelines, Allardyce has urged Tudor to put his foot down.
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In an interview on the BOYLE Sports and Footy Accumulators’ podcast, No Tippy Tappy Football, the former Premier League manager suggested that the new Tottenham boss draws a line in the sand. Allardyce said: “Cristian Romero is one of those typical players who just doesn’t learn.
"He’s got so much talent, but so many flaws which he hasn’t eradicated. He’s still making the same mistakes as when he first signed for Tottenham.
"Either he gets stripped of the captaincy, or someone says to him, ‘Stay on your feet, I don’t want you to go to ground when you tackle anymore,’ and if he continues to do it, then take him out of the side.
"He’s giving his managers a bad reputation for not being able to control him," added Allardyce. "If you’re a centre-half, your first priority is being a defender, not how good you are with the ball – that’s only an added bonus.
"Romero is just so irrational, which is alright when you first join a club, but he should have been nailed by Thomas Frank for it, and he wasn’t."
Frank leapt to the Argentine's defence on more than one occasion, and he paid the price. The Dane was sacked last week, leaving Tottenham at the heart of a relegation battle.
While Spurs are five points adrift of the drop zone, Allardyce insisted that the north Londoners are, in fact, fighting for survival. He said: "I’d consider Spurs to be in a relegation battle now, and it is partly because you’ll need more points to stay up this year than you have done for the past few seasons.
"It will be in the mid to high thirties this season and sometimes you wonder where those points are going to come from. You have to make sure your best performances come against the teams you’re capable of beating.
"If they do get relegated, I don’t even think they’d be the best team to go down. The West Ham team with Jermain. Defoe, Paulo Di Canio, Glen Johnson and David James were better!"