Tottenham Hotspur have been one of the best teams to start the 2025/26 Premier League season, because with the exception of an uncharacteristic anomaly in which they were caught out by Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth, Spurs have literally shut every other team they have faced out, including Villarreal in the Champions League at mid-week.
A huge part of that success is due to the stability new manager Thomas Frank has brought with him, particularly in midfield, and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has been sensational this season, including - and especially - in the loss to Bournemouth.
But the biggest key has always been the center back pairing of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven, which deserves far more shoutouts as the best duo in world football. It still feels like both men are underappreciated by the masses in world football, and Tottenham manager Thomas Frank went out of his way to praise Romero as not only one of the best in the world, but he also highlighted an area in which Romero gets mistconstrued.
Frank said at the press conference before the Brighton game, via Football.London's Alasdair Gold, "I rate him super highly. I agree that I think he's one of the best centre-backs in the world. It helps when you've won the World Cup. Copa America and Europa League. The best players, they are performing consistently week in, week out year in, year out. I don't know Cuti that well yet but I've watched him for years. I see a more mature player, I'm not saying the last three months but for longer. He's aggressive when he needs to be and cool and composed when he needs to be.â
People need to stop stereotyping Cristian Romero
It's that last bit that stands out the most. Everyone around Tottenham already knows Romero is world-class and highlights all of his accolades to back that case up, but you'll still hear so many people talking about how he is too aggressive or makes too many mistakes out of ill disicipline.
But it feels like a lot of that is the typical stereotyping of a player from South America, which is hugely unfortunate and a great disservice to what is actually the case on the field. Romero is rarely ever booked these days, and he only actually has two red cards in his Premier League career - none of which came in the 2024/25 season.
Frank also did a great job of highlighting that this change isn't new and was taking place well before his own arrival at Tottenham. Romero is entering his prime and is no longer a young player, which is why the rash decisions or unwise gambles have been cut down. Now, Romero knows the balance and makes smarter split-second decisions, which is normal. He was honestly never a highly ill-disciplined player, but, rather, a normal young defender playing in a tough system with a playing style that had to learn to balance his gifts on the ball with his duties off it.