Oh, Cuti Romero. That guy. He’s been in the soccer news a lot over the past couple of days, first for his triumphant (but short-lived) return to Tottenham Hotspur’s starting lineup, then for his support for Ange Postecoglou in the media, and THEN for some critical comments about Spurs’ upper hierarchy and by extension Daniel Levy.
Lots to unpack here, but let’s start with the injury. Romero lasted a full 15 minutes in Spurs’ back line against Chelsea before going down with what looked like an injury to his quadriceps muscle. Postecoglou confirmed that Cuti’s injury was NOT related to the toe injury that kept him out of the lineup since the last international break, and yesterday we got news from Argentina journalist Gaston Edu that Cuti is now expected to be out for another six weeks.
Cuti Romero has a muscle injury, not in his foot. He has recovered from that injury. He will be out for six weeks.
Siiiiiiiiiigh. That means more minutes for Radu Dragusin, who likely will now be starting alongside Micky van de Ven, who is transitioning back into the starting XI. Since Ben Davies is now injured, that also likely means that the guy behind Micky is now Archie Gray.
The 4-3 loss to Chelsea has hit the Tottenham players (and the fans) pretty hard, but contrary to the extremely loud #AngeOut contingent, the players have pretty much universally been in support of Postecoglou and his tactics. That includes Cuti. According to the BBC, Romero told television network Telemundo that he fully backs Postecoglou and is happy with the way the team is working, despite the recent losses.
“He’s a great coach. We saw it in the first season. In this second one we’ve suffered a lot of injuries. Players are the first one to be criticised, then if we lose 10 games, the staff can be changed, but nobody talks about what is actually happening.
“We are very happy with this staff, me and my colleagues. We love how they work and the football they try to play. We’ll try to move on quickly.”
That same support apparently doesn’t transfer over to the Spurs brass. In that same Telemundo interview, Romero seemed to direct some pointed criticism towards the Spurs recruitment team and even, though he isn’t directly mentioned, Tottenham Chairman Daniel Levy over recent transfer spending, squad reinforcements, and the backing of managers compared to the other teams at the top of the Premier League table.
“The truth is, I would say no comment, but... Manchester City competes every year, you see how Liverpool strengthens its squad, Chelsea strengthens their squad, doesn’t do well, strengthens again, and now they’re seeing results. Those are the things to imitate. You have to realise that something is going wrong, hopefully, they realize it.
“The last few years, it’s always the same: first, the players, then the coaching staff changes, and it’s always the same people responsible. Hopefully, they realize who the true responsible ones are, and we move forward because it’s a beautiful club that, with the structure it has, could easily be competing for the title every year.”
Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.
OK, here’s the thing — Cuti’s not wrong, at least not entirely. A common criticism of Tottenham Hotspur by its own fans is that the upper hierarchy (and by that I mean Levy) doesn’t spend enough money to compete with the teams at the top of the Premier League. And he’s right — they don’t!
Now, I have some issues with that framing, of course — Tottenham are a sustainably run football club that does not have the benefit of a wealthy hedge-fund or Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund to help backstop their transfer dealings. Tottenham have also spent at or around £150m in each of the past three summer windows, so while you can argue that they haven’t spent WELL, you can’t argue that they haven’t spent the money.
Cuti doesn’t say this, but you could make a cogent argument that where Spurs are falling short is in the area of player wages, but again — it’s not as simple as pointing in Levy’s general direction and yelling about “profit before glory.”
My main issue with Cuti’s comments is the timing. Yes, Spurs’ squad is wafer-thin and below the standard required to compete for a Premier League title. And yes, although they did spend £65m for Dominic Solanke this summer, the recruitment seemed to focus more on young players with high ceilings.
But it’s a rebuild. Cuti’s probably frustrated that they’re not attracting top talent (of which he qualifies) but right now in the middle of an injury crisis and a string of poor results is probably not the time to bring up those grievances in a public interview. The best thing Cuti could’ve said would’ve been “The truth is, I would say no comment, but... you know what, no comment.” He’s not wrong, but this is not the time for that, and all these comments do is inflame the purple-and-gold contingent who are screaming loudly and negatively about this football club that he, and all of us, love.
At any rate, Cuti now has a lot of time on his hands to think about Tottenham’s future. My suggestion would be for Johann Lange to get him a Wyscout account and put him in charge of identifying January candidates at fullback, defensive midfielder, and central defense while he heals up. Maybe he’d be able to help identify someone who Spurs can sign and make a difference in the team down the stretch this spring.
