It was another disappointing weekend for Tottenham Hotspur, has having worked our way back into the game against Liverpool at Anfield after falling behind early on, we effectively gifted them all three points when a draw, at least, would’ve been the fairer result.
There’s been plenty of frustrated fall out from the defeat amongst the Spurs fanbase and plenty have questioned and criticised how many times goalkeeper Hugo Lloris will cost us this season. There’s denying it was a mistake, a mistake your wouldn’t expect a stopper of that quality or experience to make as the catch was easy – but he palmed it onto an unsuspecting Toby Alderweireld and into the back of the net it rolled.
It’s fair to say when keepers make errors though, they are always high profile and usually costly, and in the moment plenty of fans forget how many points he’s won us and how many games he has kept us in.
But such is football.
BBC pundit and former player Jermaine Jenas was scathing in his criticism, but unlike most pundits he was at least balanced in his appraisal.
“Hugo Lloris made another very costly error against Liverpool on Sunday, and it feels like he has let Tottenham down too many times. Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino can be so proud of his side, because they dominated the second half at Anfield and they should have won the game. Instead they lost, because Lloris had a shocker when he tried to deal with Mohamed Salah’s header. It was just not acceptable and in the situation Spurs are in, chasing a top-four place, they needed better from their captain. You cannot legislate for mistakes like that from your goalkeeper, but Lloris has been making them for a couple of seasons now.”
He went on to praise his earlier appearances, and namechecked the Borussia Dortmund clash as an example of what he’s still capable of, but rightly, he added.
“Unfortunately the top goalkeepers are judged on consistency and being solid, so the rest of the team can look behind them and think “we are going to be fine”. As we saw against Liverpool, Lloris is not providing that kind of security at the moment. If Spurs want to kick on, and have any aspirations of challenging for the league or winning major trophies, then it is a position they need to start looking at. He should be at the peak of his powers right now but he actually looks more nervous now than he did when he arrived from Lyon seven years ago.”
We all know it’s going to be another big summer for the club, and if we want to kick on, the squad needs investment and there are now strong calls for Paulo Gazzaniga to be brought in for the Crystal Palace tie at White Hart Lane, as although Lloris may feel he’s earnt the right to start in our first game back on home soil, there shouldn’t be room for sentiment when it’s so closely tied to merit.