The decisive goal that Tottenham conceded at Selhurst Park on Sunday was the sort of collective calamity that makes supporters question why they even bother and causes managers to have sleepless nights.
Blame for Jean-Philippe Mateta’s winner for Crystal Palace can be apportioned to numerous individuals involved in the club’s fourth Premier League defeat of the season.
Guglielmo Vicario for playing the ball short despite making a dodgy start with his distribution; Cristian Romero for committing the cardinal sin of passing across his own box (compounded by it being looped horribly over to his central defensive colleague); Micky van de Ven for allowing the ball to run across his body, prompting Daniel Munoz to rush in and win possession; Pedro Porro and Romero (again) for dealing dismally with Munoz’s cross to the far post, allowing Mateta to score.
Finally, Ange Postecoglou for instructing his defenders to play this way against a team renowned for pressing high with intensity. Palace won 21 high turnovers, the second-most in a Premier League game this season. Maybe Pep Guardiola should take a share of the responsibility too for being so successful with this ploy that virtually every other manager in world football has since tried to copy him.
It was a nightmarish goal for Spurs to let in, an act of self-sabotage considering they had been fortunate to avoid conceding before they did with similarly sloppy play from their own six-yard box. No one player involved in it was any more or less at fault than anyone else; it was a collection of gaffes rather than one colossal cock-up.
However, as has been typical this season, Romero had a key part to play in it. According to the Premier League website, the Argentine hasn’t committed any errors leading to a goal this season. The bar must be set incredibly high given Romero has been at least partially culpable for over half of the 10 goals that Spurs have surrendered.
Romero can have no defence for three of them, all of which were strikingly similar. Against Leicester, Arsenal and Brighton, the 26-year-old was guilty of switching off and not staying close enough to his opposite man with Jamie Vardy, Gabriel Magalhaes and Danny Welbeck all profiting.
Those goals were consequential ones, either equalisers or winners that wiped four points off Tottenham’s tally.
Missteps against Newcastle and Palace were less clear but still costly. At St James’ Park, Romero embarked on an ambitious one-man press towards the halfway line and covered so much ground that he was unable to get back into position to prevent Harvey Barnes from flicking the Magpies in front.
When Alexander Isak added the crucial second from the middle of the penalty box, Romero was nowhere to be seen after pushing forward when the rest of the back four retreated.
Romero’s blooper reel is a combination of poor decision-making, sluggish ball-watching and needlessly risky passes. They are the sort of mistakes that he seldom makes for Argentina but often does for Spurs. Romero has been integral to a golden era of Argentine success, a defensive pillar in a team that has lifted the World Cup and back-to-back Copa Americas in the last three years.
He is consistently world-class when he pulls on the sky blue and white stripes. He is less commanding when he has the Tottenham cockerel on his chest; occasionally brilliant but often fallible.
There are plenty of potential explanations for that. Postecoglou’s high-risk strategy places an exceptional demand on central defenders, who are expected to be progressive in possession and proactive out of possession.
Romero has played virtually every game in three successive international tournaments in which his nation has reached a final. That is bound to have drained him, mentally and physically.
Is his contractual situation a distraction? In June he will enter the final two years of his deal and rumours of Real Madrid interest continue to bubble away.
Despite his indifferent form, it seems unlikely Postecoglou will take him out of his team anytime soon. Romero has worn the armband in Son Heung-min’s injury-enforced absence and the Australian has spoken in glowing terms about his mentality and quality in the past.
He may point to a marked improvement in Romero’s disciplinary record – he is yet to receive a single card this season – as evidence of his burgeoning maturity.
Still, the more mistakes he makes, the less secure his place in the team should be. Other key players have paid the price for a slip in standards, James Maddison, subbed off at half-time and the hour mark in his last two games, chief among them. Democracy apparently underpins Postecoglou’s team selections. Radu Dragusin could be forgiven for thinking the rules don’t apply to him.
At his best, Romero is a titan of a centre-back and unquestionably one of Tottenham’s most important players, but at the moment his place in the side is based more on reputation than form. His lapses pose a problem for Postecoglou as he plots a way back from another disappointing defeat.