Paul Merson is adamant the Arsenal goal shouldn t have stood but Cristian Romero has been slammed for his role in Gabriel s winner on Sunday.
The Gunners were far from their best at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium but preyed on Spurs weakness from set pieces to claim all three points, with .
Spurs huffed and puffed in response but rarely troubled David Raya at the other end and limped to defeat.
Merson claimed Romero had to do better as Gabriel got the better of him from Bukayo Saka s corner, but also reckons the Argentinian was fouled by his fellow South American.
I would be disappointed if I didn t get a foul, Merson said on Sky Sports. (Romero) is in the wrong position, everything is wrong about his defending. He s an international centre-half.
Even I know, and I don t play at the back, that you ve got to be side-on, seeing the ball and your player. To start off with you ve got to be a hand-length away (from him), and he was standing with him. I do think I d expect a foul. I would expect a foul.
Gary Neville was similarly critical of Romero but pinned the majority of the blame on Vicario, who ended up moving back towards his line rather than coming to claim the ball.
“The goalkeeper’s rooted,” Neville said on co-commentary.
“He heads it three yards out, he’s free, and Romero, the centre-back, is picking up Gabriel.
“It’s really poor from the Argentinian, but I’d want my goalkeeper to come for it. He gets blocked and then he ends up rooted.”
MORE ON THE NORTH LONDON DERBY ON F365
👉
👉
👉
Jamie Redknapp, on punditry duty on Sky Sports, agreed with the assessment and suggested Romero would be well served to spend less time kicking people and more time improving his ability to defend set pieces.
