Tottenham urged to sign ‘top-class goalkeeper’ as pundit blasts Lloris for ‘costing them matches’

Jason Soutar
Hugo Lloris and Clement Lenglet look dejected after conceding a goal

A BBC pundit has delivered a scathing assessment of Hugo Lloris after his mistake led to a goal in Tottenham’s home defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday.

Antonio Conte’s side once again put in an abject performance in the Premier League as they fell to a 2-0 defeat against the Villans.

It was another positive result for the Midlands outfit under Unai Emery, who have also beaten Manchester United since the Spaniard replaced Steven Gerrard.

However, the vast majority of the talk has been about Tottenham and how rubbish they were in front of their home fans.

They were without Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur, who were clearly two huge misses for Conte, but just how poor they were without two of their best players was a huge worry for the club’s supporters.

Lloris returned to the starting XI after reaching the World Cup final with France, as did Argentina centre-half Cristian Romero, with both looking far from their best.

The French goalkeeper was the man to blame when Emi Buendia opened the scoring for Aston Villa.

He failed to hold onto a shot from Douglas Luiz, with Ollie Watkins pouncing on the rebound to assist the Argentine playmaker.

It was a worrying piece of goalkeeping from Lloris, who has shown far too often that he is a liability.

Garth Crooks was less than impressed, urging Tottenham to bring in a “top class goalkeeper” with Lloris “costing them matches”.

It was a brutal assessment, with Crooks adding that France won the World Cup in 2018 “in spite of Hugo Lloris not because of him”. Blimey.

“When are Spurs going to get a top-class goalkeeper? One who can save the team points and not cost them matches?” he wrote in his BBC Team of the Week column.

“People keep telling me he’s won a World Cup so he must be good. France won the World Cup in spite of Hugo Lloris not because of him.

“On Sunday, the shot by Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz was a routine save for a decent goalkeeper but such is Lloris’ lack of concentration the ball rebounds of his chest and allowed the excellent Buendia a bite at the cherry.

“Make no mistake, this Tottenham defeat by Villa is even more excruciating as their North London rivals (Arsenal) sit seven points clear at the top of the Premier League table at the start of the New Year.”

Conte joined Spurs with a great reputation and led them to a top-four finish last season, but Crooks is not sure if the Italian has what it takes to turn the Londoners’ fortunes around.

“There can be no doubt that the arrival of Unai Emery has served to galvanise the Villa but Spurs are starting games desperately slowly these days and are suffering as a consequence,” he added.

“Something is not quite right at Tottenham at the moment and I’m beginning to wonder whether Antonio Conte is the right man to fix it.

“There was a distinct lack of urgency, passion and defensive nous among the Tottenham Hotspur rank and file. I’ve already aired my thoughts about Hugo Lloris but Spurs also need two centre-halves in order to give themselves a real chance of securing a top-four place.”

It was an uncharacteristic performance from Romero, who may well be suffering from a World Cup hangover. Or a literal hangover after winning it with Argentina.

Sky Sports pundit Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was unimpressed, blasting the former Atalanta man and one of his team-mates.

“Romero and (Clement) Lenglet… You know, have a little bit of passion! Here, he gets pushed away. It’s a clever ball from Watkins, but come on,” he said.

You know things are slightly worrying when Romero needs to be told to show some passion…

READ MORE: Spurs fan literally gives up on Spurs after that Antonio Conte sh*t-show v Aston Villa