Christian Romero red card: Tottenham captain’s week ends in ‘perfect storm’

Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario also defended his team-mate on TNT Sports.

“He’s our captain and today he made a mistake,” he said. “But we know the player he is.

“He’s going to come back stronger, for sure, and he’ll help us throughout the rest of the season.”

But Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy was clear Romero “let his team-mates down”, adding: “It is irresponsible, especially after a week where he’s been talking about recruitment and a lack of players.

“He’s the captain, the leader – he needs to do better.”

Murphy wasn’t the only pundit critical of Romero.

“You just know he’s got that switch,” Joe Hart, who played for Tottenham among others, told TNT Sports. “He doesn’t need to do that. He just smashes him.

“Is he a good leader? I don’t know. He must be from what we don’t see because Thomas Frank seems to stand by him no matter what.”

Former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves was similarly unimpressed.

“When he looks at it back he’ll think ‘why did I do that?’,” he said.

“He’s club captain. He needs to be leading by example – but that’s not the example he needs to be setting.”

Frank has made it clear Romero will still be captain when he returns for that Liverpool game, which will split two Champions League last-16 ties, when Juventus and Atletico Madrid are two of the four opponents they could meet.

In the meantime, he must hope for more level heads because Romero’s dismissal led to another defeat. And, with local rivals West Ham starting to pick up points, the spectre of relegation is far too close for comfort.