Guglielmo Vicario’s Bold Statement on Clean Sheets and Ambitious Tottenham Dreams! 🔥🌟🔥
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Guglielmo Vicario on why he ‘doesn’t care’ about clean sheets and his big dreams for Tottenham
The Spurs goalkeeper enjoyed a fine first season in the Premier League following his summer transfer from Empoli
Guglielmo Vicario believes you cannot measure a goalkeeper by clean sheets and has explained how he and Tottenham can overcome their set-piece problems.
The Italian enjoyed an excellent debut season overall in a Spurs shirt after making the switch from Empoli. He was regularly found among the Premier League’s save of the month nominees and grew as a leader within the dressing room as he looked to fill Hugo Lloris’ big gloves and bring authority behind the back line.
Vicario joined an elite band of just 12 Tottenham players on Sunday in completing an ever-present season in the Premier League, appearing in every single minute. In all he made 110 saves in his 38 appearances in the competition and became Tottenham’s first goalkeeper since Paul Robinson in the 2007/08 campaign to go an entire league campaign without making an error that led to a goal, despite having to use his feet a lot in tight situations under Ange Postecoglou.
His performances under the Australian led to him being handed his full Italy debut by national boss Luciano Spalletti and now he hopes to be named in the squad that will travel to the Euros this summer after being named in Thursday’s provisional 30-man list.
It’s been an exciting time. First season in the Premier League at this fantastic football club. There have been big challenges of course during the season, good periods and tough periods, like football is made of,” said the 27-year-old.
“We tried to do our best. Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn’t. I’m just looking forward to being back in European football. I think it was a good achievement and we will try to make great stuff next season.
“This season we made good stuff but next season we can make great stuff. We want to improve as footballers, as humans beings. That’s important, to stay together. It’s a big group of lads, a big manager and we need to stick together and believe what he asks of us and if everyone does that I’m looking forward to that.”
While Vicario received plenty of plaudits for his performances this season, one thing he did not get many of was the clean sheets he deserved, with only seven to his name from those 38 matches in the Premier League.
When he speaks, the Italian thinks carefully about his words before firing them out with the passion he shows on the pitch and he shot down any notion of clean sheets being a way to judge a goalkeeper.
“I don’t think you have to measure goalkeepers or human beings by goalscoring or clean sheets or number of saves,” he said. “I really don’t care about that. I’m just trying to be better tomorrow than what I am today.
“I’m just trying to focus on that and being a good footballer and a good human being. I just wanted to improve my performances and focus on what the manager asks of us. Trying to play our football is tough. It’s tough football but I really love this style of football. The way we want to play suits us. It’s very tough but it’s also very exciting.
The philosophical Italian has had to overcome some challenges this season, mainly with opposition teams targeting him from set-pieces as the campaign progressed, some placing a man on the line to aggressively block him, often barging back into him, causing Postecoglou and Tottenham to seek clarity from the PGMOL on what constitutes a foul on a goalkeeper in the Premier League nowadays.
It was something that Vicario has had to adapt to and he admits that he might have got ahead of himself with his fast start in taking to Premier League life.
“It’s part of the challenge. It’s a different culture, different football. In Italy, it’s completely different [how they deal with challenges on the goalkeeper]. Maybe I didn’t want to waste time adapting but sometimes you have to be really honest with yourself and say ‘ok, maybe I need just a bit of time just to know how these sort of tactics and especially set pieces work’,” he said.
Spurs’ set-piece struggles as a unit have also brought criticism this season, with 14 conceded, the sixth worst tally in the Premier League.
It’s just a bit of time of adaptation. Of course conceding from set-pieces is a part of football but we don’t have to be worried, maybe just don’t accept some situations, you know?” said the goalkeeper. “Maybe it’s trying to win the first contact, don’t accept a block and try to win the ball back. I think it’s all about trying to adapt myself in certain situations.”
Vicario’s passion is there for all to see on the football pitch, whether it’s in the moments when he berates his team-mates – he didn’t earn the nickname Venom in Italy for nothing – or when he celebrates wildly when they do something good.
One recent example came when 22-year-old defender Radu Dragusin blocked a shot with a powerful header in front of his goal against Manchester City last week and even though the flag later went up for offside, Vicario flew towards the Romanian and pushed him so hard in the back with delight that Spurs fans feared the January signing might have suffered whiplash.
Vicario smiles when that moment is brought up, but he thinks it’s a part of his job at the back.
“I think it’s important to give credit to them when they do a block or a big header, a big tackle,” he said. “Of course I like to celebrate when I make an important save so I think these are moments that you have to value because they are very important inside the 90 minutes.
“So I’m very happy when the lads do something like that. For me, when you block a shot, it means we worked very well. So it’s a very good time to value that. I try to do my best and I’m very passionate in some situations and I I think it’s important to bring this energy when someone makes the difference.”
Spurs now have three top quality centre-backs in front of Vicario in Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven and Dragusin and the Italian international delivered high praise on them all as the best he has played with.
“Every one of those lads is outstanding. They have different characteristics as players but every one of them has been outstanding during the season,” he said. “Cuti and Micky have played a bit more but then Radu came in in January. He’s a very good lad, he’s tough and he wants to improve. He’s got a good mentality.
Cuti, well I don’t need to use too many words on Cuti! He won the World Cup in 2022 so I’m not the right person to speak about him. He’s a massive player and Micky of course has been outstanding.
“In the way we play, with the high line, his speed has been very, very important for us. I’m very proud. I can say they are the best defenders I’ve played with so I’m very proud of that. Praise to them for a big season but next season we want to do better.”
Next season everyone at Tottenham wants to do better, with Postecoglou making it clear that he’s aiming for a title charge to improve on this season’s fifth place finish. So what does Vicario think about that lofty aim?
“I think with one more year of working together I think some situations we can recognise and reach our best level,” he said. “We just need to follow him 100% and try to do what he asks of us and then we will see.
“Of course it’s tough, the league is tough and I think we just have to focus on winning each game and then the next one and the next one and then we’ll see. It’s a long season.”
At least in Vicario, Postecoglou has a man who is determined to get better every day and on the evidence of his debut campaign, Premier League strikers are going to have a frustrating time ahead when the Italian stands before them.
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