Tottenham Hotspur played out a 1-1 draw at Leicester City in their Premier League opener on Monday night.
Spurs ran riot in the first half at the King Power Stadium as Pedro Porro opened his team’s account in the 29th minute.
Porro made a brilliant late run as James Maddison curled the ball into the box, and he glanced the ball into the back of the net.
However, for all of Tottenham’s dominance in the first half, they couldn’t pull further ahead and were made to pay for it on 57 minutes.
Leicester’s first shot on target yielded the equaliser as Abdul Fatawu’s cross from the right was headed in by the unmarked Jamie Vardy from five yards out.
The game opened up and both sides had good opportunities to grab a winner, but in the end nothing could separate the two clubs.
Jamie O’Hara rips into Tottenham defender Cristian Romero
While some Tottenham players did well throughout the game, some weren’t quite as good, with mistakes being made.
For instance, Cristian Romero didn’t seem aware of Vardy’s presence at the back post when the Foxes equalised.
TalkSPORT pundit and Tottenham fan Jamie O’Hara was not impressed by the £165,000-a-week defender (Spotrac).
“I mean, look, it’s a great header from Vardy,” he said on talkSPORT (19/8/2024, 10:16pm).
But where is Romero going? I mean, honestly, world-class defender, won the World Cup, and actually a shambles.”
Much to work on
Romero did well at times during the Spurs game, but everyone knows that it’s all about the fine margins at the top level and the Argentine did let the side down for the equaliser.
A draw in the opening game – and on the road – is not a bad result, but the fact Tottenham could’ve potentially won 3-0 or more, given their early dominance, will be a bitter pill to swallow.
There’s a lot to work on and Spurs will be eager to play better when they host Everton on Saturday.
It wasn’t all bad, though. For instance, Gary Neville said one of Romero’s Spurs teammates did something “unbelievable” against the Foxes.
TOTTENHAM RELATED NEWS
Tottenham have received the go-ahead to seal a transfer with Barcelona, though while the move has been approved by Barca manager Hansi Flick, sporting director Deco wants a different deal, according to reports.
Tottenham have slowly but surely overseen a fantastic summer transfer window that has addressed multiple different departments in their squad.
Archie Gray is one of English football’s brightest young stars and cam play in central midfield or at right-back.
Fresh off scoring 19 Premier League goals last season, Dominic Solanke joined Spurs in a club-record £65m switch from Bournemouth. That moves allows Ange Postecoglou to revert Son Heung-min to his favoured left wing role.
Tottenham have also boosted their options out wide through the capture of 19-year-old French winger, Wilson Odobert, from Burnley. Timo Werner has also returned for a second loan spell.
A series of long-awaited exits have also been sealed, with Emerson Royal (AC Milan), Joe Rodon (Leeds United) and Troy Parrott (AZ Alkmaar) leaving in permanent transfers.
Flop signing Tanguy Ndombele was released, while Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Marseille), Bryan Gil (Girona) and Alejo Veliz (Espanyol) left via the loan route.
Oliver Skipp will be next to depart upon completing a permanent switch to Leicester worth an initial £20m. According to several reports, forgotten left-back Sergio Reguilon could quickly follow.
Postecoglou has no use for Reguilon
Sky Sports reported 10 days ago that Barcelona had made initial enquiries into signing the 27-year-old.
Tottenham are willing to part ways with Reguilon who spent last season loaned to Manchester United and then Brentford. Reguilon is in the final year of his deal and as such, the pressure is on to find a buyer.
Sky reported: ‘Barcelona have been making enquiries about Tottenham left-back Sergio Reguilon.
They are understood to be exploring the conditions of a potential deal, with just a year left on his Spurs contract.
‘Spurs are open to selling Reguilon. He has not been part of Ange Postecoglou’s plans.’
That was followed by Spanish outlet Sport stating Barcelona manager Hansi Flick had given the green light to the signing.
Barca’s initial aim was to re-sign Man City’s Joao Cancelo. However, Pep Guardiola has since confirmed there is a way back for Cancelo at the Etihad.
According to Monday’s print edition of Sport, Barcelona are set to press ahead with a move for Reguilon. However, not everyone in Barca’s hierarchy are on board with the move.
Flick, Deco at odds over Tottenham swoop
It’s claimed that while Flick is convinced Reguilon would serve as a quality back-up to Alejandro Balde, sporting director Deco doesn’t see a need to make the move.
Instead, Deco believes Barcelona would be better served by signing a a left-sided winger as opposed to a left-back.
Barcelona had planned to buy Nico Williams, though he now appears destined to stay at Athletic Bilbao for one more season at least. Persistent links to Liverpool’s Luis Diaz have thus far come to nothing.
Given Sport’s claim Barcelona would have to sell multiple players before being able to finance a move for a suitable winger, the suggestion is Deco will relent and bow to Flick’s request to sign Reguilon.
The fact the left-back is in the final year of his Spurs deal means any bids that are lodged aren’t likely to be large ones.
But with the player not in Postecoglou’s plans and in the final year of his deal, Tottenham maye have to settle for accepting a nominal fee.
Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce have also shown interest in signing Reguilon to replace Ferdi Kadioglu. The Turkey international has agreed personal terms with Brighton.
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