‘I have to say’: Gary Neville tears into 25-year-old Tottenham player during first-half vs Arsenal

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Gary Neville has criticised Cristian Romero for the wild swing which led to the Tottenham Hotspur defender breaking the deadlock in the North London derby with an own goal against Arsenal.

Neville was speaking on Super Sunday (broadcast on 24/9; 14:27) just after the Gunners had taken the lead, with Bukayo Saka’s shot deflecting past Guglielmo Vicario.

Cristian Romero has been outstanding in the early stages of the campaign. The Argentinian has looked to be back to his best alongside the likes of Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro. And he seems to be relishing the role as one of Spurs’ vice-captains.

Unfortunately for Spurs, it was Romero putting the ball through his own net which gave Arsenal the lead. Bukayo Saka was left in all kinds of space after cutting in on his left foot.

Neville criticises Romero after Arsenal goal

The England international attempted to curl the ball into the far corner. However, he set the ball too far wide. Thankfully for Arsenal, Romero swung his leg at the ball and deflected it into the back of the net.

As Gary Neville noted, many will argue that Romero felt that he had to do something. However, the pundit insisted that he should have done so much better.

“We talked about Brennan Johnson running back, he does run back with Ben White. Both go with the full-back, just leaves Saka with such an enormous amount of time to set it out into that far corner,” he told Sky Sports.

“There’ll be some that say oh it’s unlucky. I have to say, I think that’s rash from Romero, wafting his leg at it like that. He should set himself. It is an awkward height. But that’s the worst thing you can do. You’re better off letting it go than doing that.”

Tottenham started the game brightly. And you can guarantee that Ange Postecoglou will not criticise his team for the way that they played in the first-half. They stuck to their principles and it did lead to some openings.

However, Arsenal made life incredibly difficult for Tottenham. They pressed well and capitalised on the mistakes Spurs did make.

But Postecoglou’s side did get their rewards before the break. Some superb work from James Maddison led to Son Heung-min getting the chance to equalise.

Romero’s mistake showed that Tottenham are going to land themselves in bother at times. But the way they fought back reminded everyone that this Spurs team will always find a way to come back at you.