Tottenham defender Cristian Romero was “terrible” against Manchester United, with former England international Stuart Pearce branding him Spurs’ “weak link”.
Spurs fell behind in the first half thanks to Brian Mbeumo’s header, but Man United were looking to continue their four-game unbeaten run in the Premier League.
Tottenham fought back with a goal from Matthijs Tell with six minutes left to level the score, and Richarlison’s goal in the first minute of stoppage time put them on track for three points.
However, there was still time for Red Devils defender Matthijs de Ligt to score the equalizer as both teams shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw on Saturday.
Tottenham captain Romero limped off in the 88th minute with the score tied at 1-1, but by then Pearce had seen enough to send off the Argentina international for his poor performance against Man United.
Pearce told talkSPORT: “If I were the chief scout sent to monitor Romero, I would point to him as a weakness.
Read: Tottenham’s ‘failed’ season without silver medal or Champions League qualification…clearly
“You can definitely get behind him. And if I was sent in as a recruiter, I would say, ‘Leave him alone!'”
Pearce added: “What Romero is doing now is frightening. He loses the ball in midfield and doesn’t make any recovery runs. As a defender, that should be ingrained in you.”
“He pushes himself up to protect the midfield, but he gets completely bypassed and just trots back without trying to help.
“I know I keep saying it, but coming from the captain of the team, it’s really unbelievable.”
Despite conceding two points in the closing stages of the game, Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank was pleased with his team’s second-half performance.
Frank said: “I thought we had a good performance against Man United at home, especially in the second half.
“I liked that when we went into the second half down 1-0, the players stayed in the game and continued to do the right thing based on principles.
“We came back and got the tying goal that we deserved, we got what we hoped would have been the winner.
Read: ‘Will he never learn?’ – Keys slams Spurs joke magnet for being ‘too excited’ after Man United gaffe
“We can’t run away from this situation. It’s unfortunate that they tied it so late, but it’s not the first time in world history.
“I’m very happy to be able to come back like that.
“It’s been a good step forward in terms of what we want to do, but we’re not where we want to be in terms of free flow.”
Frank was booed when he had Xavi Simmons sent off for Tell in the 79th minute, but he was ultimately proven right as the Tottenham manager scored the equalizer to make it 1-1.
The Spurs head coach added: “Every time I make a substitution, I do it for the best of the team and with one goal in mind: to win the game.
“Today it worked. Matisse came in and scored. It was another positive performance for Xavi, another step forward.”
“He started a lot of games and we needed a little bit more freshness.”
Read more: Real Madrid’s interest makes it “impossible” for Tottenham to keep Van de Ven – conditional
