Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
News
ESPN pundit claims Tottenham will never get better while £17m player starts for them
It is becoming clear that Tottenham Hotspur’s weakness is set-pieces. Again, on Tuesday night, Spurs conceded from a corner as West Ham’s Kurt Zouma headed in, cancelling out Brennan Johnson’s goal.
It was the tenth goal that Spurs have conceded from a set-piece this season, as West Ham’s big players pinned the likes of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven inside the six-yard box, before Zouma scored.
A disappointing result for Spurs, who could have gone level on points with fourth-placed Aston Villa had they managed to win the game – with Villa losing comfortably to a Phil Foden-inspired Manchester City.
Guglielmo Vicario is simply not strong enough for Tottenham
Micah Richards described Guglielmo Vicario‘s inability to come and claim set-pieces a “chink” in their armour when discussing Tottenham last night. It is clearly holding Spurs back at this moment in time.
Speaking on after the 1-1 draw between the two London sides, former Hammers goalkeeper Shaka Hislop gave his verdict on Tottenham’s defending from corners and free-kicks. He was critical of Vicario.
While the Italian has been excellent with the ball at his feet, and in terms of shot-stopping, the summer signing is deemed “not strong enough” by Hislop and suggests he is holding Tottenham back.
“He simply isn’t strong enough to bump players out of the way. West Ham aren’t going to move anybody – they are staying in the six-yard box, challenge Vicario. Spurs are on a hiding to nothing, with Vicario.”
Vicario has to work on his strength during the summer
Vicario said after the match that his teammates lacked belief and claimed tiredness could have been an issue. But, the main weakness Spurs have his set-pieces right now – and a portion of that is Vicario.
It is something the Italian is going to have to work on. Indeed, he is slight in frame and that means teams are going to use that to their advantage, curling the ball close to goal. Preventing him from coming out.
There is no doubt that he is going to start for Spurs, he remains first choice. His shot-stopping is superb. But surely, Vicario is going to have to work on his upper-body strength and his ability to command.