Football365
·3 February 2024
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·3 February 2024
Guglielmo Vicario and Micky van de Ven protest decision against Tottenham
Peter Crouch believes “amazing” Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has a “chink in his armour” which is proving to be “an issue” for his side.
Vicario has been one of Spurs’ best assets this season. He’s taken over from legendary goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and largely looks to be playing his part very well – he’s kept six clean sheets in all competitions.
However, during the 2-2 draw against Everton last time out, the Italian was caught out by a couple of set pieces.
The first goal, scored by Jack Harrison, saw Vicario caught under the ball from a corner, and it sailed over his head and into the attacker’s path for the goal.
Then, when Spurs were 2-1 up in stoppage time, the goalkeeper failed to claim the ball after a flick on, pushing it against the arriving Jarrad Branthwaite, who it rebounded off and into the back of the net, and the game finished 2-2.
Crouch believes dealing with the ball coming into a box is a problem Vicario needs to address, as it’s hurting Tottenham at the moment.
“I think it’s a chink in his armour. He has been amazing since he’s been at the club, fantastic goalkeeper. But that seems to be an issue,” Crouch said on TNT Sports.
“He dropped it against Manchester City, at Brentford at times he had a slight issue with that, and again today he just couldn’t handle it when Harrison backed into him.
“For whatever reason, it wasn’t done in the second half, I think Everton let them off.”
Indeed, Crouch suggests that sides can capitalise on the problems Vicario has with claiming crosses, and that could be to the detriment of Tottenham if he doesn’t work out a way to get better with them.
Joe Cole agrees that Vicario must come up with a fix for the issue, and it’s simply that he needs to be braver when coming to claim the ball.
“Vicario’s got to be brave and come for crosses. I don’t want to criticise him too much because I think he’s outstanding, but there are areas for him to improve,” he added.
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