Ange Postecoglou pins blame for Cristian Romero anger on one Tottenham failure | OneFootball

Australian insists he appreciated his captain’s passion - but knows the root cause

The Argentine, who donned the captain’s armband as Spurs pipped Manchester United to last season’s Europa League title, is rarely afraid to voice his frustrations with the club hierarchy.

Posting on Instagram earlier this month, he slammed Spurs’ “disgraceful” injury crisis, which he felt the club failed to address in the January transfer window.

Speaking on The Overlap podcast, Postecoglou suggested that Romero’s frustration with off-pitch dealings was manifesting itself in his football, but clarified that he appreciated the Argentine’s aggression.

"I love him,” Postecoglou declared. “I love him and he does play on the edge, but, mate, he'd scare people at training and I love the way he talks.

Cristian Romero’s uncompromising defending has seen him sent off twice this season

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"I mean, would you rather have Roy [Keane] in your team or against you? I mean, we'd never have won [the Europa League final] without Romero.

"I mean, kick-off’s about to happen and he's taking our team into Man Utd's half for the huddle because our supporters are down that end.

“He's not scared of anything, mate. He's a winner. I love winners.

"We would never have won the Europa League without [Romero] and I think you need characters like that in your dressing room.

“You've got to control them, although I don't think control is the right word. You try and steer them in a way where the good outweighs the bad. But you've also got to accept that there's going to be bad."

Postecoglou continued, acknowledging that Romero has a tendency to let his passion get the better of him.

"Now, does he cross the line? Yeah, he does.

Brothers in arms: Ange Postecoglou and Cristian Romero

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“You know, he'd cross the line at training sometimes and the coaches would go, 'oh, you know', I'd go 'well, you go tell him, I'm not telling him'. But you need that mentality in a group. Now, how you control that, you need to harness that."

His experience of winning the World Cup may be a root cause of his discontent, though, as Postecoglou suggested Romero’s frustration could stem from comparing his club career to those of his Argentina team-mates.

"I think part of his frustration, his outburst about the club, is that he's mixing with [Enzo] Fernandez or a [Lisandro] Martinez and he's saying, well, how come they're signing players to win and we're not? Why? I want to win.”

It is a complaint Postecoglou has echoed. Speaking in an earlier edition of The Overlap, the Australian hit out at the club’s lack of ambition in the transfer window.