Jamie O’Hara brutally rips into “embarrassing” Tottenham duo vs Sunderland

Jamie O’Hara slammed Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven for their “embarrassing” defending in Tottenham Hotspur’s 1-0 defeat against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Spurs in real trouble after defeat at Sunderland

With West Ham United running out 4-0 winners against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday night, Tottenham were under pressure to respond with a victory of their own, but they came up short, in a loss that leaves them in serious trouble.

Nordi Mukiele scored the only goal of the game, consigning Roberto De Zerbi to a defeat in his first match as Spurs boss, and his side remain in 18th place, two points from safety in the Premier League, having now played the same number of games as West Ham.

To make matters worse, captain Romero had to be substituted in the second half, following a collision with Antonin Kinsky, and the Argentinian was pictured leaving the field in tears.

Prior to being replaced by Kevin Danso, the 27-year-old had made three tackles and won all three of the aerial duels he’d contested, but O’Hara was left less than impressed by his defending in the build-up to Mukiele’s goal.

Speaking live on Sky Sports, the pundit said: “Two players, Van de Ven, Romero, turning their back! Turning their back on the edge of the box! Embarrassing. 1-0 Sunderland. Embarrassing.”

Spurs were perhaps a little unfortunate to concede, with the goal taking a wicked deflection, but the performance as a whole wasn’t good enough, with Dominic Solanke squandering the only big chance they created throughout the entire match.

Six cup finals left for Tottenham

De Zerbi was always going to be up against it, taking over a side still searching for their first Premier League win this calendar year, and he has a huge job on his hands trying to turn their fortunes around, heading into the final six games of the season.

However, with Spurs projected to lose over £250m if they drop to the second tier for the first time since 1977, it is absolutely vital the Italian starts getting a tune out of his players quickly, and the manager is set to renew acquaintances with his former club next time out.