Ray Parlour singled out the ‘awful’ Serge Aurier and questioned Jose Mourinho’s tactics after Tottenham Hotspur’s staggering Europa League exit at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb, while speaking to talkSPORT (19 March, 9:00am).
After a two-goal defeat in North London last week, the Dinamo fanbase may have been hoping for a brief flicker of hope in the return leg on Thursday night; perhaps a consolation goal, if they were lucky.
But what followed at the at the Stadion Maksimir would have had even the most optimistic of supporters wondering if they had fallen into a fever-induced slumber.
A glorious Mislav Orsic hat-trick turned the tie around inside just 60 minutes, firing Dinamo into the quarter-finals while dumping out a Tottenham side who produced a performance as bad as any in recent memory in the Croatian capital.
Spursy, indeed.
With the autopsy underway, Parlour took aim at Aurier, the eternally error-prone right-back, while pointing out that Mourinho’s reactive tactics allowed Dinamo to dictate proceedings with a place in the last-eight on the line.
“Aurier; he was awful,” the Arsenal legend said.
“I didn’t understand the tactics; ‘let’s sit off and defend’ – it invites pressure. I don’t think (Tottenham) started the game on the front foot and it gives the other team an opportunity.”
Aurier was torn apart by the rampaging Orsic all night, choking on the Croatian’s dust as he fired home a brilliant winner in extra time.
With FootMercato claiming that Mauricio Pochettino wants to reunite with the Ivory Coast international at PSG, Aurier’s performance on Thursday night will have Tottenham fans imploring the club to take the money and run for the hills.
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