Graham Roberts has criticised Jamie O’Hara for what he said about Pape Matar Sarr before Tottenham lost 1-0 to AC Milan.
What’s the story?
Well, Spurs found themselves with a shortage of midfield options ahead of their trip to the San Siro, after Rodrigo Bentancur was ruled out for the rest of the campaign with a knee injury.
Yves Bissouma was also ruled out while Pierre-Emile Højbjerg found himself suspended, so Antonio Conte was forced to start the 20-year-old Sarr alongside Oliver Skipp against the Italian giants.
When the starting lineup emerged, O’Hara said on Twitter that he “might as well” turn his TV off in what was a horrendous comment to make, especially as he has been in Sarr and Skipp’s position during his playing career.
Understandably, Roberts was furious, hitting out at the 36-year-old as he referred to the fact Glenn Hoddle was just 17 when making his debut, and himself only 21 years of age as he called on the talkSPORT pundit to back Tottenham’s youngsters.
Roberts seems to mainly be talking about Sarr in his use of the word debut – it was the Senegal international’s first Champions League appearance, whereas it was Skipp’s fifth outing in the competition.
Sarr embarrassed O’Hara with stunning Tottenham performance
In our view, O’Hara should have waited until full-time until sharing his thoughts, as Sarr made him eat his harsh words with a tremendous performance.
In truth, it looked as if the £14.6m man had been playing Champions League football for years.
As WhoScored shows, Sarr completed more passes than any of his teammates with 59, while he also won five successful tackles – again, no Tottenham player registered more.
The Senegalese maestro also had three shots – once again, no Spurs player recorded more.
It was a mature display, and hopefully, Sarr can continue proving doubters like O’Hara wrong.
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