Tottenham Hotspur suffered a shock Europa League defeat to Royal Antwerp on Thursday with Martin Keown and Glenn Hoddle not exactly impressed with Davinson Sanchez’s role in Lior Refaelov’s winner, speaking to BT Sport (29 October, 10.30pm).
To the untrained eye, the easiest thing would be to blame Ben Davies for a continental defeat that few saw coming in Belgium.
The Welsh international, playing at centre-half rather than his preferred left-back role, was caught on the ball by Dieumerci Mbokani before the veteran forward set up a first-half winner for his strike partner Refaelov.
But Keown, a top-class defender in his day of course, felt that Sanchez did himself no favours either.
The Colombian raced across to close down Mbokani, all the while leaving Refaelov completely free to slam an emphatic finish from Hugo Lloris after he had been picked out in the penalty area.
“From a top player in Ben Davies, you wouldn’t expect this from him and (Antwerp) really cash in. Sanchez’s angle of approach makes it too easy. This was really sloppy from Tottenham,” Arsenal legend Keown says.
Former Tottenham manager Hoddle also took aim at Sanchez after Spurs suffered their first defeat since that 1-0 loss at Everton on September 13.
“It was terrible play. Sanchez really doesn’t do himself any favours. He’s got to say ‘I’ll back my goalkeeper’ because the angle Refaelov has is much better. As a defender, you should say ‘I’m going to show him down the outside, you’re going to go down the line and you’re going to score from there if you’re going to score’,” Hoddle says.
“There was no thought of that whatsoever from Sanchez and he paid the price.”
£42 million Sanchez may be the most expensive defender in Tottenham’s history but his decision making must improve if he is to ever live up to that massive price-tag.
It’s only two weeks since that own goal against West Ham saw Spurs drop two points in dramatic fashion after all.
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