Hugo Lloris had an evening to forget as Tottenham Hotspur were knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Paul Robinson has urged Tottenham to axe Hugo Lloris from the starting XI despite the goalkeeper being an ‘important’ member of the dressing room, as he told Football Centre on Sky Sports (11/03/20 at 11:25 am).
The former England player thinks Spurs should follow Frank Lampard in taking their number one keeper out of the spotlight because the Chelsea boss did just that with Kepa when his form dipped.
It hasn’t been long since Lloris returned from a long-term injury, prior to the Frenchman dislocating his shoulder, his form was going the wrong way, and he showcased his error-prone ways once again when Tottenham were knocked out of the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Robinson, who has donned the gloves for both Spurs and England, knows exactly what it’s like being out-of-form as a keeper, as he thinks Lloris needs taking out of the spotlight.
“I think before his injury, he was poor, he didn’t play particularly well,” Robinson told Sky Sports. “And there were calls for him to be taken out of the team. His relationship with Pochettino was a very, very close one, so I don’t know whether that would have happened or not.
“In hindsight, you need someone to say ‘just have a little rest, come out of the team for a couple of weeks’. If the manager handles it correctly by saying ‘you are going to have three or four games out, you’re not playing particularly well, but you’re coming back in. You have been dropped, but it’s a rest’.
“Like Frank has done at Chelsea with Kepa. There is a time where they need to be taken out of the spotlight. Hugo’s injury perhaps came at the right time for him because the pressure was mounting on him and you could see him crumbling a little under that pressure. The rest he has had and the time away from the game would be good for him.
“He needs to come back stronger. For him to come back now and be criticised. He was at fault [against RB Leipzig] for a couple of goals. He could have done better. But he is a big character around the place. He is the captain. And an important part of the dressing room. But he now needs to go and rediscover the form that made him the top-class goalkeeper that he is.”
Paulo Gazzaniga and Michel Vorm are Tottenham’s other keepers, with the latter rejoining the club earlier on in the campaign when Lloris suffered his injury.
Vorm was picked to start Tottenham’s FA Cup defeat to Norwich City earlier this month, and it’s fair to say that he didn’t enjoy his time in between the sticks.
Come the summer, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Spurs do dip into the market for a new keeper because Lloris has been a marmite-like figure for some while now.
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