Michael Owen has criticised Richarlison after becoming frustrated with the Tottenham Hotspur striker running offside again and again versus Sporting.
Tottenham went away to Lisbon on Tuesday night, seeking another win having beaten Marseille 2-0 in the Champions League last week.
However, Antonio Conte’s men were woefully flat against Sporting and didn’t even manage to come away with a point.
Late goals from Paulinho and Arthur Gomes handed Sporting a 2-0 win, leaving Conte with must to consider – especially in the final third.
Michael Owen has criticised Richarlison
Conte went with the same front three for the third game in a row; Harry Kane up top with Son Heung-min and Richarlison flanking him.
That was good enough to beat Fulham and Marseille but didn’t quite work the same way against Sporting.
Tottenham struggled to create clear chances against Sporting and Dejan Kulusevski must have been wondering just what on earth he was doing on the bench.
Richarlison has largely enjoyed a positive impact on this Tottenham side but Tuesday was not his greatest night.
One big frustration with the Brazilian was that he kept running offside.
Richarlison would latch on to through balls beyond the Sporting defence but Tottenham would be stopped in their tracks by the offside flag.
Richarlison was caught offside three times last night – more than the rest of the Tottenham team combined.
Son has been outstanding at beating the offside trap in recent years but last night’s game showed that Richarlison could still learn a thing or two from the South Korean star.
Pundit Michael Owen really wasn’t happy at all, criticising Richarlison whilst speaking on BT Sport’s Champions League Tonight.
Owen suggested that he just ‘can’t stand it’ when players keep running offside, claiming it’s simply ‘amateurish’ to be caught out like that so regularly.
Owen added that Richarlison is offside ‘all the time’ and it isn’t a case of bad luck and being narrowly offside, it’s significant distances.
The former Liverpool ace added that Richarlison can brush up on that side of his game as the offsides are ultimately holding him and Tottenham back.
“I can’t stand people that run offside all the time, I can’t stand it,” said Owen. “I think it’s so amateurish really. You should never be miles offside. If you mistime a run, okay, you’re just offside, but you know what, there are certain players – and Richarlison is one – that are just offside all the time – all the time. If somebody goes to knock a ball, you’ve got to make sure you’re this side of the defender. This is not like bad luck, ‘ooh he’s just mistimed it’ or anything like that – it’s every time with him. He’s a very good player but he could definitely brush up on that side of things,” he added.
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