Son Heung-min endured a difficult night as captain as Tottenham Hotspur dropped points in their opening match of the new Premier League season.
Every team had played this weekend, with nothing untoward happening, no upsets and straightforward results.
But Leicester City, after they won the Championship outright last season, made sure there was a little surprise as they weathered the first-half Tottenham storm and secured a valuable point.
It infuriated Jamie O’Hara and he didn’t hold back in his criticism of the players, with Son told that he ‘wasn’t good enough’ before he was subbed off by Ange Postecoglou in stoppage-time.
The London club should have been well ahead in the first half. Pedro Porro’s header opened the scoring and if Spurs went into the break 3-0 up, then you wouldn’t have been surprised.
But they left the door ajar and Leicester punished their opponents, with the crowd remaining firmly behind their team and Jamie Vardy coming back to haunt Spurs again.
Vardy was left unmarked at the back post and he headed home, and in truth, he should have won the game for his team in the end, but his one-v-one effort was saved by Spurs goalkeeper, Guglielmo Vicario.
The manner in which Tottenham conceded didn’t sit well with O’Hara and he called out centre-back and World Cup winner, Cristian Romero.
The former midfielder stated it’s an ‘absolute shambles’ and questioned his ‘world-class’ ability and why he decided to wander off and leave Vardy all on his own, as he told talkSPORT (19/08/24 at 10:15 pm).
“Disappointing second half, Son wasn’t good enough and we should have put them to bed in the first half,” said O’Hara.
“Just watching the Leicester goal back. What’s Romero doing? The goal that they score. I mean, look, it’s a great header from Vardy. Where is Romero going? I mean, honestly, world-class defender, won the World Cup and an absolute shambles.”
Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea will feel deflated after they endured a poor start to the new Premier League season.
Before a ball was kicked, the London duo would have been backing themselves to finish in the top four and secure Champions League football – and they will still be thinking in that manner.