- Jamie Carragher criticised Tottenham after their defeat by Nottingham Forest
- Carragher described Tottenham as ‘naive’ and hit out at ‘academy’ defending
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Chris Sutton explains why Trent Alexander-Arnold might be better off staying at Liverpool
Jamie Carragher criticised Tottenham following their defeat by Nottingham Forest as he claimed that Ange Postecoglou’s side resemble an ‘academy’ team defensively.
Tottenham, who are in 16th place in the Premier League table but are safe from relegation, found themselves 2-0 down after just 16 minutes at home to Forest, with Elliott Anderson and Chris Wood scoring.
Although Richarlison got a goal back late on it was another frustrating night for Tottenham, who have suffered 18 Premier League defeats this season.
Carragher claimed that Tottenham are ‘so naive’ with regards to how they play defensively.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Carragher said: ‘Spurs are just so naive, like an academy at times how they perform defensively.
Lens boss Will Still, who was a guest on Monday Night Football, singled out Tottenham defender Micky Van de Ven for criticism in the build-up to Wood’s goal.
Jamie Carragher criticised Tottenham following their 2-1 defeat by Nottingham Forest
Carragher hit out at Tottenham, describing them as being like an ‘academy’ team defensively
Still said: ‘You can see Van de Ven’s got contact with Chris Wood and then he just lets him have two, three yards of space. You know when you give Chris Wood that time and space in the box with that quality of delivery he’s going to score.’
Carragher added that Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is seen as vulnerable when the ball comes into the box.
Carragher said: ‘They actually feel this is a huge weakness for Tottenham. The goalkeeper’s not great. He’s not great on the first one, he’s not great on this one either. He’s never great with the ball coming into the box. It’s definitely something they’ve identified that this is a weakness for Tottenham Hotspur.’
Postecoglou has frequently stated that he feels his team have performed well yet have been let down by a couple of mistakes but Carragher says that he is concerned by such an approach.
Carragher expressed his belief that Postecoglou should see Tottenham’s actions off the ball as being of the same importance as how they perform in possession.
He said: ‘I think like when you listen to managers you feel like you get the same interview because he’s talking about the same problems but it’s his job to fix them.
‘We shouldn’t forget they are in poor form – they lost last week at Wolves 4-2. The worry for me a little bit if I was a Spurs supporter, the manager’s talking about we play good football, we’ve let ourselves down with a couple of mistakes.
‘On the back of last week at Wolves, after the game he said they played well. That would worry me a little bit. That would tell me that a manager’s sole focus, not sole, but a big thing for him is how his team’s playing with the ball. If they play well with the ball he’ll feel like his team have played well.
Carragher also expressed his frustration with Ange Postecoglou’s approach to the game
‘He’ll put that down tonight to a couple of mistakes. You can’t say you played well away at Wolves if you lose 4-2. Football’s about with the ball and without the ball and if you played well it means you’ve done well in both categories and that never really happens with Tottenham. We highlighted before the problems they have defensively and within 16 minutes they’re getting beat 2-0.’
Although it has been a miserable campaign for Tottenham in the Premier League, they still have a chance of glory in the Europa League and will take on Bodo/Glimt in the semi-finals of that competition.
