Tottenham Hotspur had another disappointing outing at mid-week, drawing 2-2 to Bodo Glimt in the Champions League, needing a late own goal - of all things - in order to salvage a meager point against one of the weakest sides in the competition this year. You know, the same side Spurs beat pretty handily to reach last season's Europa League Final.
Spurs were playing that game without their best player, as world-class center back Cristian Romero was held out of the game - not even traveling to Norway - as a precautionary measure after missing practice with a late injury.
Tottenham looked way worse than expected against Bodo Glimt, totally disjointed without their captain. That speaks volumes about how far Spurs still have to go before Thomas Frank can truly say he has turned things around at the club.
Tottenham get their best man back
On the bright side, Frank confirmed at the press conference on Friday before Saturday's tricky clash against newly promoted Leeds before the October international break (usually a double whammy for Tottenham) that Romero is ready to play again:
“Romero is fit and available and he will start tomorrow. That's positive. It was contact to the foot. The medical staff did well with the turnaround."
Big ups to the medical staff, of course, and it's obviously wonderful to have Romero back after just missing one game. Yet of concern in the back of everyone's mind should be how poor Spurs looked without him for just one game against Bodo Glimt. Now, missing Romero obviously wasn't the only factor in why Spurs lost, but maybe Tottenham are becoming too reliant on the special few to carry the ordinary many to results.
With Leeds looking like a team capable of producing upsets and playing spoiler to bigger sides this season, Tottenham need all hands on deck, and they don't usually have the best track record against underdog opponents. Look no further than these two rather dreary draws against Wolves and Bodo Glimt in the past week alone.
Romero standing next to Micky van de Ven at the back will due wonders - and not just defensively. Tottenham lost so much on the ball in terms of progression, starting from back to front, without the World Cup winning Argentinian international balling out. It will be great to see him out there, but hopefully more players, especially in midfield, can step up for Spurs overall progressive play.