Danny Murphy was critical of Tottenham midfielder Christian Eriksen following his performance in the defeat to Leicester and believes that he must keep his levels to a high standard every game.
The 25-year-old played in a central midfield role on Tuesday night and was unable to prevent his side slipping to a 2-1 loss at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester secured the three Premier League points through first-half goals from Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, while Harry Kane netted his 16th goal of the season across all competitions.
Eriksen has gone in for criticism during the last few games and has seen his own individual level drop.
The playmaker has been in stunning form for nation Denmark after guiding them to the 2018 World Cup, but has not quite managed to replicate that at club level.
He has still managed four goals and four assists during his 18 games across all competitions this season for Spurs, but could face competition from duo Heung-Min Son and Erik Lamela for his starting position.
BBC pundit Murphy ripped into Eriksen for his quiet performance against Leicester and insisted that it was the type of game he should have grabbed by the scruff of the neck.
“Eriksen’s got to keep his levels up,’ Murphy told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I heard last month someone said Eriksen fancies a move to Barcelona. Well he’s going to have to play better.
“He is a good player and he scored a lot of goals especially at international level, but away at Leicester you’ve got to turn up.”
OPINION
The expectancy of Eriksen has shot up recently due to his star performance on the international stage and he has not quite managed to deal with that yet for Spurs. The creative maestro clearly has the ability to unlock defences with ease and is one of the best playmakers in the Premier League, but is just going through a poor run of form. Pochettino should stick by the Dane to play his way out of trouble as he can be Spurs’ most influential player on his day. Lamela’s long awaited return should increase the competition for places and see a lot of the players raise their levels to keep their spots.