Glen Johnson has slammed Kieran Trippier on talkSPORT for panicking with his indefensible own goal in Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on Wednesday night.
The former England and Liverpool right-back claimed Trippier should have taken one of three or four far better options available to him rather than end up slotting the ball past Hugo Lloris in calamitous fashion at Stamford Bridge.
“Your safety net is just booting it off the park, worst case,” Johnson told the Jim White programme on talkSPORT on Thursday afternoon. “The minute you know your keeper’s not getting there, you’ve still got the ball, Willian’s not close enough to take it off you, there’s really no need to panic.
“It was costly for Tottenham. Trippier’s a fantastic player, he’s been great for them. It’s a lapse in concentration. You’re playing in the Premier League, that shouldn’t really happen. There were three or four options he could have made that would not have resulted in a goal.”
"Your safety net is just booting it off the park."
"Trippier is a fantastic player, but that really shouldn't happen."@Glen_Johnson has his say on Kieran Trippier's mistake against Chelsea. pic.twitter.com/e2t5cDzkxp
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) February 28, 2019
OPINION
Trippier will have nightmares about his own goal against Chelsea for weeks, and possibly months, to come. How he could have ended up scoring one of the most catastrophic Premier League own goals of recent times from such an innocuous position is bewildering for a player who was feted as one of the best in Europe in his position last year. Yet, regular Spurs observers have been critical of Trippier for some time. They have regularly noted how his standards have markedly dropped this season and some claim he is still living off that World Cup semi-final free-kick for England. Trippier is perhaps only a regular in the Spurs side because of the inconsistencies of Serge Aurier, who is also prone to head-scratching blunders and rushes of blood. Many Tottenham fans are calling for Trippier to be axed – some want him sold this summer – and for youngster Kyle Walker-Peters to be given an extended run in the team.