Alan Shearer has ripped into three Tottenham players for wilting in the face of the Burnley storm on Saturday.
The Match of the Day pundit pointed the finger at centre-back trio Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen and Juan Foyth for each having “a nightmare” against strike duo Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood.
The forward pair netted either side of Harry Kane’s goal to secure three points for Burnley and deliver a crushing blow to Spurs’ title hopes.
“Tottenham didn’t turn up against Burnley and players lost their individual battles,” Shearer told the Sun. “Burnley are back to being horrible to play against and deserved to win.
“Their strikers Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood gave Spurs’ centre-backs a nightmare. And Tottenham didn’t do enough to win the game — despite having Harry Kane back from injury.”
OPINION
Shearer does not explicitly name Vertonghen, Alderweireld and Foyth, but he makes it clear who he is referring to, as he slams the “centre-backs” in the three-man defensive system deployed by Mauricio Pochettino at Turf Moor. The manager would have been convinced that the trio would have been able to stand up to the unique physical threat represented by Wood and Barnes, who have been key to their team’s recent revival. That they could not will lead to questions as to why Davinson Sanchez, who has such a good record against physical forwards, was left behind in London. There had been no pre-match confirmation of any injury or illness to the Colombian, whose strength is his strength. He recently showed when quelling Aleksandar Mitrovic in Spurs’ win at Fulham that he thrives against battering-ram front men. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Sanchez should started ahead of the callow Foyth at Turf Moor.