Tottenham fans have taken to Twitter to slam former player Kieran Trippier during his outing for England on Saturday evening.
The ex-Spurs man, who joined Atletico Madrid over the summer, started at right back for the Three Lions against Bulgaria, and it didn’t take too long for his old supporters to get on his back.
For large parts of last season, the full-back struggled to hit top form in north London, and had something of a “car crash” campaign, even by his own admittance, as reported by the Telegraph.
And judging by his tendency to go wandering in the opening stages of England’s Euro 2020 qualifying clash, he still has some defensive frailties to work through.
Here are some of the best tweets from Tottenham fans.
https://twitter.com/THFC_Lane_/status/1170367553249665029?s=20
Ahhhhh I remember this version of Trippier
— Kidiabaponytail (@KidiabaPonyTail) September 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/SonTwoThree/status/1170367846100193287?s=20
To be fair to Trippier, he has enjoyed a fairly decent season in Spain so far.
Three La Liga matches have seen him average 2.3 tackles, 1.7 interceptions, and he his still yet to be dribbled past in the league, as per Whoscored.
But then again, those numbers aren’t vastly different from the ones he was putting up for Spurs last term, when he averaged 2.5 tackles and was dribbled past just 0.9 times per game.
But all through that campaign, there was a feeling that his wanderlust and regular lapses in concentration were an increasing liability, as seen by the fact that he made two errors leading to goals last season, as well as scoring an own goal, as per the Premier League.
https://twitter.com/AlDANyo/status/1170367860067250176?s=20
Just switched on the game & saw Trippier playing in white & being left behind his winger.
Deja Vu.
— Harsh Mishra (@SimplyWink) September 7, 2019
The real question is how Trippier has managed to hold down his place in the starting lineup in the face of such intense pressure on the right-back position.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Kyle Walker, the latter dropped by Gareth Southgate, have both been in superb form in the early stages of this season, while Trent Alexander-Arnold is a literal Champions League winner.
Whatever Southgate’s thinking, he may be rethinking it now, and if and when Trippier does get the axe, Spurs fans will be first in line to say “I told you so”.
https://twitter.com/JblincoTHFC/status/1170367475365666822?s=20
https://twitter.com/KauFFie_/status/1170367485356445697?s=20