Tottenham fans were full of praise for Paulo Gazzaniga’s display, despite their 2-1 defeat to Liverpool at the weekend.
Spurs travelled to the Premier League leaders as underdogs but took the lead after less than a minute into the game thanks to Harry Kane’s header. Spurs had to withstand a barrage of attacks from the home side for the rest of the game and it was only thanks to the impressive form of Gazzaniga that Spurs were able to hold onto their lead for so long.
Eventually, the Argentinian goalkeeper was beaten, first by a Jordan Henderson effort, before Mohamed Salah’s late penalty won it for the home side. The 27-year-old stopper received an 8.9 rating from WhoScored and was named Man of the Match by BBC Sport in their report on the game.
Gazzaniga has largely been a fringe player at Spurs since joining from Southampton in 2017; having played under Mauricio Pochettino with the Saints during his spell with the club. However, Hugo Lloris’ injury in Spurs’ 3-0 defeat to Brighton earlier this month has meant that Gazzaniga has enjoyed an extended stint in the first team.
Some of the best reactions to Gazzaniga’s performance can be seen in the tweets from Tottenham fans below:
@GazzanigaPaulo saved us from having another embarrassing result. Absolutely fantastic work!! No bad words to say about @OfficiaISonny either
— Janet Hill (@Janetsteps) October 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/nickprice153/status/1188545961389383686
he made all those saves all for it to be for nothing and for them to lose the game i feel sorry for him
— Jspurs (@Jspurs3) October 27, 2019
Excellent today Paulo. Could have been a lot worse without you
— Mark (@Evans1970Mark) October 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/tottenbacon/status/1188545724570574848
Amazing performance from this guy today. Could well have been a much more embarrassing defeat, if not for his swift responses
— i_sparkle (@Magic10Ball) October 27, 2019
Paulo was immense today!! Shame certain teammates dot not have the same desire as him to win today! He’s the only positive today! #COYS
— Enrique Guadiz (@EnriqueGuadiz) October 27, 2019
These tweets clearly show that Spurs fans felt Gazzaniga was very unfortunate to be on the losing side against Liverpool and that if it wasn’t for him, the loss could have been much more comprehensive.
What do we think?
It was not just Spurs fans heaping the praise on Gazzaniga, with Jurgen Klopp complimenting the Argentinian in his post-match press conference, saying “what a game he had.” Gazzaniga has an average rating of 7.02 per game (as per WhoScored) in the Premier League this season, which puts him in third place. Indeed, should he continue to perform in the absence of Hugo Lloris, he may even become a viable long-term replacement for the 32-year-old.