Tottenham Hotspur’s Hugo Lloris has been slammed by The Independent’s Jack Rathborn for his ‘dreadful’ display for France in the World Cup’s Round of 16.
It finished 3-1 to Les Blues who defeated Poland. Olivier Giroud netted the first, followed by a Kylian Mbappe brace.
Lloris did almost gift a goal to Przemyslaw Frankowski and then, later on, dropped the ball on Robert Lewandowski’s head, but he was able to recover the ball.
The 35-year-old has featured in three of France’s World Cup matches, against Australia and Denmark, as well as Poland.
Rathborn highlighted the mistakes made by Lloris in his match rating. However, did mention the shot saved from Piotr Zielinski.
He said: ‘Lloris 5: Stood tall to deny Zielinski’s powerful hit, even if it was straight at him. But poor distribution almost gifted Frankowski a route on goal. And dreadful handling to drop the ball on Lewandowski’s head and luckily gathers after the bounce.’
TIF’s view on Rathborn’s comments…
We agree that Lloris did have a couple of shaky moments in the clash against Poland. However, the overall rating is maybe a little harsh.
He did recover the drop on Lewandowski’s head and made a great save early on in the first half, which lead to Raphael Varane clearing the rebound off the line. He also saved a penalty initially, but it was retaken due to Lloris being off his line and some French players being in the box when the ball was kicked. Robert Lewandowski then scored the retaken spot-kick.
There’s no doubt that the Spurs stopper has been a terrific player for them over the years. In the 2020/21 campaign for example, Lloris made 114 saves that season and kept 12 clean sheets.
In addition, he’s been a reliable hand for Tottenham and France. For his club, the 35-year-old has played 437 times, for his club, Lloris has amassed 142 caps for his nation and is their captain.
He may have had some tense moments against Poland, but Lloris will go down in the history books as a top-class keeper for years to come.
