Freddie Ljungberg believes that Hugo Lloris should take full responsibility for Tottenham’s disappointing draw with Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday night.
Tottenham could only manage a 1-1 draw at home against the Portuguese club as ’s side missed out on the chance to seal their place in the knockout stages.
Former Spurs youngster Marcus Edwards returned to north to haunt his old club with a wonderful solo goal before Rodrigo Bentancur equalised late on.
The home side thought they had won in the dying seconds of the game, but a close and controversial VAR call disallowed ’s goal for offside.
While that incident overshadowed proceedings, Ljungberg was keen to highlight goalkeeper Lloris’ part to play in what was a dismal first half for Spurs.
While Edwards’ effort was very good, the French shotstopper ought to have saved it given the distance and angle of the shot.
‘It was quick play, Gomes goes into the middle of the park, it’s a long, long way out for Edwards,’ Arsenal legend Ljungberg told CBS Sports.
‘But I am sorry, Lloris you need to do better on that, especially when there is so much at stake. He has struggled a bit lately.’
The 35-year-old Spurs captain has endured a mixed campaign so far, putting in some good performances to held the Lilywhites mount a title challenge.
But recent games have once again shown Lloris’ weaknesses and lack of consistency, with the keeper responsible for both goals in last Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Newcastle.
He recovered to make several great saves against Sporting but again came under scrutiny for rushing out of his box and getting caught in no man’s land, with the offside flag saving his blushes.
Ljungberg added: ‘Hopefully, it’s offside. But I hold him responsible for the first one, then doing this at the end of the game, sorry Lloris, that’s not good decision-making.’
Conte will be hoping that Lloris and Tottenham can turn their bad form around before their next game when they travel to Bournemouth on Saturday.
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