Tottenham Hotspur’s chances of advancing to the Champions League round-of-16 stages this season was dealt a huge blow on Wednesday night, with the 4-2 loss to Barcelona meaning they are now without a point in their two opening games.
The home side indeed put up a great fight against the Lionel Messi-inspired visitors, but try as they might, snatching a win looked beyond them, especially after conceding 92 seconds into the game.
Spurs goalie Hugo Lloris rushed off his line for no reason to allow Philippe Coutinho bag the opener, and while the error is his first leading to goal in the Champions League, the fact that he is the only player in double figures (10) for Premier League errors leading to a goal in the past three years shows exactly why the north London side can’t be considered as strong title contenders anytime soon.
Since arriving the club in 2012, the 31-year-old has committed 15 errors leading to goals, and although they aren’t exactly why Tottenham are yet to win the English Premier League, an unavoidable sense of what might have been, had he been less error-prone, remains.
A title-winning goalie gives his side around 12 to 15 points per campaign off his saves, and Lloris is clearly not that quality.
The France international tends to make the costly mistakes when the stakes are at their highest, and his gaffes at the World Cup against Argentina and Croatia might have cost the champions had they not scored four goals on both occasions.
Lloris is a fine keeper as they come, capable of making some breathtaking and logic-defying saves.
However, one could argue that a David DeGea would have helped Spurs to the title, or at least, made them stronger challengers.
This minute, the French goalie is drawing applause for his heroics, the next, he is embarrassing himself with some woeful and horrendous goalkeeping.
Lloris had plenty of nervy moments against Barcelona at Wembley, and the team lost the game the moment Coutinho was gifted a goal.
Nights like Wednesday’s show exactly just why Tottenham may never win the Premier League anytime soon with him in goal.
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