Tim Sherwood and Owen Hargreaves have said that Serge Aurier demonstrated exactly why Tottenham sold him with his poor defensive showing for Nottingham Forest against his former employers last weekend.
On Saturday, Aurier returned to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time since leaving the North London club back in 2021 but it was not an afternoon to remember for the right-back who has at fault for two of Spurs’ goals in their 3-1 win.
The 30-year-old was beaten to Pedro Porro’s cross by Harry Kane in the first half for the home side’s opener and his defending for Tottenham’s third also left a lot to be desired.
Aurier completely misread the flight of Richarlison’s cross into the box, missing the ball and thus allowing Son Heung-min to take two touches before slamming the ball past Keylor Navas from close range.
Sherwood was at a loss as to what the former Tottenham man was attempting to do for the third goal.
The 54-year-old said on MatchDay Extra on Premier League Productions (11/03/23 at 8:35 pm): “Richarlison, instrumental again, he finds the pass (to Son). I am not sure what Serge Aurier is doing there.
“That’s probably why he hasn’t got a white shirt on anymore. He has found himself at Nottingham Forest, but it’s a wonderful finish from Sonny. But Serge Aurier talk to me about this defending?!”
Hargreaves responded: “He used to do it a lot in a Spurs shirt. I think Sonny probably read him and exactly what he was going to do. I love that from Son. He reads the picture.”
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Spurs Web Opinion
To be fair to Aurier, he was generally defensively very good in a Spurs shirt, barring his tendency to lose concentration on occasions and give away needless penalties. However, his defending for Tottenham’s third goal on Saturday was completely indefensible.
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