Crocked Tottenham keeper Guglielmo Vicario was spotted flipping his lid in the stands after Fraser Forster’s horror show against Manchester United.
Former Celtic hero Forster, 36, had a night to forget last night after his two blunders almost cost Spurs a place in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup. Ange Postecoglou’s side stormed into a three-goal lead in North London before the visitors were gifted a way back into the game following two moments of madness by Forster.
Joshua Zirkzee capitalised on a loose pass from the veteran goalie to snatch one back just after the hour mark, before ex-Rangers loanee Amad Diallo punished another mistake as Forster failed to deal with a routine clearance. The giant Englishman has received huge plaudits for his performances between the sticks since deputising for first-choice Vicario. But the injured Italian was seen losing his cool in the stands just moments after Forster’s second clanger in the 4-3 thriller.
Sky Sports cameras caught Vicario – who has been sidelined since fracturing his ankle during the 4-0 win at Man City last month – reacting furiously after United’s second goal. The 28-year-old was captured venting his frustrations as he sat in between Mikey Moore and Destiny Udogie. It’s unclear whether the Spurs No1 was angry with Forster or at the defenders for putting the shotstopper under pressure as pundit Jamie Carragher pointed out: “He’s made plenty of mistakes over the 18 months he’s been here, so I don’t know if he’s having a go at the goalkeeper or the defenders or the fact they’ve given him the ball back.”
Yet while Forster had an uncharacteristically bad night at the office, boss Postecoglou refused to throw his stand-in goalie under the bus as he leapt to his defence. The ex-Parkhead gaffer said: “He is disappointed because he was outstanding for us. Even before then in the first half I thought he was really good with his feet, he found some great solutions. The first one probably affected his confidence a little bit and he lost a bit of belief and the second one compounded it. But he is a big boy mate and he is another one who has stood up for us big time in this period.
“I can’t speak highly enough of this group of players. Again tonight we had 10 players from our list unavailable for one reason or another. We had a day’s rest less than Man Utd and we are not able to rotate the squad the way we want to, like other clubs can because we just don’t have the numbers. We are not just getting through games we are still maintaining our level of football. As I keep saying we will get to some smoother waters at some point but this period is going to see us have enormous growth.”