Cristian Romero comments: 'Disgraceful' that Tottenham had '11 players available' against Man City, says Spurs captain
Cristian Romero, who played against Manchester City despite being ill, has called it "unbelievable but true and disgraceful" that Tottenham Hotspur had only "11 players available" for the game; Thomas Frank's injury list at Spurs continues to increase
Monday 2 February 2026 21:16, UK
Tottenham captain Cristian Romero has described it as "disgraceful" that Spurs had only 11 players available for their game against Manchester City.
Thomas Frank is under pressure at Tottenham with the team on a run of six games without a win in the Premier League and languishing down in 14th in the table. But they came from two down against City on Sunday to salvage a 2-2 draw in front of their fans.
Romero was forced off at half-time through illness, having struggled through away to Eintracht Frankfurt in midweek, and the Argentina international's comments on Instagram appear to reflect his frustration at the club's current predicament.
"Great effort from all my teammates yesterday, they were incredible," Romero posted on Monday.
"I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn't feeling well, especially since we only had 11 players available - unbelievable but true and disgraceful.
"We'll keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around, working hard and staying together. All that's left is to thank all of you for being there and for always supporting us."
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It is the second time in a few weeks that Romero has aired his frustrations on social media. After Tottenham's 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth last month, Romero appeared to blast the club's hierarchy for "lies" in a post that he later edited.
It originally read: "At times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don't - as has been happening for several years now. They only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies."
The words "to tell a few lies" were later removed, and Frank defended Romero for his "mistake".
Why have Spurs been left so short?
Tottenham have more players currently injured than any other team in the Premier League, with 13 absentees at present - many of them long term.
James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski have been unavailable all season, while Rodrigo Bentancur, Mohammed Kudus, Lucas Bergvall, Richarlison, Ben Davies, Kevin Danso and Pedro Porro are also out.
With minor concerns over Djed Spence, Micky van de Ven and Dominic Solanke too, Frank faces more selection dilemmas ahead of the visit to Manchester United on Saturday.
Tottenham have made two first-team additions in this window, having brought in Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid and young Brazilian left-back Souza from Santos. There was interest in Antoine Semenyo but the player opted to join Manchester City instead.
It is understood the club's position is that better options are likely to become available in the summer, when it plans to invest heavily.
