'Utter b*llocks' - Tottenham fans left fuming as 'liability' Cristian Romero earns ANOTHER red card for brutal foul on Man Utd's Casemiro

Romero was considered to have "endangered" Casemiro with the force behind the tackle and was therefore given his marching orders by referee Michael Oliver. Explaining the decision, the Premier League Match Centre posted on X: "The referee's call of red card to Romero for serious foul play was checked and confirmed by VAR - with it deemed that the challenge was made with excessive force and endangered an opponent."

Fewer than 10 minutes later, Man Utd took the lead against their weakened visitors as Bryan Mbeumo steered the ball home after a clever set-piece routine. A man and a goal down, Spurs were left with a mountain to climb in the second half, with the red card leaving their fans raging on social media - either at the referee or the Tottenham skipper.

@SpursITKhub wrote: "Romero tax again. Refereeing atrocious from minute one, [Luke] Shaw not even getting booked when fouling [Conor] Gallagher when there’s an open goal. Utter b*llocks."

That sentiment was echoed by @thfckieran22, who suggested Romero's reputation as a hothead had preceded him. "Any other player on the pitch gets a yellow for that," they posted.

@BeanMaxb also took issue with the officiating, tweeting: "[Michael] Oliver was going to give him a red before the game even started."

However, others disagreed. @ProTHFC blamed the player, saying: "He simply does not need to do that! He is such a liability. Injury crisis going on, fighting against being dragged into a relegation fight and he does that and is now out for 3 games. So poor If he goes in the summer then so be it. As a captain you should not be doing that."

@xAlexTHFC agreed, writing: "Sick and tired of how many games he costs us tbh."

Commentator Ian Darke summarised: "Honestly think Spurs are better off without Romero. More trouble than he's worth."

This was the sixth red card of Romero's Tottenham career, and his timing overall is ironically as bad as his timing in the foul, as this latest dismissal comes in the same week that he publicly took aim at the Spurs board, seemingly over a lack of January signings.

After he was forced off in the draw with Man City due to illness, the centre-back posted on social media: "Great effort from all my team-mates yesterday, they were incredible. 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, the fans, @spursofficial."

Romero's most recent indiscretion does very little to help depleted Tottenham and head coach Thomas Frank, with the club currently marooned down in 14th place in the Premier League table. What's worse is that the 27-year-old now faces a four-game ban, rather than the usual three, because this is his second red card of the season after the one he picked up against Liverpool in December. He will therefore miss the clash with Newcastle, the north London derby against Arsenal and further capital city derbies against Fulham and Crystal Palace. Off the back of his public outburst, his absence will only fuel rumours that he is heading for the exits in the summer.