Hugo Lloris is a vital player in between the sticks for Tottenham Hotspur. Losing him this summer could prove very costly to their new campaign.
Lloris has been somewhat of a hero at times. He has pulled off countless saves to keep his team in games and often to keep them with 3 points intact at the end of play. For example, his penalty save against Steve Sidwell and the great reflex save against Hugo Rodallega against Fulham (Where Spurs won 3-1) are two great examples of this. These examples are just a couple of many great performances Lloris has had in his Tottenham career. Lloris has been elected for “man-of-the-match’ awards in many matches and has even talked to the press saying how he’s “disappointed” when he gets these awards because the goalkeeper should never be the man of the match as it means his team have been on the back foot. It’s almost as though Lloris has been the shining player in games where many of his team-mates haven’t turned up. His consistency levels and relentless fight make him suitable for a captain’s role for Tottenham, a role he already performs with his national team, France.
Whether he is playing for France or Tottenham, he is an exceptional goalkeeper. Incredibly fast off of his line, he is able to act as a ‘sweeper keeper’ behind his defence saving the day on many occasions. Of course not every time he charges out of his goal does he get it right, but more times than not he proves just how good he is at reading the game. Lloris has kept 14 clean sheets in 37 league appearances for Tottenham, which is quite an impressive stat on its own. For France in the World Cup, he has kept 3 clean sheets in 5 games, which at one point was a record in the tournament. In a World Cup of many goals, this is quite a feat to achieve.
Hugo Lloris must stay at Tottenham. Without a world class goalkeeper stopping those shots from going in, a close one nil victory may turn into a one all, or even two one loss. There aren’t many replacements for such a high quality keeper too, £10m was quite a bargain for him. It is quite imperative that Lloris doesn’t get injured either, for he is a key component in the Tottenham side. However, Brad Friedel can hold his own too. Friedel may be getting on a bit in terms of years and perhaps has a year left before he fully commits to being a goalkeeping coach for Spurs, but he still can keep his goal very well. His appearances in the Europa league have been very impressive overall. The part where Friedel might struggle is the possible over-reliance on a sweeper keeper. Many times Tottenham’s defence has been caught napping, and it has been up to Hugo Lloris to mop up the danger. Perhaps under Pochettino the leaky back four could become as strong as it was at the start of last season.
Spurs fans will dearly miss Lloris if he does go. For now he is a Tottenham player and a rather important one at that. The fans, and even the players will be hoping that the Frenchman will not be bidding them “Au revoir” soon.
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