Cristian Romero promised to put 200% into Tottenham’s seven remaining “finals” in order to avoid a seismic Premier League exit.
Spurs’ survival hopes took an almighty hit after they suffered a demoralising 3-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest on Sunday to drop to 17th in the table and increase the possibility of a first relegation since 1977.
Tottenham’s winless run in the Premier League stands at 13 matches and despite fans flooding the streets in N17 to give the team bus a raucous welcome into the stadium, the pre-match optimism was swapped for a sense of inevitability after another abject defeat.
“It’s a difficult day for everyone, but the first thing is to speak about the fans. Thank you for today and always staying with us,” Romero said.
“They gave us fantastic support, but about us, it’s a bad day. Now it is finished and the most important thing is to understand the situation.
“It’s not easy but the most important thing is to get to national team and back here for the last seven finals.
“I promise [to] put 200 per cent in every one and for me it is not easy, but we have to stay all together. It’s a bad day yeah, but we will go again.”
Much-needed momentum for Spurs had been built by a spirited point at Liverpool and a 3-2 win over Atlético Madrid to increase belief that a first league victory of 2026 was on the horizon versus relegation-rivals Forest.
An estimated 10,000 Tottenham fans spilled onto High Road to create a partisan atmosphere ahead of kick-off, which filtered into the ground and was followed by an initially-positive first half.
Richarlison headed one chance wide, Forest forward Igor Jesus diverted a header onto his own crossbar, but Jesus delivered a stoppage-time sucker-punch before half-time and even though Mathys Tel responded with a curled effort against the crossbar, Spurs collapsed after the break.
A double change by Igor Tudor did not help, but too many home players switched off for Morgan Gibbs-White‘s second after 62 minutes before Taiwo Awoniyi‘s 87th-minute goal wrapped up a vital win for Forest to spark a mass exodus before full-time.
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Romero told SpursPlay: “Start of the game and also the first 45 minutes is like good, good in the pitch, not concede nothing and then the last minute, concede a really sloppy goal, but now it’s finished.”
Tottenham’s 10th home league loss of the campaign wiped out some of the goodwill ahead of kick-off, but more plans by fan groups are set to be in place for the next home fixture in N17 against Brighton on Apr. 18.
“It’s incredible and especially in this moment, after this season is no good. Honestly me [I’m] the first to take responsibility, but the fans thank you,” captain Romero added.
“Thank you every game, the support is brilliant and it’s only 1774361243 about the players, the staff and we need [to give] more, especially me the first, but the last seven finals we will go again.”