Igor Tudor says his Tottenham players are not fit enough and has questioned their desire to put in the hard yards without the ball.
The interim head coach has a clearer idea of the problems he faces after two weeks – and there are many of them, including low levels of confidence and the capacity of the younger players to handle the pressure of a relegation battle.
Tudor knows there are reasons for the physical issues with the squad stretched by an injury crisis amid a punishing schedule. Although Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso are in contention to return for Sunday’s trip to Fulham, Tottenham will be without eight injured players plus the suspended Cristian Romero.
Tudor believes there is only one way out of the situation – an on-the-hoof fitness reboot in training, particularly as the club had no midweek fixture last week or this. The Croat surprised the players by working them extremely hard throughout last week and not tapering off before last Sunday’s home game against Arsenal, which they lost 4-1. As Tudor made plain, it is not a time to pander to player sensibilities.
“Physically, we are not in an amazing situation,” Tudor said. “They have played lots of games in the last period without lots of players available and it made the physical condition of the team drop down. So we need to use this period where we don’t play the games to put some petrol in the engine so the engine starts to work better.
“They are fatigued. To do the pressing high you need to be fit. But [it is] all of them because if someone is not in the right shape there is a problem because someone is coming late [to the press].
“The second thing is that there is the other goal to protect. It is easy to run there but you need to run back. If you run up and don’t run back it’s a problem. For sure, we will improve and do these things better over time but in this moment it’s a big question what we can do and what we cannot do.”
Tudor was asked about his full-throttle approach from the first training session. “Yes, that’s the only way – running,” he said. “The pitch is 100 yards, it’s long. So you need to run.
“Maybe you have habits to, I don’t know … work a bit less. I put some runs without the ball [into the sessions]. Never players like runs without the ball so we put some runs without balls. But it’s a moment when there is no time to think too much about what somebody doesn’t like. And the best thing is that they understand this. They gave me their availability to do these things.”
Tudor is under no illusions about the size of the challenge. It was put to him that the striker, Randal Kolo Muani, had played well against Arsenal. “That’s good, one good thing,” he replied.
What Tudor wants to see at Fulham and beyond is players such as Kolo Muani stepping up, accepting the responsibility. “Some players are still young,” he said. “They were brought here to help and now maybe they are in a moment where they need to resolve the problems.
“If you have too many of these players because of the amount of injuries, who are playing together in the squad, it does create some problems. But it is also an opportunity and a challenge to grow fast, to become a man. To say: ‘Come on, I’m the guy, give me the ball, I will score.’ Instead of just: ‘What can I do? I’m just here, you know.’
“It’s always how you see the situation. It’s not: ‘I’m just here. We had 15 players and I was always left out and now we have 10 players out, so I play.’ How do you really see that situation? If you are the right guy and positive, there is opportunity.”
Tudor has not dwelt for long on the derby with Arsenal. “No, no, forget that,” he said. It was never likely to be a game that would define the club’s survival hopes. The same is not true of Fulham – or the home fixture against Crystal Palace next Thursday.
“After the first game, I said if you play against the best team in the world at this moment, it’s not a realistic game to show [whether] we are soldiers or we are not soldiers,” Tudor said. “That’s the truth. They show they can be in some parts of the game. But for long periods we had problems, in defence especially. It’s not easy against them. Let’s see in the next games.”
