Igor Tudor will fight on with Tottenham against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday in a desperate bid for any positivity before the relegation six‑pointer at home against Nottingham Forest the following Sunday.
The interim manager, who is under contract until the end of the season, is not expected to last that long as his tenure lurches from one horror performance to the next, the latest being the 5-2 defeat at Atlético Madrid in the Champions League last‑16 first leg on Tuesday.
It made it four defeats out of four for Tudor since he took over from Thomas Frank; the first three were in the Premier League where Spurs are 16th, one point and two places above the relegation zone. Forest are 17th. Tudor’s team have let in 14 goals and were 4-0 down after 22 minutes at Atlético.
Two of the concessions were personal disasters for the goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, to whom Tudor had given a first appearance since 29 October. Tudor substituted the 22-year-old in the 17th minute at 3‑0 – a move that sparked criticism of his man-management.
Tudor’s approach in general has been to work the players incredibly hard in training, believing they are not fit enough, and to look to reinforce high standards when it comes to discipline and commitment to the cause. The way that he has cracked the whip, which also takes in the tone of his messaging, has not been effective so far.
Tottenham are keeping an eye on the market in the event that they have to sack Tudor but they are conscious it was limited when they dismissed Frank on 11 February and nothing has changed since. Big names were linked after Frank left and none of them fancied the job at that moment. Nothing has changed there, either, and it has left Tudor to look ahead to Anfield, where Spurs have four draws and no wins in 15 years.
Harry Redknapp, who managed Spurs successfully from 2008 to 2012, has been pushed in some quarters as the man to save the club from relegation, even though his last job with Birmingham ended in 2017. The 79-year-old addressed the idea at the Cheltenham festival where his horse, The Jukebox Man, will run in the Gold Cup on Friday.
“I’ve been asked a few times if I’d go back to Spurs and it’s probably not going to happen, is it?” Redknapp said. “Would I go back? Of course I would, but I doubt very much it’s going to happen. My only concern at the minute is The Jukebox Man in the Gold Cup. I’m nothing to do with Spurs any more. They haven’t been in touch, not at all.”
The Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven gave a candid interview to the Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport after the Atlético game. He was at fault for the second goal for 2-0, having been sent off in the previous game – the league defeat against Crystal Palace. He is banned for Liverpool. The return leg against Atlético is next Wednesday.
Van de Ven said: “It’s actually a doomsday scenario. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. For our goalkeeper it’s terrible as well, of course. You don’t wish that on anyone. It’s just really tough, and now we also have an important match this weekend that I won’t be able to play in because I’m suspended. It’s a really terrible period. It’s really, really awful.”
Van de Ven said that he no longer checked his phone. “I’m not on it any more, I’m completely done with it. Just my family, so it’ll be fine. I have to keep going. It’s part of it, that’s life and we’ll see what’s coming.”
