6 hours ago
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Igor Tudor’s messaging was always going to be key. All eyes and ears were on the interim Tottenham head coach on Thursday night and how he would react; the tone he would look to set. Would there be another blast for the players? Goodness knows, the material was there.
It had been another impossibly awful occasion at the club’s home stadium, another defeat – this one by Crystal Palace. Spurs cannot buy a Premier League win at the Temple of Gloom; they have two all season, the basis for the worst home record in the division. As relegation fears sharpen to an incredibly uncomfortable point, the emotions in the stands ranged from apathy to anger. A lot of anger.
Tudor has been in the role for nearly three weeks, having replaced Thomas Frank, and before kick-off against Palace his words in public about the challenge he has taken on and the players he has inherited had largely been negative.
The top line came after last Sunday’s defeat at Fulham; how the team were “lacking” in three areas – defence, midfield and attack. Actually, there was a fourth – the “brain” department. Before the game, he had said the players were not fit enough and questioned their desire to put in the hard yards without the ball. He has described the overall situation as an “emergency”, tougher than he envisaged and most likely his hardest job in management.
Tudor reached for a different lever after Palace. He was positive, insisting he had seen something from the players; energy and passion. He said his belief had increased. Well, if the big stick does not work …
It was of a piece with Tudor’s approach to tactics and selection – trying one thing and then lurching to another. Everything on the hoof. For his first match, the home loss against Arsenal, he started with a 3-3-3-1 formation. At Fulham, it was 4-4-2. Against Palace, it was 5-4-1. Nothing has worked and a picture has formed: Tudor groping desperately for the solution, flailing in the face of the general panic; time against him, everything against him.
Tudor was kidding nobody after Palace. Everything is relative. Spurs were better in the second half, not suffering further, but only after surrendering the game in the first, going in at 3-1 down and with Micky van de Ven sent off. This team have an uncanny knack for rallying when the result looks beyond them. They were edgy in the first half, without an obvious strategy to progress up through the thirds. They were just so fragile. Palace eased off after the interval.
This was the game that Spurs wanted to be the catalyst for Tudor’s tenure. Instead, there are questions from supporters about whether he should remain in charge because there has been zero evidence of a new manager bounce. Should he be Stellini-ed?
The Spurs board are in no mood to make a kneejerk decision after three matches. Who would be out there to come in and save the day? The market is limited – just as it was when the club sacked Frank on 11 February. Nothing has changed. Big names were linked after his departure. It is fair to say that none of them fancied it at that moment. Nothing has changed there, either.
It would be remiss of the board not to draw up a worst-case scenario contingency. Equally, if there was an acknowledgment that Frank was never the main problem, the same is true of Tudor. Changing him, for example, would not bring back the numerous injured players.
There remain nine league games to play; the next in the competition is at Liverpool on Sunday week – after Tuesday’s Champions League last 16 first leg at Atlético Madrid. The captain, Cristian Romero, is primed to return from suspension, albeit Van de Ven must now sit out one domestic match.
Internally, the key to turning things around is regarded as recovering the missing players and instilling some confidence. Djed Spence should be back soon, maybe for Atlético. There is also the feeling that the public have not been able to see Tudor’s depth and richness; it has not been easy for him to communicate in his third language behind Croatian and Italian.
Still, it is a mess. Tudor’s appointment felt risky because he had no experience of English football, no connection with Spurs which might have enthused the fans. He has suggested that he is finding out which players he can trust but three matches have slipped by. Rebuilding belief and morale is easier said than done. Those are at rock bottom.
There is the sense of the players knowing what they want to do but being unable to do it; an inhibition, a trapped energy that can spill into frustration. Witness Pedro Porro’s performance against Palace. He raged at his goalkeeper, Guglielmo Vicario, after Ismaïla Sarr had put Palace 3-1 up. He raged at an assistant referee after a decision went against him. And, when he was substituted on 73 minutes, he banged his hand against a dugout seat before hurling a water bottle at the ground.
Porro had taken over the captain’s armband after Van de Ven’s red card. He plays on the edge but it felt as though he went over it, and it talked to the wider issue of the strength and stability of the squad’s leadership group.
Spurs have lost five league games in a row and are without a win in 11 – their worst run since 1975. They have conceded at least two in the past nine. The soul-searching is everywhere, especially in the dressing room. They can feel that the apocalypse is now.
