Igor Tudor used “fragile” and “weak” in his post-match press conference. Inept, embarrassing, or dreadful also work. You’d be hard-pressed to find a team in Europe that is performing further below expectations than Tottenham Hotspur right now, but against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night their floor somehow caved in again.
Tudor announced before the game that, in Tottenham’s desperate state, the Premier League would take precedence over the Champions League — the one competition where Spurs have not been totally calamitous this term. In publicly prioritising their Premier League status — which is growing ever more perilous by the week — Tudor allowed himself to experiment. It could be the last time the boardroom let him cook.
Goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky was handed his first start since October in place of Guglielmo Vicario, an underperforming squad leader. The 17 minutes he played before he was substituted are ones he won’t ever forget, confirming Vicario’s undisputed place in goal for the remainder of the season by default. Sandwiched either side of an equally calamitous slip by Micky van de Ven, allowing Antoine Griezmann in for Atletico’s second, mishit passes by Kinsky led to two easy goals for the hosts — putting them far out of sight before they had the opportunity to attempt to gain a foothold.
A fourth was added soon after, with Pape Matar Sarr misdirecting his header towards Vicario, drawing a good save from the Italian, before Robin Le Normand converted the rebound.
“I’ve been coaching 15 years, I’ve never done this thing,” Tudor said in his post-match press conference, referring to substituting his goalkeeper. “It was necessary to preserve the guy, preserve the team. Incredible situation. Nothing to comment. It was, before the game, the right choice to do in the moment like we are. Pressure on Vicario. Another competition. Toni is a very good goalkeeper. It was, for me, the right decision. After happened this, of course, it’s easy to say that it was not right decision. So I explained to Toni speaking after. He’s a right guy and good goalkeeper, unfortunately happened in this big game, these mistakes.”
According to former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, speaking on CBS Sports, it was a “moment that everybody in football will always remember every time they see or hear his name”. On TNT Joe Hart slammed Tudor’s lack of humanity in failing even to acknowledge Kinsky, who will turn 23 on Friday, as he left the pitch. Paul Robinson described it as “selfish” on BBC Radio 5 Live, claiming that Tudor, the supposed specialist firefighter, was acting in “self-preservation”.
Aside from his employment, it’s hard to imagine Tudor wants to preserve anything from his dire 24-day, four-game spell as Tottenham head coach. And when asked whether he is the right man for that job, one he faces incessant questioning on his suitability for a role he has yet to show any promise in, he replied “no comment”. Words, he realises, count for precious little without substance.
Similar questions should be asked of those who hired him. Tudor has a reputation for improving faltering clubs on the continent, but it’s becoming increasingly apparent with every exasperated attempt to make sense of Tottenham’s “amazing” situation that he underestimated, or was undersold, the extent of the challenge.
And misplacing long-term planning over the club’s pressing short-term needs no longer stands up to scrutiny. For that, sporting director Johan Lange, chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and the controlling Lewis family, headed by Nick Beucher and Vivienne Lewis, bear responsibility.
Had they acted after Mohammed Kudus sustained a hamstring injury on January 4, perhaps Ademola Lookman, who started for Atletico and assisted their opening goal, might have been a Tottenham player. Had they identified the immediate, pressing need for a midfield playmaker, perhaps Spurs would have been more successful in keeping the ball.
This inaction, not just in January but over several windows and key junctures, is more to blame for the collapse at the Metropolitano than the hapless Tudor’s choice to give Kinsky a go.
Yet it’s the Croatian who seems most likely to be heading for the exit door in the immediate future. With Tottenham sitting 16th in the Premier League, just one point above the relegation zone, the decision to stick or twist has rarely, if ever, had greater consequences. Tudor appears out of ideas at a time when Tottenham need them most, but, given the circumstances, the list of possible alternatives is significantly shorter than the long line of injured players they will have to make do without.
One of their unavailable players is Van de Ven, whose red card in the 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace rules him out of the trip to Anfield to face Liverpool on Sunday. He might be joined on the sidelines by Joao Palhinha and Cristian Romero, who both finished the game off the pitch after colliding heads in injury time.
Losing Romero, who played his first game since earning a four-match ban for a second red card due to a late tackle on Manchester United midfielder Casemiro, for any more than the trip to Liverpool would be a hammer blow, with a true relegation six-pointer coming up against Nottingham Forest the following weekend.
Because if Tudor has got anything right as Tottenham coach, it’s that the Champions League didn’t matter before the 5-2 defeat on Tuesday, and definitely doesn’t matter now.
Tottenham have lost six games in a row for the first time in their history, and can hardly afford to lose many more — but they’d surely trade another sound beating next Wednesday for four points in their next two Premier League matches in a heartbeat.