Igor Tudor spoke to the media for the first time as our Head Coach on Friday afternoon, looking ahead to his first game in charge against Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.
Here’s what he had to say...
How much have you enjoyed your first few days at Spurs?
Igor: “I didn’t enjoy because I’m not here to enjoy, I’m here to work. Enjoying is just the first moment, after that there is work to do. It’s a privilege to be here, as I said before, at this fantastic club. Also I’m very focused and concentrated to do the right things that this club, this team and these fans need. I’m focused on that, I’m not thinking too much about what you asked me, to enjoy.”
How difficult will this job be, with all the injuries affecting the squad?
Igor: “It’s a very particular moment as you know, this very rare situation that you find with 10 players injured, with big injuries also. We made training with 13 players. It is how it is. It is not fantastic, beautiful, but in this case it’s an even bigger challenge to succeed and come out of this situation. Of course, 13 we will have for sure and it’s quite enough to achieve what we want on Sunday. And the first goal of all, of course I understand the importance of this game, this is a derby, a north London derby, everybody expects the three points from us. We are aware of this, but what was my goal in these first sessions we made is that we became a team, that we became a team in the really right meaning of the word. A team who want to suffer, we need to suffer, to fight, to run, to have the right mentality. This is the start. I was working on a lot of things, not everything because it’s not only football, it’s not only about that, it’s about having a clear idea of what we want to do, very specific things we want to do with the ball, without the ball, when we are pressing, when we are low. We work a lot but the start is always about mentality because the people come before the football player.”
How have you made such an immediate impact at your previous clubs?
Igor: “I don’t know. I do my job. Nothing special. I do the things that I believe are important. Nothing more, nothing less. Each coach has his own style to achieve the results. I have my style which I believe is the best. It’s never the same because there are always different characteristics, different clubs and different cultures, not even of the league but the club. Some clubs like this kind of football, some like this. You need to resolve the problems. Everywhere there are problems, if you go to the best clubs in the world, you believe there are not problems there but there are problems there like in the third division. It’s all about how you resolve the problems in a very quick time. It’s not easy but it’s okay.”
What have you told the players you expect from them on Sunday?
Igor: “We speak from day one. We have these three, four sessions, from day one, I go immediately to very concrete things, because there's no time to lose. Even choosing the exercise, I need to choose the exercise for in a short period, they can do an improvement, not losing too much time on basic principles, maybe sometimes I do. So, what I said, it's not, of course, possible in short training sessions to do big changes, but something we need to see, and I'm sure that we will see something. I saw the players very available, very motivated doing all the things. So, that's a nice start.”
Has it been easy or difficult to work out how you want to set the team up?
Igor: “I would say that it’s more difficult when you don’t have players, of course, but in one way, then it's easy to choose. The system, as I said on Tottenham television, is always after the style, after the mentality. As you know, during the game, the players move, change, so it's only the starting position, after it's all about fluidity, about movement, without the ball, of course. Then you need to choose from the characteristics of the players you have. That's the thing. With the players, if you have wingers, fantastic wingers, you can play with the wingers. If you have, I don't know, fantastic strikers, you can play with strikers or midfielders. So, that's the key. But it's not about the system. That's the last thing that's important. For this start, you know, what I said before, we need to become a team, we need to become a group of the people who are available, who will give something more, who will not watch themselves, but each other, to help them. So this is, for me, basic, and after, all the quality can come out, because this is a team that is full of quality, I believe, full of talented players, with good motor engines, I like to say, the legs who can run, you know. So, there is plenty of potential. So, to come out of this potential, some basic things need to be done.”
Is anyone coming back from injury for Sunday?
Igor: “Probably no, probably no. Solanke had some problems with his throat, but he made today some training. All others, probably someone next week.”
How proud are you to continue the history of top Croatian figures at Spurs?
Igor: “Yeah, my best friend was here, Stipe Pletikosa, the goalkeeper, and also the best player in the history of Croatian football, Luka Modric, so, of course, nice things happened. It was 10, 15 years ago, so it's passed a little bit of time, but it's nice.”
Did you work with Radu Dragusin at Juventus?
Igor: “Yeah, he came out as a young player in that period. I've been there, recognising him immediately, the skills, he was good already. When he was young, he's still young, but not like he was four or five years ago.”
Did you work with Cristian Romero briefly too?
Igor: “Yeah, I sent him to Atalanta! (Laughs). No, no, he told me that now, 'you sent me out!' but I said no, no, no. He went to Atalanta, and then he made this fantastic career, and that's what he became.”
How was your first conversation with the leaders in the group?
Igor: “The conversation was what I said now before here. It is about everything, you cannot say we speak about this and we don’t speak about this. You need to speak about these values, but also about concrete things on the pitch and what you want because the players need and they want to have clarity about what we want. This was a goal to send two messages about people, about men, about values and about what we want to play, so these two things together working.”
Who will be your captain against Arsenal?
Igor: “You will see on Sunday!”
Do you think Spurs are in a relegation fight?
Igor: “This is not important (to think about). To be more clear, fighting for every position – relegation, first position, UEFA qualification – it is for me, how can I explain, it is all about you achieve what you do during the week. You achieve your position how you do things on Sunday. So it is always a consequence of that. This brings you nothing if you start to think about relegation or ‘I’m fighting for this.’ All these goals, they are far away. I never give them importance. I never speak about results. I never speak about what we need to achieve at the end of the season. I don’t believe in this. I believe in today’s training. This is all I want the players to think about. I go strong on things we need to do in training, after we speak, I go man to man to give concrete advice, all I have – love, also support – but the right advice, so it’s all about that. The league position is a consequence of this.”
Do you believe the players have taken that on board?
Igor: “It can be five, 10, two points. The behaviour needs to be the same. We need to be focused on what we need to become a team. That’s the process, that’s the path so let’s focus on this and see what we can become. Not that we need to see what is down, what is up. This doesn’t bring you anything. We need to concentrate on us, me as a coach, helping the players every day and what the players can do. This is the main goal.”
What is your message to supporters ahead of Sunday’s home game?
Igor: “The message is give us support. The players need this. It is an amazing game to restart. I heard a lot of good things about them, about the love they have for the players. I am sure they will give us support and we show them that we care and we want to switch, we want to make a change immediately.”
Does it matter that you have no experience in the Premier League?
Igor: “I don’t believe so. Football is everywhere, it is 11 against 11, there is a referee, there is offside, there is everything, so of course something, but I know the club, I know who is staying with the guys inside. Small details of course you will know much better with the months, but in the end it is always about football, about the pitch there, about relationships and what you need to do there.”
What are your memories of facing Tottenham with Marseille in 2022?
Igor: “Not nice because we lost, so not nice but two good games. Champions League, Marseille, it was good game, beautiful, beautiful. Good atmosphere in the stadium, I remember. Unfortunately we lost.”
How confident are you that come next season Spurs will still be in the Premier League?
Igor: “Confident? 100 per cent.”