Tottenham Hotspur are coming off a horrendous 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in the Premier League relegation fight, and while Igor Tudor cannot be blamed for the defeat when the players turned up as poorly as they did, the defeat undid the positive narrative around Tudor after the Liverpool and Atletico Madrid games that he was finding his footing at the N17.
The reality is that Tudor is not the answer in the short term, and he certainly was never going to be the answer in the long term. After taking too long to draw up contingency plans when Thomas Frank first started to show signs of an inevitable sacking earlier this season, Tottenham need to get to work quickly on their next manager.
While fans are focused on a dream reunion with Mauricio Pochettino, it appears Tottenham Hotspur have a different coach in mind as their top target to replace the underwhelming duo of Frank and Tudor.
Tottenham have always been high on Roberto De Zerbi
According to Fabrizio Romano, "a main candidate" for Tottenham has actually always been Roberto De Zerbi. The former Marseille manager was linked to Spurs in the winter, and Fab says that since OM got rid of him, he has always been at the top of the list for Spurs. Notably, Romano said that De Zerbi is "a" and not "the" main option for Tottenham, noting that Pochettino is indeed "another name" on the short list.
But it appears De Zerbi may be slightly ahead. Fab says that De Zerbi is "only" an option for Tottenham in the summer, implying that he will be an option for Spurs if they can manage to stay up this season. Then, presumably, Pochettino would be the top candidate. That goes against some other recent reporting out of the United Kingdom stating that De Zerbi could potentially be hired immediately to replace fellow former Marseille manager Tudor with the right contractual language.
If Roberto De Zerbi is not Tottenham's unquestioned No. 1 target, then he appears to be neck and neck with Mauricio Pochettino. Fans will prefer the known commodity to the guy who signed Mason Greenwood and others for Marseille, but it appears Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham are big fans of the former Sassuolo, Shakhtar Donetsk, and Brighton boss. At least Spurs are going after well known managers with strong tactical ideas, though De Zerbi's falling outs with every club he has been at clearly pin him as a distant second best option to Pochettino at this point.