The board finally pulled the trigger and sacked Thomas Frank. The move follows a string of brutal results that left Tottenham Hotspur stuck in sixteenth place. Right now, they sit just five points above the relegation zone. Frank did great things at Brentford, but he never quite found his footing in North London. He also lost the dressing room. Things fell apart after he kept talking up Arsenal’s tactics in front of his own players.
Igor Tudor Takes The Reins At Tottenham Hotspur
That drama, mixed with a dismal run of two wins in seventeen games, meant the board had to act. They couldn’t wait any longer with the North London Derby right around the corner. Igor Tudor is arriving as the short-term fix. His job is simple: keep the team up. He’s known for being a drill sergeant who demands discipline and clear tactics. It is exactly what this messy squad needs.
Tactical Blueprint And The North London Derby
Tudor usually sticks to a gritty 3-4-2-1. It’s a system built on bullying teams physically and pressing man-to-man all over the grass.
When he was at Hellas Verona and Marseille, he used a tight front three and relied on his wing-backs to fly forward and provide the width on the break.
Looking at the Arsenal game on February 22, Tudor has a nightmare on his hands. Eleven senior players are out. Cristian Romero is suspended, and Ben Davies is out for the long haul, so the new boss has to patch together a defence with whatever he has left.
Radu Drăgușin has to anchor the back three with Micky van de Ven. Since they’re short on bodies, Archie Gray will probably have to tuck in as the right-sided centre-back to keep things steady. Pedro Porro is still struggling with a hamstring, so Djed Spence is the most likely bet to handle the right wing-back role.
On the left, losing Destiny Udogie is a massive blow. Tudor will have to choose between the kid Souza or a stop-gap solution to stop Arsenal’s wingers. Tudor’s style lives and dies by the wing-backs stretching the pitch. Whoever fills in has to run themselves into the ground for the full ninety minutes.
Midfield is just as thin. With Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall sidelined, the pressure is on Yves Bissouma and the new man, Conor Gallagher. Those two have the lungs to pull off Tudor’s high-press and shield a shaky backline.
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Up top, the creative spark is gone. James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, and Mohammed Kudus are all in the treatment room. Tudor will likely lean on Xavi Simons and the teenager Mikey Moore to play as the two “tens” behind the striker. Dominic Solanke will lead the line on his own. He’ll need to win his headers and hold the ball up when the team goes direct.