The interim Tottenham Hotspur head coach has been unable to get his players to win matches but he believes they are turning in the right direction
Igor Tudor has defended how he speaks to his Tottenham players and hailed "beautiful" Archie Gray as a light amidst the dark of the club's struggles.
Spurs have lost all four matches since the Croatian replaced Thomas Frank last month and football.london reported this week that some of the players have been unhappy with how Tudor has communicated with them. His attempts to instil discipline have backfired with a section of the dressing room with a belief that he's over asserted himself, coming across as disrespectful to some and borderline mocking others, while marginalising some important stars in the squad.
However, the Spurs players also need to hold themselves accountable, having failed to perform for a string of managers, all with different styles of dealing with them.
Ahead of Sunday's trip to Liverpool, Tudor was asked whether the players needed to accept being criticised by him.
"It's not criticism. I give advice. It’s not about criticising players. We are together. It’s not that I say ‘You are not good, you need to do this.’ It’s not about that," he said.
"It’s about making them understand this is advice to become a better player and when you become a better player we become a better team. It’s about accepting this, which is not easy because it’s easy to stay in the comfort zone.
"When you stay in the comfort zone, you don't change. It's about thinking why we are here. That’s the main thing the coach needs to bring to the player."
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The Spurs boss can at least see improvements in the team's fitness levels, if not results.
"We are working on that now. It is better. It will be strange that I tell you after the last game that I see progress. It will be very strange to see [with] what happened in the pitch," he said. "In this moment, it’s even difficult to speak about football, about tactics, about physical things [given] what happened.
" But I can say that apart from those 15 minutes [against Atletico], I saw progress. I saw more compactness, more quality in the play, more structure, more energy. Good pressing. So apart from that [the 15 minutes] it was an equal game. This can sound now very strange but it’s the truth.
"So we were there second half trying to do our things which is not easy because psychologically what happened in 15 minutes will kill everyone. Instead, I repeat, not easy to say after what happened but this is true. So when when we start not doing mistakes we start to win. Football is a game of mistakes so when you do mistakes you lose the points. So we need to stop doing mistakes.
"When we start doing this we start to perform better. We will have more confidence, we will start to win. So now that everything is pulling you down. the first time you have a complete team, or let’s say a serious team and then happen what happened. So now we are missing three or four [more] players, we need to rebuild again something in one or two trainings, go to Liverpool … [exhales]. So, not easy but it is how it is."
One player who has impressed Tudor is midfielder Gray, who turned 20 on Thursday. The former Leeds youngster has made 29 appearances this season and has turned out at left-back, right-back and in midfield for the current boss in just four games.
He could now play in a back three at Anfield this weekend with Micky van de Ven suspended and Cristian Romero concussed.
"That's the problem. He needs to, every game, change the position, tomorrow again. Four games here, four positions for Archie Gray," said Tudor.
"He's an amazing player, but that's been that [for him]. Something's wrong. Beautiful guy, beautiful player. I didn't know him before so much, so from inside, he has my big respect."
Yves Bissouma is out with a muscle problem to make it 12 players unavailable for Spurs this weekend, although Conor Gallagher is expected to have recovered from a fever to stop it becoming unlucky 13.
Tudor confirmed that Guglielmo Vicario will return in goal but backed Antonin Kinsky after the 23-year-old's 16-minute horror show at Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night.
"He came back the day after and was very good in training. Positive. [Tuesday night] was very rare, probably the first and last time in my life and the life of a lot of people but this can happen," he said.
"You can go out from the situation as a victim. 'Poor me what happened'. Everybody sending a message of help and I am with you. This is nice also.
"Sometimes in 2026, social media life became that it is more important what you say than what you do. This is a mistake that will happen. For sure in his career there will be other mistakes but he has strength and quality and in front of him is a very good career."