The Tottenham boss came under fire for his reaction after taking the young Czech goalkeeper off just 16 minutes into the Champions League defeat in Madrid
Igor Tudor deliberately ignored Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky following his 17th minute substitution in the Champions League as he did not want to escalate the situation further.
Kinksy will be back on the bench for Sunday's Premier League match at Liverpool after a horror show at Atletico Madrid. First he slipped and gave away an opening goal to Marcos Llorente within six minutes, then failed to stop a second from Antoine Griezmann after Micky van de Ven had also slipped. Finally, the Czech goalkeeper scuffed a pass straight to Julian Alvarez in his own box to make it 3-0 all within the first 16 minutes in Spain.
Tudor had seen enough and after selecting the 23-year-old stopper to challenge Guglielmo Vicario, he hauled him off. The Spurs interim boss drew criticism from many for blanking Kinsky as he left the pitch heartbroken but the coach has now explained that it was a deliberate move.
"When you make this decision to change, you always lose. When you do that substitution after 15 minutes, the coach loses in both cases. First case, because you put him in so everyone says 'why are you doing this? You killed the guy'," said the 47-year-old.
"If you don’t, you are taking risk to concede one or two more goals, so I took the decision after thinking and if I needed to, I would do the same again. It was an act of helping to preserve the guy and to preserve the team.
"Why didn't I go to give him hug? Because maybe he was angry. Maybe coaches do things to avoid this scene and make a situation worse than it was. Sometimes it is better to stay there and we hugged each other at half-time. At half-time we spoke and nothing [more], the situation happened there. It finished there."
FOLLOW OUR TOTTENHAM FB PAGE! Latest Spurs news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
One player who has struggled for starts under Tudor is Tottenham's big summer signing Xavi Simons. The 22-year-old has been a marginal figure under the interim head coach yet Spurs have won only three games in all competitions this season when Xavi has started on the bench and he ranks top for chances created at the club.
The Netherlands international is desperate to keep improving. He has his own data analyst and video analyst, as well as a strength and conditioning coach, personal trainer and even a mindset coach. He has been spotted at Hotspur Way on days off, looking to train and improve himself physically for the Premier League.
"I choose what I think is best for the club," said Tudor. "In this moment, I choose different players. That doesn’t mean he won’t play at Liverpool. Maybe he will play. A good player, an important player for us. There’s a lot of games to play."
When asked if Xavi still has his trust, the former Juventus boss simply said: "Everyone has my trust."
Spurs will go to Anfield on Sunday with 12 players unavailable. Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha are ruled out through concussion after an aerial collision late on in Madrid, Yves Bissouma has a muscle problem, Micky van de Ven is suspended and Conor Gallagher is suffering from a fever, although it is hoped the midfielder will recover in time.
So how do Tottenham's patched-up defence, which could feature young midfielder Archie Gray as a centre-back, keep out Liverpool's attackers on their home turf?
"We prepare the best possible way. We’ll see who is ready, who can play in which position," said Tudor. "Trying to change the least possible - which is impossible [because of the lack of players] and see. Let’s go there.
“The message is how I want to see this game at Liverpool - as a challenge and an opportunity rather than go there and be a victim because we are missing players."