Igor Tudor has left Tottenham Hotspur after just 44 days in charge of the club.
There had been a sliver of hope after an encouraging 1-1 draw at Liverpool and a 3-2 second-leg victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, but the damaging 3-0 home defeat to Nottingham Forest on March 22 ultimately sealed Tudor’s fate.
The 47-year-old only replaced Thomas Frank as the club’s head coach in February, but failed to win any of his five league games in charge. Spurs are just one point above West Ham, who occupy the final relegation spot, with seven games to go, and they have not won any of their last 13 league matches — their longest streak in 91 years.
Here, The Athletic breaks down the big decisions Tudor got wrong.
Starting (then substituting) Kinsky at Atletico
The defining image of Tudor’s brief reign will be Antonin Kinsky walking down the tunnel at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid.
First-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was dropped to the bench for the first leg of their Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid. But within 17 minutes, Vicario had been summoned to rescue a dire situation, with Spurs 3-0 down and already looking like heading out.
Kinsky, who was making only his third appearance of the season, made two errors in possession which led directly to Atletico scoring. Tudor sacrificed Kinsky and did not even look at his goalkeeper as he walked off. It was brutal to watch.
Tudor tried to explain his actions a few days later in a press conference. “It was an act of helping to preserve the guy and to preserve the team,” he said. “Why didn’t I go to give him a hug? Because maybe he was angry. Maybe coaches do the things to avoid this scene and to get a situation worse than it was.
“Sometimes it is better to stay there and we hug each other at half-time. At half-time we speak and nothing (more), the situation happened there. It finished there.”
For lots of people it was cruel and unforgivable to ignore Kinsky.
Taking too long to ditch a back three
Tudor’s first game in charge was a north London derby against league-leaders Arsenal. He picked a back three of Radu Dragusin, Joao Palhinha and Micky van de Ven, falling back on a system he had experienced a degree of success with during previous spells at Juventus, Udinese and Lazio.
But it was never going to work due to Spurs’ long injury list. First-choice left-back Destiny Udogie has struggled with hamstring and knee issues throughout the season which meant Archie Gray or Djed Spence, both naturally right-footed, provided cover.
Spurs lacked any natural width against Arsenal while there was confusion over who each defender was supposed to mark. Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber were in total control for Arsenal on the right wing while Eberechi Eze — for the second time this season — kept finding himself in space behind the central midfielders and in front of the defence.
Tudor persisted with this formation until he was forced to change it against Liverpool. It led to an improved performance but Tudor should have rectified his mistakes before the costly defeats to Fulham and Crystal Palace.
A sterile midfield
Creativity has been an issue for Spurs all season, with playmakers Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison both having not played a single minute as they continue their prolonged recovery from long-term knee injuries.
Tudor’s attempt to solve this problem was to start Conor Gallagher, Yves Bissouma and Palhinha together in midfield at Fulham. Spurs struggled to produce quality chances and offered their defence no protection. Emile Smith Rowe, Alex Iwobi and Harry Wilson kept carving Spurs open on the counter and they should have scored more.
Pape Matar Sarr and Archie Gray emerged as Tudor’s favourite midfield combination. But despite being hard-working, they need someone alongside them to offer an attacking spark, which leads us to…
No Xavi Simons
Xavi Simons has endured a strange debut season in English football. For the first couple of months after his summer move from RB Leipzig, it looked like he would struggle to cope with the physicality of the Premier League. However, the 22-year-old scored his first goal in a 2-0 victory over Brentford in December and looked to be growing in confidence only to receive a red card two weeks later in a defeat to Liverpool.
Simons became the side’s main source of creativity and inspiration in the latter days of Frank, yet it appears Tudor did not trust him. Despite scoring twice against Atletico, Simons was not in the starting XI for the crucial fixture against Forest. Tudor brought him on in that game after Morgan Gibbs-White gave Forest a 2-0 lead but it was always going to be difficult to salvage the situation from there.
Tudor’s reluctance to use this playmaker was bizarre when he seemed to be one of the only attacking players with confidence — something Spurs clearly lack.
Post-Fulham comments
In an ideal world, Frank’s replacement would have been someone, such as former manager Harry Redknapp, who could potentially unite the players and the fanbase. The players needed an arm around the shoulder after the toxic end to Frank’s reign. Following their disappointing defeat to Fulham, Tudor publicly criticised the squad.
“We are lacking when we attack, we lack the quality to score the goal,” Tudor said. “We are lacking in the middle to run and we are lacking behind to stay there to suffer and not concede the goal. So, an amazing situation.”
It is a risky tactic for any head coach — let alone a newly appointed one — to call out his players. It felt unnecessary and counter-productive for Tudor to challenge a group of players he barely knew.
Panicked subs vs Crystal Palace
Van de Ven’s red card was a game-changing moment in Tottenham’s 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace. Tudor’s reaction to the defender’s dismissal turned it into a defining one. Bissouma and Gallagher replaced Souza and Randal Kolo Muani straight after Ismaila Sarr converted the penalty he won for being pulled back by Van de Ven. There were only a few minutes left until half-time and Spurs surely could have held out before regrouping.
Tudor’s changes signalled to Palace’s head coach Oliver Glasner that they were going to completely drop off. Mathys Tel, one of Tottenham’s best players this season, was shunted to the unfamiliar role of left-wing-back, where he gave the ball away in the build-up to Jorgen Strand Larsen’s goal. Spurs had multiple central midfielders on the pitch yet somehow none of them came close to stopping Adam Wharton, who ran the game in that wild seven-minute spell.
Tudor’s substitutions only created more chaos instead of preventing it.
Constantly changing positions
Pedro Porro, Gray and Palhinha have constantly changed positions under Tudor. Gray has excelled in whatever task has been thrown in his direction, but Porro’s form has been concerning. He started at right centre-back in the loss to Palace and struggled to cope with Ismaila Sarr. Liverpool’s teenage winger Rio Ngumoha tormented Porro when he played in his preferred role of right-back at Anfield.
Porro played well in the second leg against Atletico on the right of a four-man midfield, but the Spain international did not have the same impact in Sunday’s loss to Forest. In the second half, following Spence’s substitution, Porro returned to right-back.
It is a dizzying amount of change for one player and a lot of different tactical instructions to remember. No wonder he looks far more emotional than usual when he plays at the moment. He slammed the ground in the first half against Forest when the assistant referee did not give him a throw-in…
Half-time subs v Forest
Tudor’s response to Igor Jesus’ 44th-minute goal was to bring on Lucas Bergvall and Udogie for Van de Ven and Spence at half-time. It seemed like an extreme reaction because Spurs were the better side in the first half. Tel was a constant threat down the left wing with support from Van de Ven.
Udogie and Bergvall were making only their second appearances after recovering from hamstring and ankle injuries, respectively. They were a little bit rusty and struggled to adapt to the rhythm of the game. Van de Ven’s performances have been erratic for weeks, but it still felt like a significant statement to take off the vice-captain, especially when he has been such a potent threat from set pieces.
Assistant coach Bruno Saltor tried to defend the decision after the game. “It was a sub with the intention to give more dynamic in the left side and have more legs going forward,” he said.
It did not have the desired effect and might have potentially upset Van de Ven and Spence in the process.
Failing to help Randal Kolo Muani
Tudor coached Kolo Muani at Juventus last season. Everybody hoped the Croatian would be able to bring the best out of the forward who failed to make a strong impression under Frank.
Kolo Muani scored in Tudor’s first game against Arsenal and was only denied a second goal for a soft foul on Gabriel. The 27-year-old set up Richarlison’s equaliser against Liverpool at Anfield and scored in the 3-2 victory over Atletico, but his overall performances remain underwhelming.
Kolo Muani has scored once in the league, which is less than Gray, Sarr, Palhinha, Van de Ven and Romero. Brennan Johnson has more goals for Spurs this season than Kolo Muani despite leaving the club at the start of January. Tudor appeared to have given up on Kolo Muani as he was dropped to the bench for their last two league games and was sacrificed after Van de Ven’s red card against Palace.
Kolo Muani’s reward for his stuttering form? A return to France’s squad for their upcoming fixtures against Brazil and Colombia.