Igor Tudor hauled off Antonin Kinsky after the Tottenham second keeper's horror show against Atletico Madrid.
The No. 2 shot-stopper was given the nod to face Diego Simeone's side after Tudor opted to drop Guglielmo Vicario for the Champions League clash. It was a huge decision from the Spurs interim manager, given Kinsky's inexperience at the highest level of football.
It took barely six minutes for Tudor's massive call to backfire. Kinsky slipped as he went to make a clearance and could only watch as the ball was shovelled onto Marcos Llorente, who then placed a low finish into the bottom corner. He had barely processed his first error before he was picking the ball out of the net again, as Micky van de Ven slipped at the worst possible time, allowing Antoine Grizemann to double Atletico's lead.
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Kinsky's nightmare only proceeded to get worse. After receiving a back pass from Van de Ven, he tried to sweep the ball out to the right hand side of the pitch, but scuffed his effort horribly, allowing Julian Alvarez to take the ball and pass into an empty net.
Tudor then ended the 22-year-old's evening by hauling him off and introducing the dropped Vicario from the bench. Kinsky looked devastated as he trudged off the pitch and stormed down the tunnel while accompanied by one of Tudor's coaches.
Vicario's introduction did not stop the Atletico goals, as Robin Le Normand bundled in a fourth for the home side. While Kinsky was the one who made the mistakes, the bulk of the blame will lie with Tudor, according to TNT Sport commentator Ally McCoist.
After the Spurs boss took him off, McCoist said: "Finished. It'll finish him. There's no way back. Absolutely [that's on the manager]. You can make an argument he's got to do it as well, though, because you cannot make mistakes like that.
"They're schoolboy errors. It's proved he's made a mistake in changing the goalkeeper. That's an absolutely remarkable 14 minutes.
"The thing is, Atletico Madrid haven't even been asked to work for their goals. They've not been cut open, not played great football, played through them; they've been handed them on a plate."
Before the match, Tudor was rather vague about his decision to not deploy Vicario against Diego Simeone's side.
When asked about the goalkeeper change, he said: "I chose today what I think is best for team in this moment. Today, there are five changes, but the game is long. There is space for everyone.”
The only positive of the first half was Pedro Porro finding the net for Tottenham, four minutes after Le Normand's goal. Tottenham face Atletico in the second-leg of their Round of 16 tie on Wednesday March 18.