Paul Scholes has questioned Tottenham’s decision to appoint Igor Tudor as interim manager, claiming Sam Allardyce would have been a far more sensible option to steer the club to safety.
Spurs brought Thomas Frank’s turbulent reign to an end earlier this month, with the north London outfit languishing down in 16th place in the Premier League table.
A miserable run of eight winless matches ratcheted up the pressure on Frank and the feeling of discontent amongst the fanbase had grown to such an extent that the Dane’s position was considered untenable.
Three days later, it was officially announced that Tudor had been brought in on a temporary basis until the end of the season having been sacked by Juventus last October.
The 47-year-old Croatian had only four training sessions to whip his new squad into shape before their north London derby clash with Arsenal, which ended in a 4-1 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Premier League leaders Arsenal were far and away the better side, with Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres both scoring doubles to ensure their bitter rivals remain just four points above the relegation zone.
Tudor will be desperate to get his first points on the board in English football when Spurs return to Premier League action away to Fulham this weekend.
‘It looked terrible [against Arsenal],’ ex-Manchester United and England midfielder Scholes said of Sunday’s one-sided derby on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.
According to Scholes, the Spurs job had Allardyce ‘written all over it’ when Frank was relieved of his duties.
‘The choice of manager that they brought in, I know it’s an interim, but he just doesn’t know the Premier League,’ he explained.
‘I was walking in here [to the podcast studio] and Sam Allardyce is there and you’re thinking that’s just got him written all over it.
‘The first thing he probably does at a club, when he goes into a team: stop us getting beat so easily, stop us conceding chances.’
On Allardyce’s firefighting credentials, Scholes continued: ‘He probably wouldn’t care about the rest of it, about scoring goals, because there’s enough quality in that Tottenham team, at some point, to get you a goal, whether it’s a set-piece or something, but make them solid to beat.
‘I saw a stat after about 40 minutes that Tottenham had touched the ball once in Arsenal’s box.
‘Arsenal had like 24 touches! It’s incredible and you’re away from home as well, it’s incredible.’
Scholes fears Tudor’s lack of experience in the Premier League could land Tottenham in ‘big trouble’ come the business end of the season.
‘I know the lad’s done it twice at big clubs, at Juventus and Lazio. He’s done the same thing, gone as interim and done really well,’ he went on.
‘But coming to the Premier League, it’s different.
‘He was intimating that there weren’t fit enough in his interview [after the losing to Arsenal].
‘Did you see what happened two weeks ago when they sacked Thomas Frank? They gave the players five days off. Five days off!
‘They’re in big trouble, aren’t they?’
Scholes’ podcast colleague and former team-mate, Nicky Butt, agreed that Tottenham should now be considered genuine candidates to drop down into the Champions League.
And it appears the ex-United and Newcastle midfielder has doubts about Tudor’s capacity to ‘galvanise’ the squad to the point that they are ‘running through brick walls for each other’.
‘If you’re a Tottenham fan watching that, you’re thinking: we’re in serious trouble,’ Butt said.
‘He’s obviously a very good coach but when you bring an interim manager into that dynamic, you just want someone to galvanise the changing room and get everyone to a position when you want them running through walls for you.
‘It sounds crazy, this, but go and take them for a little trip away and get the camaraderie back together and get them wanting to play together, wanting to run through brick walls for each other.
‘I just don’t see that manager doing that. I see that manager getting them on the coaching pitch – which they have to do, don’t get me wrong – but first and foremost, you’ve got to galvanise that changing room and get them all together.’
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