The Tottenham Hotspur interim head coach is desperate to get players back from the treatment room and on to the pitch as he battles the drop
Tottenham Hotspur interim head coach Igor Tudor is now well aware of the job that faces him and how important getting injured players back will be to his tenure.
The Croatian has won each of his first games at the five clubs he had joined previously but the 47-year-old found that was not such a straightforward task at Spurs. His debut in the Tottenham dugout came against top-of-the-table Arsenal in the season's second north London derby and despite the hosts keeping all things square at the break, the match ended in a 4-1 defeat and Tudor left looking towards the treatment room.
He confirmed to football.london that he was hopeful that he could get both right-back Pedro Porro and central defender Kevin Danso back in action this weekend and both were training on Wednesday morning at Hotspur Way.
"Yeah, probably [the] two of them. We hope," said the Tottenham boss on Sunday.
When asked if the job was bigger than he thought before he walked through the door, Tudor added: "You never know. You never know because this is a situation that I never saw. That we have 10 players plus three players [available]. I see the players want to do. The players want [to], okay they are in this position. Now we need to restart again and waiting for the players who are out. For sure, that's also a big reason. But it is how it is."
FOLLOW OUR TOTTENHAM FB PAGE! Latest Spurs news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
Having Porro and Danso back in the starting line-up, whether it is for Sunday's game at Fulham or Thursday's clash against Crystal Palace at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, will allow Tudor to fix one key problem with his XI - that he is playing midfielders as defenders.
Joao Palhinha is filling in at centre-back while Archie Gray is playing every minute as a right wing-back. Getting either of them back in the centre of the pitch should make Spurs stronger through the middle and more adept at dealing with the back three formation Tudor favours.
Porro will bring some much-needed creativity from the flank with his ability to curl in crosses from the right as well as pinging diagonal cross-field balls into the runs of the strikers and breaking midfielders.
Porro's involvement and potentially switching around the midfielders would allow Tudor to switch from a 3-4-2-1 to a 3-4-1-2 shape to get balls into Dominic Solanke and either Randal Kolo Muani, who flourished at Juventus under the Croatian, or the fit again Richarlison.
Here's the line-up we reckon Tudor might go with once he gets Porro and Danso fit and it's one that could bring goals and more solidity to the team.
(3-4-1-2) Vicario; Danso, Dragusin, Van de Ven; Porro, Gallagher, Palhinha, Spence; Xavi; Kolo Muani, Solanke.