Life does not get much worse if you are a Tottenham Hotspur fan right now.
While Spurs salvaged an ounce of pride by defeating Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their last 16 Champions League tie, they came crashing back down to earth on Sunday afternoon.
Their clash with Nottingham Forest was one of huge significance. It had even more importance than their two-legged tie with Atletico.
Defeat Vitor Pereira's team and they would be well on track to avoid relegation from the Premier League. Lose and they would be sucked even further into the quagmire. They didn't just lose, but they lost handsomely, losing 3-0 and being put to the sword by none other than Morgan Gibbs-White.
Like Eberchi Eze, the attacking midfielder nearly signed for the Lilywhites last summer and he came back to haunt them on this occasion, scoring the second goal of the game.
For the decision makers at Spurs, they must now decide whether to stick or twist with Igor Tudor.
Who could replace Igor Tudor at Tottenham
The main name on everybody's lips at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium right now is Mauricio Pochettino. Every fan is dreaming of his return but if he is to come back to north London, they will have to wait until the summer.
The Argentine is currently in charge of the USA and is set to lead them out at their home World Cup this summer. He will not be released from his duties until that campaign is done and dusted.
As a result, a number of interim managers have been earmarked. While extremely unlikely, both Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood have admitted they would love the job, while more plausible solutions could be found in the shape of Ryan Mason or Robbie Keane.
Elsewhere, a new name has emerged. According to reports from the Telegraph, former Monaco boss Adi Hutter is now a 'serious candidate' to take over from Tudor after their latest defeat to Forest.
Previous reports last week suggested that they had already held talks with Hutter over becoming the new boss in the summer. Now, however, they could fast-track their interest and bring him to England immediately.
The Austrian has been out of work since being sacked by Monaco earlier this season so there would be no need to pay any compensation, something that would no doubt please the hierarchy at Spurs.
Why Hutter would be a good appointment
Who is Hutter, we hear you ask. Well, aged 56, he is yet to manage one of the established big boys of European football like Tudor had at Juventus, but he's got experience of coaching a club with similar ambitions to Spurs; desires of getting into Europe and one day competing for major honours.
Indeed, after a one-year stint with Red Bull Salzburg in 2014/15, winning the league and the Austrian cup, he headed to Young Boys in Switzerland, where he enjoyed three years and won the league once again. From there, he headed to Germany, where he coached Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach.
While he was sacked from his most recent post at Monaco, the work Hutter performed in the Bundesliga has to be admired, most notably at Frankfurt.
He won the German top-flight's manager of the season in 2018/19 and in 2020/21, finishing seventh and fifth respectively in those campaigns.
So, what's he all about? Well, it could be argued that Hutter is a bit like Antonio Conte. Indeed, the Bundesliga's offical website wrote in 2021 that he 'took a leaf out of Italian tactician Antonio Conte’s playbook on German soil' by implementing a three-man backline.
While he favoured a high-tempo 4-4-2 at Salzburg, in Germany, he demonstrated tactical flexibility that certainly wasn't apparent during the Thomas Frank regime at Spurs. Interestingly, he deployed right and left footers on their respective flanks rather than having inverted wingers.
While he has not always deployed the same tactics since, at Monaco he regularly switched between a three-man and four-man defensive line, showing great adaptability depending on the fixture.
That's something that Tudor has tried to explore during his time at Spurs but so far it's gone disastrously. However, in Hutter, there is a very realistic chance he gets Tottenham firing again, combining Conte's tactics with something out of Ange Postecoglou's playbook.
Indeed, while Spurs could operate with three defenders, they would also be expected to play in an energetic and fast-paced manner with high pressing, a staple of Hutter's philosophy in Germany, and indeed at Monaco.
That certainly ticks a lot of boxes that the hierarchy at Tottenham would be looking for. They want good football but they also want the tactical flexibility for the manager and team to be able to pivot. If you cannot do that in the Premier League, you simply sink. Ruben Amorim is the prime example of that.