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Tottenham Hotspur fans had been begging for young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky to finally get some chances between the sticks, having become entirely fed up with veteran shot stopper Guglielmo Vicario, whose play had deteroriated to the literal worst save percentage among current Premier League starting keepers.

But the adage, careful what you wish for, comes to mind here. In their zeal to want Kinsky back, they did not realize that their new feckless and irresponsible interim manager Igor Tudor would simply throw him to the wolves. Rusty on game time and nervous heading into a road match in the Champions League Round of 16, Kinsky slipped and slid on one of the worst turfs we have ever seen at this level of the Champions League, en route to three early mistakes and a swift benching from the cold shouldered and tactless Tudor.

Nobody would blame Kinsky for wanting out of Spurs after his confidence had been systematically shattered by poor management, with Tudor's treatment of him simply being the last shoe to drop. The logical conclusion, in all honesty, would have been for Kinsky to simply leave and never come back.

Antonin Kinsky wants to leave on loan

Only half of that equation seems to be the case, though. According to a report from the Daily Telegraph's Matt Law, Antonin Kinksy is expected to ask for a loan transfer this summer so that he can leave Tottenham Hotspur for a year and rebuild himself as a top young keeper.

It is a best case scenario development for Tottenham. Kinsky needs to leave Spurs for at least a little bit, because too much damage has been done to him in this environment. Kinsky has not been supported, he does not get to play, and he does not have the grace to make mistakes even though his more experienced teammates have, quite frankly, been just as prone to errors. Look at how many blatant mistakes Guglielmo Vicario has gotten away with this season.

But at the end of the day, Tottenham do not have to lose Kinsky permanently in this scenario. Kinsky gets to branch off and flourish somewhere else, then return to potentially even become their next starter. Tottenham can foster a young talent instead of losing them or, worse yet, ruining them, as they have done so far. And big ups to Kinsky if he wants a loan rather than just to be done with Tottenham all together, which would have been perfectly understandable, too.

Tottenham Hotspur are heading closer and closer to relegation, and as people scramble to answer the question of why Spurs are so bad, the answer is truly multifactorial. Spurs have been dealt with a lot of injuries on top of a squad with obvious weaknesses in areas crucial to success in modern football, and they also have a squad of young players with an inflated sense of their own worth, leading to severe underperformance.

Fullback Djed Spence is not one of the biggest names at Tottenham, but, in many ways, he typifies the problems at Spurs. Spence is not a bad footballer by any means. He is a perfectly acceptable Premier League right back who is good enough to make appearances for the England national team, but he is someone who has snubbed managers and carries himself like he is world class, even with his social media posts.

The reality is that Spence is a below average starting player and more of a rotational piece, yet he starts frequently at left back, where he is atrocious. Spurs have had to give him a lot of starts this season due to injuries to Destiny Udogie, and they had such an issue with his poor play that they focused on left back more than any other need in the transfer window, signing his successor in Souza while showing significant interest in Andrew Robertson as an immediate starting option.

Juventus want to sign Djed Spence

Tottenham Hotspur clearly do not have high hopes for Spence long term, and they may have found the perfect way to get rid of him. According to a report from La Gazzetta dello Sport's ace reporter Giovanni Albanese, Juventus are interested in signing Djed Spence, who could cost 26 million pounds.

Now, that is a pretty hefty fee for Tottenham to fetch for a mediocre player who is not really in their squad building plans. Spence is not the most popular name among the players who could be moving out of the club this summer, but he is more likely to leave than others like Pedro Porro - and also a lot less valuable, which is why he is not as popular of a name.

For some reason, Juventus are starting to like Tottenham's players as signings, perhaps signaling a changing of the script in their transfer relationship. Whatever it may be, if Spurs can manage to offload Guglielmo Vicario and Spence for 30 million euros apiece his summer transfer window, that will go a long way to helping them sign better players.

Tottenham Hotspur are dangerously close to relegation, and their 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace over the Premier League weekend was a harsh reminder of how far they have fallen. Now coming off another blowout loss - to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League - Spurs must regroup to face Liverpool. Although they will be without Micky van de Ven after his brainless moment vs. Palace, they will get an even bigger center back in captain Cristian Romero back.

And Spurs fans had better both enjoy Romero and hope that the Europa League Player of the Tournament delivers up to his pedigree, because Tottenham's season and very survival in the English Premiership is counting on the World Cup hero being at his best.

Romero's days, regardless of how well he plays or whether or not Tottenham survive the drop, are likely numbered. He has been the one player unafraid to challenge strengthenthe horrible Tottenham board throughout the season, both when they fired Ange Postecoglou and later when they did absolutely nothing to strengthen the team during the winter transfer window.

Tottenham want to get rid of Cristian Romero

Per a new report from The Daily Telegraph's Matt Law, Cristian Romero's future at Tottenham Hotspur is in serious doubt. Even if Spurs are not relegated this season, they are planning a squad overahul that will see key players leave, and alongside goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and right back Pedro Porro, Romero could see himself out. Of those three, Romero is the best player and the captain, yet, based on Law's piece, it appears he may be the most likely to leave. In fact, he even reports that Tottenham believe parting ways with Romero may be in the best interests of everyone.

Now, that everyone clearly does not include the Tottenham fans, though it would be silly for anyone to actually believe that the club would even care about the best interests of their beleagured fans. Clearly, putting Romero on the chopping block would be nothing more than the board exacting revenge on a powerful player in the squad and the literal captain, both punishing and swiftly banishing him for daring to challenge the status quo.

In many ways, you can see why Romero and Ange Postecoglou were so close and then also why the Tottenham front office were so keen on axing both. Romero and Postecoglou are talented, outspoken individuals who are not afraid to challenge the status quo, while the status quo is something the Spurs money machine thrives off of in order to keep people in line.

Antonin Kinsky drew all the negative headlines for Tottenham Hotspur with three early gaffes to start an eventual 5-2 blowout loss to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16, but he was far from the only putrid performer for Spurs in yet another big match.

French striker Randal Kolo Muani has been a problem for months now, and his situation at Tottenham was already untenable during the winter trasnfer window. Kolo Muani was actually wanting a transfer out, and Spurs fans could tell he was past the point of being mentally checked out of the team as a gun for hire loan transfer signing from PSG - the only club he played against, by the way, in which he actually bothered turning up his performances to 11.

No longer riding the reputation of that game, Kolo Muani is only starting for Spurs because of his great relationship with Igor Tudor. But the man who coached a brief revival out of the monumental PSG transfer flop during their time together in Turin last season has been unable to touch RKM in a positive way this season.

Randal Kolo Muani was horrible vs. Atletico Madrid

Kolo Muani started against Atletico Madrid and delivered another disasterclass. Micky van de Ven and Kinsky were slipping and sliding, costing the team goals, but from a pure effort perspective and in terms of what cannot be just chalked to bad luck, Kolo Muani was the worst player on the pitch.

He was so atrocious that even Tudor had seen enough, hooking the forward off early. Watching Richarlison and Dominic Solanke give their all to this team to score and assist goals really points out further just how dreadful Randal Kolo Muani has become for Spurs.

He is a decaying stench wafting a toxic cloud above the entire stadium at this point. Kolo Muani, once again, created nothing, nor was he scrapping to move the ball or draw fouls. He was lethargic, disinterested, woefully ineffective, and a complete waste of space for Tottenham.

It is ridiculous seeing Kolo Muani's name on the team sheet every single week, only for him to deliver repeated disaster class. This is not a rough patch, at this point. In fact, this is who he is. Kolo Muani is a player who will shine when he feels like it, which is once in a blue moon, and in nine out of every other ten games, he simply will not care, especially when things are not going well.

As Tottenham Hotspur supporters watched Thomas Frank repeatedly lose big matches and then come out with a big smile and act as if Spurs were playing well, they began to realize that things were much better under Ange Postecoglou, even if there were serious issues at the time. And now watching Igor Tudor fumble through even more defeats, the Spurs faithful are starting to come to the same realization about the former Juventus manager.

Although "former Juventus manager" has a nice sounding ring to it, realize that Tudor was only a marginally successful interim coach for the Bianconeri. He has never lasted more than a single season at any team he has coached, and his best league finish was in 2022/23 when he came third in Ligue 1 with Marseille, who were second in the league the season before his arrival.

Tudor came into the Spurs job with less respect and credibility than either Postecoglou or Frank did, but, well, that is why he was a desperation interim manager hire. Spurs supporters wanted to get behind Tudor and do their best to support him, but the notion that he would be an upgrade over Frank was always going to be a flawed one.

Igor Tudor is no upgrade on Thomas Frank

Now, there are actually some ways in which he has been better than Frank. At least he gave Antonin Kinsky a chance in the first place. But the way he did it - and the way he handled the obvious conclusion of the young goalkeeper struggling for confidence against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League knockouts - was appalling.

The reality is that Tudor is not the caliber of manager who should be managing a Premier League Big Six side with one of the top 10 highest revenues in the world. He might not even be the caliber of manager who should be in charge of Crystal Palace or Fulham, given he is significantly worse than either Marco Silva or Oliver Glasner - by the way, two coaches near the top of Spurs upcoming summer wish list.

Tudor isn't good. He, again, has no real track record of managerial success in world football, and his reputation as a savior actually makes no sense. He has no system or identity to how he plays, he is not known for enhancing young players, and it is quite apparent already that he cannot manage the personalities or the flames of a volatile situation at a big club. At least Frank was a standup guy who didn't humiliate young players on the pitch like what Tudor did to Kinsky.

Tottenham Hotspur are 100 percent going to be looking for a new manager this summer, and we may see interim coach Igor Tudor lose his job even sooner after the club's latest ill disciplined debacle, which included Tudor throwing Antonin Kinsky under the whole entire bus early on in a 5-2 blowout loss to Atletico Madrid.

The dream manager to replace Tudor - well, really, failed summer hire Thomas Frank - is none other than a former Tottenham coach in Mauricio Pochettino. He is the most respected manager in recent memory, having been the only man to lead Spurs to a Champions League Final and an agonizingly close run at the Premier League title.

Firing Pochettino is, to this day, viewed as a grave mistake by Tottenham fans, and most are fully on board with him re-signing, especially since Spurs are so poor that they would almost appear to be a nostalgic charity case on his part.

Real Madrid want to hire Mauricio Pochettino

That's the thing, though, Tottenham have to be very worried about more attractive jobs opening up, and there is one, in particular, Spurs now have to be worried about. According to a report from ESPN FC just before the Champions League Round of 16 matchup with Atletico Madrid, Mauricio Pochettino has been generating interest from La Liga giants Real Madrid.

Real's interest in Pochettino is worth taking seriously and is a shot of troubling news for Spurs supporters, because Real have shown serious interest in him in the past. Back in 2021 when Zinedine Zidane resigned after a tumultuous campaign in the COVID-stricken season, Spurs were seriously considering Poch even after his own poor season in which he dropped the title to Lille at PSG. However, Carlo Ancelotti made himself available again, and the rest is history.

Now, Real Madrid are in a tough moment, having fired their supposed savior Xabi Alonso early in the season, only to realize the problems were not going to dissipate under his former teammate Alvaro Arbeloa as the interim manager.

Tottenham Hotspur did actually add an important player in the last summer transfer window in right winger Mohammed Kudus, but, for the most part, the club's signings have been misses. And the biggest miss was undoubtedly Conor Gallagher, who was a bit player at Atletico Madrid before Spurs blatantly overpaid to bring him into the fold.

Yet Gallagher is on a lengthier than expected list of players Tottenham will be trying to keep at the end of the season, including if they are relegated to the Championship. That information comes from The Daily Telegraph's reporter Matt Law, who states that while some high profile players could be sent packing from Spurs this summer, Gallagher, Lucas Bergvall, Mohammed Kudus, Dominic Solanke, Micky van de Ven, Xavi Simons, Archie Gray, and the injured duo of Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison are players they would ike to keep.

Gallagher certainly sticks out in a negative way from the other names on the list. While Spurs fans have quietly turned on Van de Ven, even the most pessimistic and disgruntled of them would agree taht Van de Ven is a very talented footballer.

Conor Gallagher is someone Tottenham want to keep

On the other hand, Gallagher has neither shown the potential to be great for Tottenham, nor has he been even a remotely passable starter for the club. It seems as though his performances are only getting worse, including struggling in a surprising appearance off the bench against former employers Atletico Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16.

As much as Johan Lange sold everyone on the idea that Spurs did not sign many players this winter transfer window because they wanted to avoid panic buying, the reality is that Gallagher was the definition of a panic buy. They literally bought him after an injury to another center midfielder, then overpaid on his wages and transfer fee so as to not watch him join a rival in Aston Villa.

Gallagher has been redundant in positional value and skill set, offering nothing that Spurs do not already have. To compare, Gallagher has not played as well as Pape Matar Sarr - a player who is already deemed by Spurs as being nothing higher than a backup player.

Tottenham have limited resources, and they are going to need to make some tough sales this summer. When it comes to Gallagher, the bigger conversation should be about how they can even offload his wages, rather than if they should be selling him at all.

Finally, with his save percentage sinking to the lowest in the Premier League among starters, Guglielmo Vicario earned a benching from Tottenham Hotspur in their huge Champions League Round of 16 matchup against Atletico Madrid.

The result was that Vicario ended up back on the pitch before 20 minutes, as Igor Tudor swiftly scapegoated Kinsky just as quickly as he threw him to the wolves for his first start in months - against one of the top teams in European football at a time when Spurs cannot buy a win, no less.

Tudor is obviously, to anyone with critical thinking skills, the biggest loser in all this for the way he has carried himself, doing his best to kill the young and promising career of Kinsky. And the biggest winner, on the surface, appears to be Vicario, whose replacement embarrassed himself on an international scale.

What is Guglielmo Vicario's excuse for his struggles?

The thing is, most Tottenham fans aren't really fooled by Vicario here. Vicario only comes out looking better to the people who go, "See? This is why Kinsky never started," without understanding the context of Kinsky struggling as a young keeper lacking confidence in a big game when he was so rusty because Vic was hoarding all the minutes.

Vicario is still the root of the issue. Tottenham had to turn to Kinsky and throw him under the fire because Vicario was so bad, Spurs thought they could not possibly look worse at keeper even if Kinsky were to be overmatched and rusty.

And the weird thing is, they were right to feel that way. Even if you say that Spurs came closer to winning and that Vicario made fewer mistakes than Kinsky, you can't really assert that Tottenham played any better with Vic in goal - or that Vicario played well.

Vicario is saving barely more than 60 percent of the shots he faces. Despite making the same mistakes Kinsky has made all season and a higher volume of them, he has shown no improvement. If anything, he has regressed as the season has gone on. He also throws other players under the bus, whereas Kinsky looks genuinely gutted and accountable for his errors.

Before the Champions League Round of 16 battle against Atletico Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur supporters were ecstatic to see young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky getting his first opportunity between the sticks in ages, having just watched another Guglielmo Vicario disasterclass. But nothing could prepare them for what was about to unfold.

It is wild looking back on how promising Kinsky started his career at Tottenham to now seeing what happened against Atleti. In mere minutes, Tottenham surrendered three goals, with Kinsky being the central figure in each error, sending Spurs spiraling into a deficit they could never recover from.

Kinsky, make no bones about it, was terrible. He looked completely shaken after the first mistake, and it was clear that this was not going to be his night. Spurs manager Igor Tudor, who finally gave Kinsky the chance he was waiting for, hooked him off after just 17 minutes.

Igor Tudor fed Antonin Kinsky to the wolves

Legendary Premier League goalkeeper David de Gea tweeted out public support for Kinsky, reminding everyone that the goalkeeper position is extremely tough - and unforgiving. And on the Champions League broadcast, another former Premier League icon between the sticks, Joe Hart, tore into Tudor for not only subbing Kinsky out, but visibly ignoring him as Kinsky walked off the pitch.

Tudor's abrasive attitude initially appeared to be a breath of fresh air, but his total mishandling of the Kinsky situation will ultimatey be his undoing. Because Tudor could have picked literally any other time to get his rusty, young goalkeeper into the action than rather a high pressure road trip to Atletico Madrid, one of the best Champions League clubs of the last 15 years.

Instead, he threw Kinsky out to the wolves and watched them tear him apart before embarrassing him and cold shouldering him in front of the world. This is the kind of lack of man management skills or long term care that you get from hiring a desperation manager with no track record of success in world football - a man who has never lasted more than one season at any club he has been with.

Tottenham's Tudor appointment thus feels like the club's overall strategy, including with transfer deadline day signing Randal Kolo Muani - sign mercenaries they have heard of and hope that these people with no regard for Spurs will do well.

Tudor's mistake was not giving Kinsky the chance. Every Tottenham fan wanted it and knew that Guglielmo Vicario was no longer the answer. And Spurs would not have won this game with Vicario in goal anyway, as Vicario has made these same exact mistakes time and time again this season.

No, the problem was Tudor picking THIS game to give Kinsky his first start in ages, then shattering his confidence. Kinsky has been ruined by Spurs and should want out of this dysfunction as soon as possible to spare his own career. He is a talented player with a bright future ahead of him, but the actions of the club towards him this season are unacceptable. Kinsky must have realized at this moment that he cannot succeed at a club that treats him this way, and barring a huge turn of events, he will want out of this mess to save himself.

Spurs, to save their season, need to get rid of Tudor as soon as possible. Not only is Tudor just as incompetent, if not worse, than Thomas Frank with even worse results, but he is not a likable character and cares even less about the long term futures of his players. He was perfectly willing to screw over Kinsky to save himself, and his body language is more unforgivable than any snubbed handshake or scream at the fans by Pedro Porro or Micky van de Ven. Tudor was a grown man behaving like a child playing FIFA.

A few weeks ago, the idea of Tottenham Hotspur being relegated still felt fanciful, but that is very much no longer the case. Spurs' latest defeat was completely as a result of a needless red card, this time not shown to Cristian Romero, but the Argentine's absence was very much felt.

On Thursday night, everything seemed to be going their way. One of Crystal Palace's best players Daniel Muñoz was forced off with a shoulder injury, following a challenge by Souza, before Ismaïla Sarr had an opener disallowed because his face was offside. Mere moments later, Dominic Solanke opened the scoring after some great work by Archie Gray, and everyone inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could rest easy, or so they thought.

Five minutes later, as Sarr burst through on goal, he was hauled down by Micky van de Ven, with referee Andy Madley pointing to the penalty spot and, worse still, showing the Dutchman a red card, as he'd made no attempt to play the ball. Sarr converted the subsequent spot-kick and this commenced the complete Spurs capitulation. As we entered injury time, Jørgen Strand Larsen slotted through Guglielmo Vicario's legs, before that man Sarr burst through again to poke home a third.

It may only have been half time, but supporters headed for home in their thousands. The second half was a complete non-event, Igor Tudor's never threatened to get back into the game, as Spurs sunk to yet another defeat. Now without a win in 11 league matches, their longest such streak since 1935, the Lilywhites are just one point above the drop zone. By the time they're next in league action, they could find themselves in the bottom three.

Remaining fixtures for relegation candidates

Given that it is Anfield up next, with trips to Villa Park and Stamford Bridge to come in May, it doesn't get any easier for Spurs. That head-to-head encounter with Nottingham Forest on Sunday 22 March looks massive but, based on how they're playing right now, you would not back Tottenham to win it, would you?

The biggest problem facing Tudor is injuries. Djed Spence, Destiny Udogie, Ben Davies, Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, James Maddison, Dejan Kuluševski, Wilson Odobert and Mohammed Kudus all missed the latest defeat, the majority of whom are sidelined long-term.

Tottenham fans point the finger at Cristian Romero

Thus, they can ill-afford unnecessary absences, especially to key players. Cristian Romero has not been available since being sent off at Old Trafford on 7 February. His four-match ban is now over, so he will return against Atlético Madrid on Tuesday and then against Liverpool the following Sunday.

Micky van de Ven, however, will not be making the trip to Merseyside, after his sending off that entirely swung the momentum of Thursday's game. Had Romero been available, who knows, there may not have been such a great sense of panic among the Spurs defence, not just against Crystal Palace but also during the preceding defeats at the hands of Newcastle, Arsenal and Fulham.

At a time when Tottenham are crying out for leadership and their big players to step forward and be counted, van de Ven, but particularly Romero have done the complete opposite. One Spurs fan labelled the Argentine a "liability", while another said they were "sick and tired of how many games he [has] costs us".

If Spurs' 48-year stay in the top division does come to an end on 24 May, Romero will be one of many figures to blame.