Hotspur HQ

Welcome relief or an unnecessary distraction? While embroiled in a relegation battle back home, yet to win a Premier League game in 2026, having finished fourth in the gigantic league table, Tottenham Hotspur will compete in the Champions League round of 16. The Lilywhites take on Atlético Madrid, first at the Metropolitano on Tuesday, before the return leg in North London eight nights later.

Amazingly, these two clubs have only ever met once before. This came in Rotterdam 63 years ago, with Bill Nicholson's side prevailing 5-1 in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final, with Jimmy Greaves and Terry Dyson both scoring braces at De Kuip.

It is unlikely that Tottenham will reach this year's final, with los Colchoneros overwhelming favourites to set up a quarter-final date with either Barcelona or Newcastle next month. However, if Spurs are to spring a massive surprise in the Spanish capital, backed by 3,476 brave supporters traveling with them, here are three players Igor Tudor simply must select.

Cristian Romero

Following the recent defeat at Craven Cottage, Tudor said that his team lack when it comes to attack, midfield, defence and brain, so all fine then. In all seriousness, centre-back is a major issue, but he should finally be able to deploy his best partnership in Madrid.

Cristian Romero's four-match domestic suspension is now over, albeit Micky van de Ven will not be alongside him at Anfield come Sunday, following a costly red card of his own against Crystal Palace last Thursday. Nevertheless, their partnership can be rekindled in the Champions League.

For so long, these two were the bedrock of Tottenham, not losing any of their first ten matches together, albeit Spurs are currently winless in eight when both have started. Nevertheless, given that Radu Drăgușin and Kevin Danso are the alternatives, Romero simply must come in, both for his quality as well as his ability to match Atleti when it comes to fight, determination and other intangibles.

Archie Gray

While basically no Tottenham player is earning any praise right now, there is one notable exception. This trip to Madrid will be Archie Gray's final appearance as a teenager but, despite his youth, he has been a key figure since arriving. Ange Postecoglou was forced to use him at centre-back for prolonged periods of last season, while he's regularly been deployed in both full-back roles, given the ongoing injury crisis.

On Thursday, Tudor surprised us all by having Pedro Porro as part of the back three and Gray in at right-wing-back. Despite this, Alasdair Gold of Football London wrote that he was Tottenham's "best player on the night by a mile", a view unanimously shared, even if it was a low bar.

So, not only must Gray start at the Metropolitano, this simply has to be in central midfield. None of Pape Matar Sarr, João Palhinha, Yves Bissouma or Conor Gallagher, facing his former club, appear capable of passing the ball forwards, so Gray must be made a central figure for occasions when Diego Simeone's side drop back and defend compactly.

Dominic Solanke

On position Tudor does have options, but there is only one choice to make, is centre-forward. The only Tottenham player seemingly capable of doing anything in the attacking half is Dominic Solanke, who bagged his fifth goal of the campaign against Crystal Palace, albeit that joy was short-lived.

Solanke has only been able to accumulate 714 minutes of action this season following ankle surgery, not featuring at all between 23 August and 10 January. Thus, he boasts the best goals-per-90 ratio at the club, albeit this statistic is alarming. Brennan Johnson, ranked third, now plays for Crystal Palace, while fourth-placed Ben Davies has scored only once this season, netting only ten times since signing 12 years ago, so he certainly isn't a reliable source.

Put succinctly, Randal Kolo Muani, Mathys Tel and Richarlison is just a pretty underwhelming set of attackers, so if Spurs are going to score in Madrid, it's likely to be Solanke who is responsible.

Even though Tottenham Hotspur had already signed young left back prospect Souza by that point to help provide depth for an oft injured Destiny Udogie while competing with Djed Spence for minutes, Spurs were still highly interested in swiping away Liverpool icon Andrew Robertson to add more supposed veteran leadership to the side.

Apparently, the geniuses at the Tottenham scouting department could only recruit players like Conor Gallagher and Robertson since they were known commodities in the Premier League before, or maybe they simply decided to hitch their wagons to veteran players with limited upside because they were already beginning to see themselves in a relegation fight.

Whatever the case, Tottenham were not successful in their chase for Robertson, and, at the time, Spurs supporters were sold on the deal not happening because Liverpool were unable to find a replacement for him, as they wanted to get Konstantinos Tsimikas back from Roma but were unable to.

Andrew Robertson rejected Tottenham

Apparently, that was not the story. As relayed by top transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, Andrew Robertson said that he, like Antoine Semenyo before the winter window started, simply rejected Tottenham Hotspur:

“There was obviously interest from Spurs in January… but the decision was that I wanted to stay. This club has given me everything and I've given this club everything. I’ve always been committed. Now as soon as I decide my future, it will be announced”.

Obviously, it makes far more sense for Robertson to stay with Liverpool, even as a backup, because of his love for the club. And even though the Reds are not in their best moment this season, they are certainly in a better situation than Tottenham, who are in the thick of a relegation fight and in an even worse spot than they were back when they had interest in Robertson in January.

Tottenham fans are used to the rejection by now, but it is still not a good look for Spurs that Robertson would have preferred to be a backup player at Liverpool than potentially get starts for Tottenham. It makes it look even worse on Johan Lange and the front office for not being able to convince or recruit Robertson. He probably cared more abou the nostalgia of staying with Liverpool, but it is also telling that Tottenham did not want anyone to know that they were rejected by Robertson, instead sticking with the story that the Reds could not find cover.

Young Luka Vuskovic is having a season for the ages in the Bundesliga, as the Tottenham Hotspur loanee has become one of the most coveted players in world football with clubs as big as Bayern Munich and Barcelona already gunning for the 19 year old center back's signature in the summer transfer window.

The future is entirely up in the air for Vuskovic, who is a no brainer for Spurs to keep but is now becoming someone Tottenham may not be able to keep, especially if they continue to lose games in the Premier League on the way to relegation.

Another loan year at Hamburg seemed to be the plan for much of the season, but Vuskovic is playing so mind blowingly well that he has already graduated from Hamburg - and probably even graduated from Tottenham, who have been worse than Hamburg this season, to clubs like Barca and Bayern.

Luka Vuskovic roasted Wolfsburg

Vuskovic's chances of a Barcelona transfer only increased this past weekend, as he won two penalties in an all around monsterclass of a performance as Hamburg took care of business against a club even more pathetic than Tottenham this season, corporate stooges Wolfsburg.

Beyond converting one of the two penalties he earned on the day for his fifth goal of the season as a 19 year old center back, Vuskovic delivered another impeccable defensive performance. He had an insane 17 clearances with three interceptions and a tackle, showing that next level reading of the game that has made him the league's best center back already while intervening and dominating the aerial game like literally nobody else on this planet in the 2025/26 season.

Barcelona had to be watching Vuskovic and salivating at the prospect of bringing him to the Spotify Camp Nou instead of overspending on an older, inferior player with less team spirit in current Tottenham first teamer Micky van de Ven - someone who Spurs themselves would probably like to leave behind in a heartbeat if it meant holding onto Vuskovic for a full decade.

As Barca supporters yearn for a pillar duo of Pau Cubarsi and Luka Vuskovic for their own decade of football to come, Tottenham have to be working extra hard behind the scenes to get Vuskovic to stay for at least the 2026/27 season in North London. His brilliance is only making it harder for Spurs, because at this point, everyone around Europe is starting to figure out that Vuskovic might already be the world's best center back.

The list of decent players Tottenham Hotspur could have signed in the winter transfer window is only getting more frustrating to look at as Spurs continue to drop points in the Premier League relegation fight, having just been trounced 3-1 by local rivals Crystal Palace.

Spurs had a litany of needs on the last transfer market, yet their only signing, Conor Gallagher, has been overpaid on multiple accounts and atrocious while being simultaneously a redundancy when Johan Lange blabbered about Spurs standing pat in the window to avoid panic buys. Well, Gallagher was the definition of a panic buy after the Rodrigo Bentancur injury, and, maybe, Spurs should have been panicking becuase now they do have a reason to worry greatly about their future.

Coming up, Tottenham will battle against Ademola Lookman - a star player who is shining for Atletico Madrid when Spurs had two opportunities to sign in the last summer and winter transfer windows. But he is not the only high profile forward at a Champions League club that Spurs could have signed.

Maghnes Akliouche owned PSG

Maybe Maghnes Akliouche is a bit overrated by the transfer rumor mill, but he is still light years ahead of Brennan Johnson and would have been an ideal replacement for him this winter. And certainly, he is better than Spurs having nothing on the wings, because after Wilson Odobert's ACL tear, Tottenham literally have one healthy winger in Mathys Tel.

Mostly a right sided player, Akliouche is one of the top young wingers in French football, and his stock is only rising since the winter transfer window that Tottenham failed to follow up their links on. Akliouche has been particularly dazzling against PSG, assisting and scoring with six total key passes in the two legs against PSG in the Champions League.

Monaco performed admirably in defeat in the knockouts against their great Ligue 1 rivals, but they were even better this past weekend in Ligue 1, avenging their Champions League exit with a commanding 3-1 display over the reigning Champions League winners.

Akliouche was the best player on the pitch, continuing what is now a string of positive performances. This time, he both scored and assisted against the Parisian giants, grabbing two key passes, three combined tackles and interceptions, and two combined fouls drawn and dribbles completed in an excellent all around performance.

Lange now has to be kicking himself watching Akliouche step up three times in big games against one of the best teams in Europe, showing the personality and intensity of a player who surely would have helped Spurs avoid relegation. And that fee would have then been paid. Akliouche absolutely would have been better than signing nobody, and as he continues to raise his game against big opponents, Spurs have to wonder why they let Lange do nothing all winter long.

As Tottenham Hotspur fall apart down the stretch of the 2025/26 Premier League season in a heated relegation battle, a number of things have begun to divide the fan base. And despite being a symbol of what Spurs can be in the darkest of hours, Ange Postecoglou, thanks to a few extreme fans, has been used to pit fans against each other.

There is no question that Spurs owe a great debt of gratitude to Big Ange, and had the powers that be at the club been more willing to listen to the harsh truths Postecoglou was not afraid to shoot back at them, perhaps Spurs would not be in this mess in the 2025/26 season. Tottenham were 17th in the league last season under Postecoglou, and the manager's tactical system ended up being badly exposed by other top managers in the Premier League. And his terrible run with Nottingham Forest sealed the fact that Spurs did make the right decision to let him go.

Yet he did win the Europa League for Tottenham, putting his sole focus on bringing European silverware back to a club that had not achieved such a feat in 41 years. Even as Spurs were vindicated for not keeping him, the way in which his dismissal went down - sacked on a holiday after treading waters with no response from the club for weeks - will never sit right with supporters.

Ange Postecoglou will always mean a lot to Tottenham

So, in a sense, you can forgive the Tottenham fans who are clamoring for Postecoglou, posting inecessantly across social media, Reddit, and any other message board or venue they can get their hands on, reviving the discussions had ad nauseum throughout the summer transfer window about Big Ange and how wronged he was.

But, goodness gracious, let's all just give it a rest. Thomas Frank turned out to be a disaster, and Igor Tudor really isn't going to be much better. All this bickering amongst Tottenham fans about Big Ange is not doing anyone a bit of good at a time when the Spurs supporter base needs to be united against the real common enemy, relegation, and not each other.

Postecoglou had his strengths, and he will always be an icon for Tottenham because of what he achieved in the Europa League, as well as his personable demeanor. But to say that a historically bad 17th placed finish was in any way acceptable would be revisionism at its finest, and Postecoglou's tactics were both ineffective and led to injury proneness. Again, he didn't exactly succeed at Forest either.

Tottenham need to more forward and forge a pathway with a real sporting structure, better decision makers at the club, and a coach who can succeed at a Big Six club witih the resources Spurs have and play that kind of football to keep up with the elite of the elite. Postecoglou wasn't that guy. At the same time, he was special in his own way, and Tottenham fans need to appreciate that. Bringing up his name in a relegation fight, fawning over the highs with rose colored glasses, and then causing a sea of backlash that then tears Ange's memory down is hardly the way we should be discussing him or remembering him at this, the darkest hour of Tottenham.

Tottenham Hotspur center back Luka Vuskovic is a generational talent who has Germany's biggest legends like Lothar Matthaus raving about his wisdom and athleticism, yet by loaning the teenage sensation to Bundesliga side Hamburg, Spurs deprived themselves of a world class player both this season and potentially for good.

When Hamburg made the decision to acquire Vuskovic, they did so knowing full well they were acquiring a young talent with the potential to immediately make a difference in their Bundesliga fortunes. Whereas Tottenham are now actually the ones playing for their own survival, Hamburg, at the time of signing Vuskovic before the 2025/26 Bundesliga season started, were the ones aiming to sign the Croatian in the hopes that he would help them avoid the drop.

Far from it. Hamburg are pretty safe, and Vuskovic has been even better than expected, taking the reigns early in the season and immediately winning award after award. He is by far the consensus No. 1 defender in German football right now, and if it were not for the sheer brilliance of the Bayern Munich attacking trio of Luis Diaz, Michael Olise, and Harry Kane, Vuskovic, at just 19, would be the Bundesliga Player of the Season favorite. And there are already plenty of those within the Bundesliga who are ready to give Vuskovic their vote.

Luka Vuskovic is better than what Tottenham have

It boggles the mind, though, why Tottenham didn't just keep Vuskovic in the first place. While it is unfair to expect Spurs to have known Vuskovic would be this good, it does speak to the lack of competence of their own internal scouting and player evaluations that they did not realize Vuskovic could be a key difference maker this season for Spurs. Both Thomas Frank and now Igor Tudor are at their best when utilizing a back three, which would have been far more feasible with Vuskovic, who is right there with Alessandro Bastoni as the best defender in the world in this setup.

Tottenham did get a close look at Vuskovic in the preseason, and it was obvious even then that the Croatian international was special. Spurs supporters were giving him Sergio Ramos regen shouts, and that included even the more measured members of the fan base.

What Spurs need to do is learn from this misstep. Vuskovic could have made a huge difference this season and would have been even better than Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero. They have been far too reluctant to give chances to their youth players or even young, productive members of the squad like Lucas Bergvall and Mathys Tel. Vuskovic has to be a lesson to Spurs that they need to do a better job of evaluating, valuing, and trusting their young players, because they are missing out on serious opportunities to help their squad in the short and long term.

Tottenham Hotspur completely botched the recruitment of new manager Thomas Frank, who was spoonfed ideas by Brentford and brought the same highly defensive, counterattacking brand of football that would be woefully ineffective with the players, philosophy, and opposing setups that Spurs would face.

And after the Frank hire blew up in their faces, Johan Lange and Vinai Venkatesham took ages to pivot, failing to ever create a real contingency plan. Eventually, enough was enough, and the duo were forced to mercifully can Frank, hiring interim manager Igor Tudor of Juventus "fame" as his replacement.

Well, the Tudor hire is going over about as well as anyone would have expected - well, anyone besides Vina and Lange, apparently - which is to say that he has been a flop. Spurs are yet to win under Tudor, inching ever closer to relegation with just one point now separating them from such dignitaries as West Ham United and Nottingham Forest in the Premier League table.

Igor Tudor was not the right hire for Tottenham

Tudor looks about as good of a fit for Spurs as Dimitar Berbavov would be on the New York Stock Exchange with the desperately screaming traders. His 3-4-3 tactical system is something he has been pretty much married to in his career, and trying to pigeonhole Spurs in that or deviate from it to fit Tottenham is not something that is going to work and not something that has been working - or will ever work.

You can see evidence of Tudor trying to mish-mash it all together, and the result is that Tottenham are as ineffective as they were before at creating cogent attacking play. They do not progress the ball, and they are perhaps even more cavernous defensively, as evidenced by their string of three straight London derby losses.

Tudor's idea of how a team should be set up fundamentally does not match the players Tottenham have, and this goes back before Frank to what was being built up under Ange Postecoglou before it was torn down. And though it was torn down out of necessity, Spurs and their undynamic duo of decision makers have failed to find a way to forge ahead with a real plan under a leader whose ideas suit what is already here.

Tottenham have hired managers who are better in a back four with the players and foundation of a team that, currently, would be best suited for a back four in either a 4-3-3 with a No. 10 or even a 4-4-2 with two forwards playing off each other. That is why we are seeing players woefully out of position like Randal Kolo Muani on the right or in the attacking midfield, Archie Gray as a left or right winger, or Pedro Porro as a center back.

Tottenham Hotspur supporters can prepare for a very grim summer 2026 transfer window if they go down from the Premier League this season, and after another listless defeat to a London rival, it's all not looking too good for Spurs.

Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, and Luka Vuskovic are three crucial players who have already been linked to big clubs abroad, but they are not the only star players who could leave Spurs this season. As is evidenced by the performances of these actually talented players, there is not a lot of heart or character in the Tottenham dressing room, so loyalty is going to be hard to come by. These players will not hesitate to bolt from the ship they sunk.

Yet even the players who have worked hard and been effective will be coveted, perhaps even moreso, by other clubs around Europe, including within the Premier League. According to a new report from Simon Jones of the Daily Mail, striker Dominic Solanke is one of the big names who could quit Spurs this summer. Newcastle United are already interesting in poaching him after the move for Brentford veteran Yoane Wissa failed last summer.

Newcastle want Dominic Solanke

Solanke cost Spurs a record 65 million pounds in 2024, and while he has not repaid that fee and has serious injury questions, Solanke did help Spurs win the Europa League last season. The all arounder has also been the team's best No. 9 this season with a few excellent performances.

Although big players, like Van de Ven and Vuskovic, have been linked with moves away from Tottenham throughout the 2025/26 season, Solanke is the first new name to be strongly linked with a team that should honestly be of lesser status than Tottenham. Newcastle are a big club and have come bigger thanks to Saudi Arabia, but they are not in the Big Six or a historic club in London like Spurs.

At the beginning of the season when Guglielmo Vicario was first getting major criticism from Tottenham Hotspur supporters after a series of blunders that did not involve actually making saves, many fans defended Vic by calling him one of the best goalkeepers in the league, pointing out his strong save percentage and post shot expected goals.

Slowly, though, those numbers have devolved as his shot stopping has deteroriated. Either Vicario's confidence is shattered, despite a false sense of bravado that includes throwing defensive players under the bus every time he makes an inane error, or he has simply been exposed. But either way, the numbers that propped up Vicario are no longer valid.

Right now, Vicario ranks the from the bottom in terms of save percentage in the Premier League, stopping just 63.3 percent of the shots he faces. What makes that mark even worse and seals him as the worst keeper in the league is the fact that the other two keepers, Sam Johnstone of Wolves and Lucas Perri of Leeds United, are literally no longer starters for their clubs.

Guglielmo Vicario is worse than other relegation goalkeepers

Wovles and Leeds have both upgraded with Jose Sa and Karl Darlow, and while these two keepers also rank near the bottom of the list in save percentage, they are both better than Vicario by more than two percentage points.

Both Wolves and Leeds are right there with Tottenham in the Premier League relegation fight, so the fact that they were willing to start other goalkeepers while Igor Tudor and Spurs are still trotting out Vicario every week despite a chorus of boos speaks volumes to the sheer complacency that has rotted this once great football club.

Tottenham are an embarrassment, and the fact that they continue to start the Premier League's worst shot stopper is a further indictment of their incompetence. As if that could not get any worse for Spurs, Vicario is the worst shot stopper in the league statistically despite being touted as a strong shot stopper. His ability to make saves was the reason why he kept his job in the first place despite the obvious errors that cost them points in the table.

Vicario made two more blunders in goal to help Crystal Palace win 3-1, and while he was no the primary reason for the defeat to the Eagles, he did nothing to help. If Vicario cannot pass, cannot stop crosses, cannot read shots from range, cannot lead this back line, and now cannot make saves, then he can offer nothing.

Tottenham are slumping towards the second tier.

It's as bleak as it can get in north London right now. The Igor Tudor punt hasn't yet come off, with the group of players at his disposal struggling to buy in.

Tudor's brief tenure so far hasn't been defined by drastic tactical failings. His inability to boost this broken squad has been more damning, but it says more about the personnel rather than the man on the touchline, who's been thrust into a terrible situation.

The senior players continue to let the club down, whether that's through a lack of care or discipline. Micky van de Ven, who's sauntered through the past few weeks as if he's above it all, was the latest to spark a nadir. His sending off on Thursday night caused a rapid collapse after a moment of respite, leading to yet another Premier League defeat.

The light at the end of the tunnel is merely an oncoming train, so it's time for Tudor to turn to the kids. The fearlessness of youth may ignite something deep within, and Spurs are blessed with a talented crop of homegrown teenagers.

Here are three academy starlets who could help save Tottenham from the threat of relegation.

I suspect that if Mauricio Pochettino or even José Mourinho were in the home dugout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Lucá Williams-Barnett would've had ample opportunities to prove himself ready for the big stage.

The crafty attacking midfielder has made fools of teenagers up and down the country all season, and Frank did hand Williams-Barnett his first-team debut last September, becoming the youngest-ever player to appear in the League Cup for Spurs.

Mikey Moore was the talent on the tip of everybody's tongues last season, and his potential was teased before his Rangers loan, but Williams-Barnett is the shiny new toy pretty much every supporter wants to see more of.

There's a serious emotional void at this football club, with the connection between players, manager and fans at its lowest ebb. However, escaping the feeling the emptiness doesn't require anything drastic. Simply giving the club's youth a chance is enough to restore something, whatever that may be. Williams-Barnett is the most gifted at Tottenham's disposal, and the Lilywhites have nothing to lose by trusting him.

This team needs personality.

A desperate situation at home to Borussia Dortmund in January forced Frank to turn to the academy, as the highly-rated Jun'ai Byfield appeared for the final 30 minutes of Tottenham's 2-0 victory.

With Tudor unlikely to deviate from a back three and seemingly one senior centre-back having to be suspended at all times, there should be an opening for the 17-year-old to at least play some minutes before the end of the season. The outside right centre-back role particularly suits his skill set, and he should certainly be above Radu Drăgușin in the pecking order.

If we can retain a backline of Kevin Danso, Cristian Romero and Van de Ven once the Dutchman returns from his ban, we should be okay. But, if any of the aforementioned three are unavailable, Tudor must opt against square pegs in round holes and instead trust someone who, despite his youth, has an excellent grasp of the position.

Remarkably, 17-year-old winger Tynan Thompson hasn't come particularly close to making his senior bow, especially after a bright pre-season. Frank had Djed Spence doing left-wing shifts over the talented teenager, who shone in the UEFA Youth League this season.

Thompson scored seven in seven against European opposition, and has developed nicely into a multi-faceted winger who boasts lightning-quick feet and an eye for goal.

Competent clubs would be handing a talent like Thompson first-team minutes here and there to aid his development, without compromising his joy at youth level. Like Williams-Barnett, age-group football has appeared beyond the winger.

And considering no moves were made by Johan Lange to replace Brennan Johnson or mitigate Mohammed Kudus' injury, Tudor still has few options out wide. Mathys Tel and Randal Kolo Muani are the only two capable of hugging the touchline after Wilson Odobert succumbed to an ACL tear. Thompson seems like an exciting, high-upside solution that's currently being ignored.