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Tottenham are in trouble. A harrowing defeat at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League has piled the pressure on Igor Tudor.
Despite a horror run of four straight defeats under Tudor, Spurs have confirmed he will will take their press conference to preview their game at Liverpool, live on Sky Sports on Sunday.
Sky Sports News answers the key questions amid a crisis at Tottenham...
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What's the mood like inside the Tottenham training ground?
Sky Sports News' Gary Cotterill:
The mood here, frankly, is one of disbelief, certainly among fans who drive past and comment and ask me what's going on, and fans who come here to see what's going on.
We saw the CEO, Vinai Venkatesham, arrive here bright and early on Wednesday.
I assumed that was because Igor Tudor is staying in the hotel inside the training ground and, even though the players aren't in, they were going to have a meeting and that the Igor Tudor period would be over. But it seems not.
If Tudor is sacked who will make the decision?
Sky Sports News' Lyall Thomas:
So, the process that took place when Thomas Frank was sacked was that the senior leadership group at Tottenham, which includes CEO Vinai Venkatesham and sporting director Johan Lange, recommended to the ownership and the board that it was time to make a change.
That's certainly the process that will be followed again, but it will be the owners Vivienne and Charles Lewis who have the final say on whether or not the head coach should be changed.
And there's also another interesting name in there that Spurs fans may not have heard of before, and that is Nick Beucher.
He is the son-in-law of Vivienne Lewis and is said to be increasingly influential in key decisions there. So, he would also have a say.
Why did Spurs decide to go with Igor Tudor in the first place?
Sky Sports News' Kaveh Solhekol:
I really don't know anyone in the world of football who thought he was the right man for the job. When Tottenham decided to sack Thomas Frank, what they had to do is get somebody who had experience of English football. Now, Igor Tudor, he was a good player.
As a manager, he's got a pretty decent record, but there's nothing in that record that suggested he was the right man for the job, either in the short term or the long term.
Look at all the other Premier League clubs who've replaced their managers this season. They all went for somebody who had experience of playing and managing in the Premier League. I do not understand why Tottenham went for Igor Tudor.
It can't get any worse, can it?
Sky Sports News' Gary Cotterill:
Igor Tudor's appointment as the latest Tottenham Hotspur head coach was announced by Spurs on February 14, but we first became aware that he was going to be getting the job on Friday February 13.
Yes, Friday the 13th. And frankly, his almost four weeks in charge has been cursed. Four games, four defeats, 14 goals conceded, the worst ever record for a Tottenham Hotspur manager.
I think things can get worse; they're going to go out of the Champions League, there's very little doubt about that.
They've got Liverpool away at the weekend, and then they've got Nottingham Forest in the six-pointer. They could find themselves by the international break out of the Champions League, in the relegation zone, with time running out.
Who should Spurs look at next?
Sky Sports News' Kaveh Solhekol:
Tottenham are in a desperate situation. The most important thing is that they stay in the Premier League.
To do that, they need somebody who knows the league inside out, who knows the club inside out. If I was a chief executive of Tottenham, I would be calling Tim Sherwood and Robbie Keane.
That is who they need. Either one of them, I think, have what it takes to give Tottenham a fighting chance of staying up.
Only Tottenham could turn what hapless coach Igor Tudor had agreed was a free hit into one of the more embarrassing nights in the club's history, a first half so inept that it stands out even in a season that could see Spurs drop out of the Premier League.
The self-inflicted wounds were extraordinary. It was a performance so humiliating that the fact that Tudor's team outscored Atletico Madrid over the final hour or so of the contest in the Estadio Metropolitano could not prevent it being etched in the mind.
A three-goal defeat to Atletico is not exactly the shock of the season. Diego Simeone's side beat Real Madrid by the same 5-2 scoreline in September and put four past Barcelona in this stadium last month. It was the manner of it that made it incredible.
Antonin Kinsky slipped for the first goal and Micky van de Ven did the same for the second. When the goalkeeper scuffed another clearance, he was hooked inside 17 minutes. His replacement failed to paw out a fourth within five minutes of his arrival.
A statement from Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust labelling the performance "a total disgrace" tells you that this was different, even for a group of fans who thought they had seen it all. Some were heading back to Plaza Mayor before the half was done.
Who could blame them? This was historically bad, truly. Four errors leading to Atletico goals in the first half of that first half, according to Opta. That is twice as many such errors as any other team has made in a whole Champions League match all season.
Indeed, the last team to make four errors leading to goals in a Champions League fixture was BATE Borisov of Belarus in a 6-0 defeat to Porto over a decade ago - and even they were only one down by the time that Tottenham were chucking in their fourth.
Tudor saying that he had never seen anything like it in all his years in football was the one thing he did get right. Certainly, the sight of poor Kinsky trudging from the turf, no doubt wishing that the slippery surface would swallow him whole, will long linger.
The swift outpouring of support for the Czech goalkeeper was in stark contrast to the apparent cold shoulder of his coach as he departed. It was left to a handful of colleagues on the bench to follow the unfortunate 22-year-old down the tunnel instead.
High-profile figures such as former Spurs and England goalkeepers Paul Robinson and Joe Hart have been critical of how it was handled. David de Gea took to social media offering empathy. Goalkeeping great Peter Schmeichel talked of Tudor killing a career.
Let us hope it does not come to that. Even the Atletico fans inside the stadium seemed uncertain how to react when Kinsky was substituted. Spontaneous applause broke out, some of it a little sarcastic, although others seemed genuinely sympathetic.
Most Spurs supporters will blame Tudor. If not for the ruthless decision to withdraw him, which the Croat could plausibly defend as sparing him more suffering given that his mind must have been scrambled by then, but the error in picking him in the first place.
There is little appetite to pin it on Kinsky when he was thrust into a Champions League knockout tie having not played competitively for five months - and that in a Carabao Cup exit. His six Premier League starts all came last season, five of them in defeats.
Outwardly, he had exuded some confidence in the opening exchanges but it was inevitable that it evaporated in an instant after his early slip and the sight of Van de Ven messing up in front of him too. It was a big call by Tudor and it was not the right one.
He had talked optimistically of having his defenders back and a full week of training. "Maybe this can help us to see which problems we have," he had suggested in his press conference on the eve of the game. One of the answers to that proved to be in his mirror.
The response to the arrival of the 47-year-old coach had been lukewarm in the first place but fans are at boiling point now. He is the first Spurs boss ever to lose his first four games in charge. For the club, it is a record six defeats in a row in all competitions.
Tudor was supposed to ferry Spurs to safety. Instead, they are sinking. The short-term fix who made things worse. The justification for his arrival was his record of quick impacts. Without that, he is just a man far from his comfort zone looking lost on his own bench.
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He was applauding in an attempt to lift his players after the first goal went in but turning to his staff in disbelief, arms outstretched, at the sight of the second. By the time the third hit the net, Tudor was turning to the dropped Guglielmo Vicario to send him on.
When Vicario promptly conceded, he was gesturing for calm. It felt darkly comic, given that he was not just presiding over this panic but its architect, although there was no real sense of control. "Every game, something happens. It is very difficult to explain."
Those were his words afterwards, when he also offered a reminder that Spurs came close to making it 4-2 when Richarlison's header was saved. Unfortunately, the ball was in their own net seconds later as his team found yet another different way to concede.
"We started the game, it was too much for us, in this moment, when we are fragile, we are weak." The problem is that the same criticism can be levelled at their coach. That is the fear for Tottenham as they approach the denouement of this dreadful campaign.
Having gilded their previous season, it was their adventures in Europe that had provided a slight semblance of respectability thus far, albeit the thinnest of veneers. They will surely run out of road in the second leg and thoughts will turn back to travails domestic.
Tudor's Kinsky experiment piles pressure on Spurs boss
Spurs 'fragile' and 'weak' and Tudor can't say he should stay
There is that daunting trip to Anfield to face Liverpool in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Sunday before a showdown with Vitor Pereira's Nottingham Forest side, one of the very few teams below them but also one of the many looking more upwardly mobile.
With Nuno Espirito Santo's West Ham much improved too, Spurs cannot hope to rely on others. They need to save themselves. But from the inertia in the transfer market to this managerial misstep, is there any real sense that the club grasps what is required?
Any hope that Tudor could be part of the solution has gone now. He has become just another dimension to the myriad problems facing this Tottenham team. The free hit that turned into a costly night for this club, a new low in this most miserable of seasons.
Igor Tudor's gamble to start Antonin Kinsky over Guglielmo Vicario in Tottenham's Champions League last-16 tie at Atletico Madrid spectacularly backfired, with Spurs thrashed 5-2 in the first leg.
The 22-year-old was selected in goal at the Estadio Metropolitano instead of the Tottenham No 1, having made just two starts in the Carabao Cup this season.
Tuesday's game marked his first Champions League start and it could not have gone any worse.
Questions will be asked of Tudor's team selection, especially as he hooked Kinksy inside 17 minutes with Spurs already 3-0 down after two catastrophic errors from the young goalkeeper.
Tudor failed to acknowledge Kinksy when he was replaced.
The goalkeeper had been at fault for Atletico's first goal after six minutes when his botched clearance ended with Marcos Llorente slotting home.
Igor Tudor's 17-minute experiment with Antonin Kinsky piles pressure on Spurs boss
Spurs 'fragile' and 'weak' and Igor Tudor can't even say he deserves to stick around
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Minutes later, another slip allowed Atletico to double their lead. A forward pass from Llorente should have been dealt with by Micky van de Ven but he fell onto the surface. Antoine Griezmann took full advantage and stroked the ball into the back of the net.
But the calamities didn't end there.
Kinsky slipped again as he tried to send the ball out the other side of the box, allowing Alvarez to walk the third goal over the line.
Immediately, Vicario was sent out to warm up and, moments later, he came on to replace his team-mate, who went straight down the tunnel with two staff members in pursuit while Tudor stood motionless on the touchline.
The Italian stopper's first job was to push away an Atletico corner - but he could not stop Robin Le Normand nodding home the rebound. Despite Spurs' best efforts to hook it away, goal-line technology awarded the goal, which was quite clearly over the line.
But despite the calamity in defence, Spurs did look bright going forward, and pulled a goal back soon after for 4-1. It was well-worked too as Richarlison cut into the box, before finding Pedro Porro. His first touch took the ball around his defender, before firing home.
Spurs were lucky to end the first half with 11 men on the pitch. Van de Ven - who was sent off against Crystal Palace last week - flew in on a high challenge on David Hancko. The referee waved away the Atletico claims and VAR did check it for a red card, but nothing was given.
The second half was a quieter affair, but still had its own share of jaw-dropping moments. Twelve seconds after Jan Oblak saved a darting header from Richarlison, Atletico broke at the other end and scored their fifth as Alvarez slotted past Vicario's outstretched foot.
But even Atletico's veteran goalkeeper was not immune to an error in an incredible first leg. His own poor back pass went directly to Porro, who sent it on to Dominic Solanke to fire home as Spurs pulled back another goal late on.
It leaves them with a three-goal deficit to make up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next Wednesday, sandwiched between a trip to Liverpool this weekend, live on Sky Sports. The Reds lost 1-0 to Galatasaray in their first leg on Tuesday.
Tudor: Before the game, it was the right choice to start Kinsky
Tudor went some way to explaining why he dropped Vicario for the 22-year-old Kinsky, calling Spurs 'fragile' and 'weak' at the start of the game.
He said: "It is very rare. I have coached 15 years and never done this. It was necessary to preserve the guy and to preserve the team. Incredible situation.
"Before the game it was the right choice. Where we are with pressure on Vicario, Toni is a very good goalkeeper. After this it is easy to say it was not the right decision.
"I was speaking with Toni after. He is a bright guy, good goalkeeper and unfortunately it happened in this big game, these big mistakes.
"The start of the game was too much for us. In this moment when we are fragile, when we are weak."
Tudor stays silent on his suitability for Spurs job
Tudor has remained coy on his position as Spurs head coach in the wake of a fourth damaging defeat since taking charge, just 24 days ago. Again he chose to reply "no comment", as he did last week, when asked if he is deserving of the role in his post-match press conference in Spain.
Asked if overseeing Spurs is the 'impossible job' right now, he replied: "I am not taking it that way. I recognised what we are and which problems we have. Every game something happens. It is difficult to explain.
"I see the wish of the players to do well. Then when these things happen, in the moment we are in now, unfortunately, it is like that."
Commenting on what needs to happen ahead of facing Liverpool this weekend, he added: "I try to do my best. What a coach needs to do."
'Players looked worried for Kinsky's welfare, the ultimate humiliation'
Sky Sports News' Michael Bridge in Madrid:
"You think you've seen it all but they'll have to be discussing his [Tudor's] future. It's very, very toxic. Some players will be unhappy with what happened during the game with Kinsky going off.
"I saw Joao Palhinha and Conor Gallagher running to console Kinsky - these are players that are worried about Kinsky's welfare.
"Igor Tudor didn't acknowledge Kinsky when he came off. It was the ultimate humiliation. There was a powerful tweet from David de Gea about it and I'm sure the players will be speaking to officials at Spurs.
"There has also been footage of Cristian Romero almost telling Tudor to take Kinsky off. I asked Tudor that and he denied it but if you look at the footage you do wonder if Romero did ask him to take him off.
"It's such a damaging defeat in so many ways. Tudor's future will come into question now. There has been no manager bounce and Spurs actually look worse. And it could get even worse before it gets better. Tudor was brought in to put fires out straightaway but more fires have been created."
Story of the match in stats...
When are the knockout stages?
Igor Tudor was unable to say whether he deserved to continue at Tottenham after becoming the first Spurs head coach to lose each of his first four games in charge.
Tudor endured his most disastrous game yet as Spurs boss - and there is already plenty of competition despite his short 24-day tenure - as Atletico Madrid thrashed his side 5-2 in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
His questionable decision to drop experienced goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and hand 22-year-old Antonin Kinsky a first Champions League start backfired spectacularly, forced to U-turn after just 17 minutes when Kinsky's mistakes led to two of Atletico's three early goals.
Kinsky looked inconsolable when he was replaced by Vicario, who conceded just five minutes after coming on - Robin Le Normand scoring Atletico's fourth - at which time it became inevitable that Spurs would fall to a sixth consecutive defeat for the first time in the club's 143-year history.
And Tudor's assignments do not get easier from here. Spurs travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, before having to endure the second leg of a European tie that is surely, somewhat embarrassingly, already over three days later.
Igor Tudor's 17-minute experiment with Antonin Kinsky piles pressure on Spurs boss
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Asked after the game if he deserves to carry on at Spurs, Tudor said: "No comment."
Explaining his decision to take off Kinsky, who received no acknowledgment from Tudor when substituted off, the Spurs boss said: "It is very rare. I have coached 15 years and never done this. It was necessary to preserve the guy and to preserve the team.
"The start of the game was too much for us in this moment when we are fragile, when we are weak.
"Kinsky was sorry. The team is with him. Me too. I was speaking with him. He understands the moment, he understands why he went out. He is a very good goalkeeper. It is never about one player."
Commenting on what needs to happen ahead of facing Liverpool this weekend, he added: "I try to do my best. What a coach needs to do."
'Players looked worried for Kinsky's welfare, the ultimate humiliation'
Sky Sports News' Michael Bridge in Madrid:
"You think you've seen it all but they'll have to be discussing his [Tudor's] future. It's very, very toxic. Some players will be unhappy with what happened during the game with Kinsky going off.
"I saw Joao Palhinha and Conor Gallagher running to console Kinsky - these are players that are worried about Kinsky's welfare. Igor Tudor didn't acknowledge Kinsky when he came off. It was the ultimate humiliation. There was a powerful tweet from David de Gea about it and I'm sure the players will be speaking to officials at Spurs.
"There has also been footage of Cristian Romero almost telling Tudor to take Kinsky off. I asked Tudor that and he denied it but if you look at the footage you do wonder if Romero did ask him to take him off.
"It's such a damaging defeat in so many ways. Tudor's future will come into question now. There has been no manager bounce and Spurs actually look worse. And it could get even worse before it gets better. Tudor was brought in to put fires out straightaway but more fires have been created."
Supporters Trust call for 'emergency action' following defeat
Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust called for "emergency action" with interim head coach Igor Tudor on the brink after a chaotic 5-2 loss at Atletico Madrid.
More records tumbled for Spurs on an extraordinary night where back-up goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky had to be withdrawn after 17 minutes due to two terrible errors.
Defeat made Tudor the first Tottenham boss to lose his first four games in charge. A shambolic 5-2 loss in the first leg of this last-16 tie also meant Spurs have lost six games in a row for the first time in their history.
Tudor has only been in charge for 25 days, but refused to answer questions about his future and Tottenham have been urged to act.
"Tonight's performance and result is a total disgrace. It's symptomatic of the abysmal state of things at Spurs right now," a statement from THST read.
"From the January transfer window to the management appointments, the lack of leadership and the total absence of anyone with a Spurs pedigree informing these decisions. Where is the Daring to Do? Where are the Echoes of Glory?
"Emergency action is needed as right now we are sleepwalking off the edge of a cliff. Being a Spurs fan has never been so difficult but supporters will not sit by and watch the club continue to decline.
"At the very least those in Madrid should have their match tickets refunded. But all we really care about is that the club make us proud. We are here to support the team and be the 12th man. But we all deserve so much more."
A Champions League debut should be one of the landmark evening in any young footballer’s career - the chance to show yourself on the biggest stage and hopefully make a name for yourself. Unfortunately, Antonin Kinsky’s name will go down in infamy.
The 22-year-old's 17-minute cameo has had every negative adjective that you can think of thrown its way, but it was simply horrendous and something you would not wish on any goalkeeper.
Kinsky slipped twice early on, allowing Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez to simply walk to goals into the net. After the second, all he could do was lie on the floor with his head in his hands.
While Kinsky is responsible for his own errors, much of the blame lies squarely on Igor Tudor.
He took a gamble on a goalkeeper who is still young and had started only two Carabao Cup games since he arrived at Tottenham in January 2025. It backfired on him spectacularly.
Report: Atletico 5-2 Spurs | As it happened | Teams | Stats
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You would guess the interim head coach was looking to shake things up after some dismal performances since he joined the club. Kinsky may also have been pushing for a start behind closed doors, but to do so in such a high-profile game when Spurs needed confidence more than anything borders on reckless.
"Before the game it was the right choice. Where we are with pressure on Vicario, Toni is a very good goalkeeper. After this it is easy to say it was not the right decision," Tudor explained after the game.
"We might not see that kid again," Lee Hendrie said on Soccer Special. "Being a goalkeeper and getting thrown into a game of that magnitude and coming off at that stage is demoralising. To throw him into a game like that was completely wrong."
Tudor's reaction to the two errors could not have been worse either and showed a shocking lack of public leadership
Not only did he quickly backtrack on his decision by bringing on Guglielmo Vicario in the 17th minute - not even choosing to trust the reasons why he had started Kinsky in the first place - but he did not acknowledge the young goalkeeper as he walked past him and straight down the tunnel.
There was no brief hug, no sniff of an apology or any encouragement. There wasn't even eye contact. His answer as to why after the game was similarly brusque, telling TNT Sports: "We don't need to comment, it's not a moment to speak too much."
He later added in his press conference that he had spoken to Kinsky, but the on-pitch optics have already painted a poor picture.
"Put an arm around Kinsky, and say, 'It is on me. I have called this wrong'. To ignore him is a disgrace," Kris Boyd said on Soccer Special.
"If you think Kinsky is the man to start the game why would you take him off? It is another horrible decision from the manager."
Kinsky's calamites were reminiscent of Loris Karius' horror show for Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final against Real Madrid. He made two horrible errors as the Spaniards won 2-1 in Kyiv, and his career at the club never recovered.
While this was a different circumstance, you have to wonder if we ever see Kinsky again in a Spurs shirt. We have to wonder too if we'll see Tudor in the Tottenham dugout as well.
His record at Spurs now reads four games, four losses, 14 goals conceded and just four scored. That is not relegation-beating form and he had no comment when asked if he deserved to carry on at the club.
What was clear from Tuesday's game is that whatever happens between now and the end of the season, Vicario has that starting spot under lock and key.
The Italian has hardly been infallible in an increasingly dismal season for Spurs. He has been booed by his own fans, and more than once has had to come out and defend himself and his teammates.
But as it stands, he is undoubtedly Tottenham's No1 goalkeeper and made some good saves when he came on that surely kept Spurs from even more blows.
In fact, going forward, Tottenham did pretty well. They scored twice - themselves taking advantage of Jan Oblak's own error - and had the same number of shots as Atletico (11). They weren't far off in most of the attacking areas, but their defensive horror show has left them with a mountain to climb next Wednesday in the return leg.
Some too may point to a series of slips from the Spurs players on a wet surface at the Estadio Metropolitano as the rain poured down in Madrid. Kinsky was not the only one, nor was he the only one who to do so that led to a goal - Micky van de Ven did too.
But Tuesday's defeat was about far more that a tricky playing surface. Poor team selection and a lack of confidence among other issues continued to play their part, and the pressure is once again on Tudor to show he is making some kind of progress.
Tottenham travel to Liverpool on Sunday in the Premier League, live on Sky Sports, looking to take something from another team who have had a less-than-stellar season.
Whether Tudor is still there in the coming days remains to be seen, but his approach to Tuesday's game across raises more questions and concerns with zero answers.
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