Football London

Igor Tudor will find out what the Tottenham Hotspur squad are really made over ahead of the March international break

Tottenham Hotspur have some tough games coming up that could make or break the season. The Lilywhites have had a disastrous start to the new year, and Igor Tudor has been tasked with steadying the ship.

The former Juventus boss was appointed as interim head coach earlier this month following the sacking of Thomas Frank. Although the Dane helped Spurs qualify directly to last-16 of the UEFA Champions League, finishing above the likes of Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain in the group phase, he also dragged them into a relegation battle.

Frank was dismissed following the defeat to Newcastle United on home turf. Tottenham officials pulled the trigger in an effort to return to winning ways in the North London Derby.

Despite Tudor's best efforts to turn things around after just a few days on the training pitches, Spurs lost, extending their winless run in the English top-flight to nine games.

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Although the Lilywhites have the tools to stay in the Premier League, they're in grave danger of losing their footing. So, with that being said, football.london has looked at five fixtures that could make or break the season.

Crystal Palace (H) – Premier League

This will be a great opportunity for Tottenham to build some much-needed momentum ahead of a tricky period. The Lilywhites will also have the chance to make up some ground in the race for survival, with Brighton hosting Arsenal at the Amex Stadium, Nottingham Forest playing Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, and Wolves facing Liverpool at Molineux.

Spurs will, however, have to keep an eye on how West Ham and Leeds United get on; they will lock horns with Fulham at Craven Cottage and Sunderland at Elland Road, respectively.

Atletico Madrid (A) – Champions League

Tottenham have only ever faced Atletico Madrid once, and it was back in May 1963 in the UEFA European Cup Winners' Cup. The Lilywhites have relished the chance to play under the lights in the Champions League this season, so Tudor's side could raise eyebrows.

Liverpool (A) – Premier League

Tottenham haven't beaten Liverpool at Anfield since May 2011, when Rafael van der Vaart and Luka Modric fired Harry Redknapp's side to victory on the penultimate day of the season. Although the Lilywhites may not fancy their chances, they've at least got four days to recharge their batteries.

Arsenal and Chelsea will only have two days of rest before they're back in action in the Premier League, having been scheduled to play in the Champions League on Wednesday and the English top-flight on Saturday.

Atletico Madrid (H) – Champions League

After nearly two weeks on the road, Tottenham will be glad to be back on home turf. If Spurs can overcome Diego Simeone's side, they'll face either Newcastle United or Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Nottingham Forest (H) – Premier League

Cristiano Romero will finally be eligible for selection again following a four-match suspension, and what better game to lay down a marker in the race for survival. Tudor will hope the Tottenham captain can revitalise the side and lead them to a much-needed win over a team also fighting for Premier League status.

football.london reporters have their stab at picking their Tottenham XIs for Sunday's Premier League trip across the capital to face Fulham at Craven Cottage

The big games keep on coming for Tottenham, who are looking to record their first victory under interim boss Igor Tudor this weekend against Fulham.

Craven Cottage is notoriously a tricky ground for Spurs and they will also be seeking to avenge the dismal 2-1 home defeat they suffered against Marco Silva's side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium back in November.

The Europa League winners need to start putting points on the board or they will soon be looking nervously over the shoulder towards the drop zone - if they are not already doing so.

Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso have returned to training this week and Tudor has also confirmed Micky van de Ven will be fine to face Fulham despite a minor toe issue.

Striker Dominic Solanke has also trained after recovering from a throat problem which kept him out of the starting XI against Arsenal last weekend.

Here are Alasdair Gold (chief Tottenham reporter) and Ryan Taylor's starting XIs for the trip to west London.

Alasdair Gold - Tottenham Correspondent

Tudor has finally got a couple of players back in training in the shape of Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso, but you have to wonder whether the duo are ready yet to be thrown in from the start in an away game at Fulham. I wonder if we might seem them come off the bench and then start in the big home game against Crystal Palace in midweek.

Dominic Solanke is a must in the starting line-up on Sunday and after Randal Kolo Muani's display under Tudor, following their fruitful time together at Juventus, it makes sense to get both forwards on the pitch at the same time.

In order to get players into their more natural positions for this game, if Porro and Danso cannot start yet, then it might make sense to switch to a back four and get Joao Palhinha back into the midfield against his former club with Archie Gray having more experience as a right-back than as a wing-back.

I'd like to see Souza come in on the left for the balance but for experience Tudor may well stick with Djed Spence in that role. Then it's about which midfielders get the nod in an area of the pitch where there are some options, albeit not too many because some of them will have to play out wide to cover for the absent wingers.

Gold's Tottenham XI vs Fulham: Vicario; Gray, Dragusin, Van de Ven, Spence; Palhinha, Bissouma; Kolo Muani, Gallagher, Xavi; Solanke.

Ryan Taylor

I want to see a slight tactical switch when Spurs travel to Craven Cottage this weekend.

Igor Tudor's hands were slightly tied for the North London Derby but the prospect of pairing Randal Kolo Muani and Dominic Solanke in attack is salivating.

I'd bring Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso straight back in, with Danso, Joao Palhinha and Micky van de Ven making up the back-three.

Porro comes in at right wing-back and I'd pair Conor Gallagher with Pape Matar Sarr in central midfield. Then, here comes the hot take, I'd start Souza at left wing-back over Djed Spence.

My reason is I've become tired of seeing Spurs play with a right-footer on the left side this season and while Souza is inexperienced, he's left-footed which should provide nice balance.

I'd then go with Xavi Simons as the No.10 behind Kolo Muani and Solanke, who could work really nicely together.

This XI may also feel harsh on Archie Gray but I don't see the need to start both him and Conor Gallagher.

Taylor's Tottenham XI vs Fulham: Vicario; Danso, Palhinha, Van de Ven; Porro, Sarr, Gallagher, Souza; Xavi; Kolo Muani, Solanke.

Fulham and Tottenham go head-to-head in a crucial Premier League game on Saturday - and there are a number of players who will miss out on the fixture

Tottenham go hunting for their first win of the Igor Tudor era when they make the short trip across London to face Fulham on Sunday afternoon.

Tudor oversaw a 4-1 North London Derby defeat to Arsenal in his first game since replacing Thomas Frank earlier this month - and he will be desperate to get a maiden win under his belt.

Fulham, meanwhile, head in the game off the back of an impressive 3-1 win at Sunderland last Sunday and will be hoping to boost their chances of qualifying for Europe.

But there are a number of players that won't feature in the game at Craven Cottage. For Tottenham, Tudor has at least nine stars unavailable for the fixture. James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski haven't played a single minute this season and both are long-term absentees.

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Wilson Odobert, Mohammed Kudus, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies and Lucas Bergvall remain out for the foreseeable future, while Cristian Romero is suspended and Destiny Udogie has a thigh injury.

Micky van de Ven injured his finger against Arsenal but is expected to be fit, while Pedro Porro is pushing to be back after injuring his thigh and Kevin Danso is facing a race against time to face Fulham.

As for Fulham, they have one confirmed player out. Kevin is due to have surgery on Monday after injuring his metatarsal in the win at Sunderland last Sunday, with Brazilian expected to miss the rest of the season.

Sasa Lukic and Samuel Chukwueze are fighting to get back fit to face Tottenham, with Marco Silva confirming in his pre-match press conference that both players are "back in contention".

Antonee Robinson is another that is hoping to return to take on Spurs, with the USA international missing the trip to Sunderland after suffering a knock.

Apart from that, it's a clean bill of health for Fulham as they aim to make it back-to-back wins.

Spurs, meanwhile, are desperate to get their season back on track after going winless in nine in the Premier League. It's a run that has seen them drop to 16th in the Premier League, just four points clear of the relegation zone.

The interim Tottenham head coach has been speaking about the fight ahead as the club look to hold on to their place in the Premier League

Igor Tudor believes he has the soldiers at Tottenham to fight a relegation battle but they will have to do things they won't like to climb the Premier League table.

The Croatian has come into Spurs with the same no-nonsense approach he arrived with at clubs like Juventus, Lazio, Udinese, Hellas Verona and Marseille before dramatically pushing those sides up their respective tables. Tottenham need his football firefighting skills because they sit 16th in the Premier League and just four points above the drop zone.

Tudor admitted after his debut defeat against league leaders Arsenal that the job at Spurs was a bigger one than he expected before he walked through the doors. The 47-year-old has previously stated that he wants the team to come together to go to war and he was asked ahead of Sunday's trip to Fulham whether he has enough soldiers to do so.

"What do you think? I hope so. I believe, yes," said the interim head coach. "After the first game I said if you play against the best team in the world at this moment, for us, I need to be honest, it’s not a realistic game to show we are soldiers or we are not soldiers.

"That's the truth, but they showed they can be in some parts of the game. For long periods in the game we had problems, in defence especially. It’s not easy against them. Let’s see in the next games."

So who are the soldiers for Tudor's reign?

"I will tell you when the season finishes!" said the former Juventus centre-back with a grin.

The two-time Serie A winner believes that the club's injury crisis has meant a core group of players being overplayed and fatigued and he has spent a rare period without midweek matches putting "petrol in the engines".

"Physically, I believe, we are not in an amazing situation. They have played lots of games in the last period without lots of players available and it made the physical condition of the team drop down. So we need to use this period where we don’t play the games to put some petrol in the engine so the engine starts to work better," he said.

"They are fatigued. To press high you need to be fit, but all of them, because if one person is not in the right shape there is a problem because someone is coming late. And the second thing, is that there is the other goal to protect. It is easy to run there but you need to run back, so if you run up and don’t run back it’s a problem.

"We will improve and do these things better over time but in this moment it’s a big question, what we can do and what we cannot do."

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The Spurs players have been shown running in training sessions in recent days and Tudor believes it has to be done to put that petrol in their tanks even if the squad won't like it.

"That’s the only way. Running. The pitch is 100 yards, it’s long! So you need to run," he said. "There are habits. Maybe you have habits to, I don’t know, to work a bit less.

"I put some runs without the ball. Players never like runs without the ball so we put some runs without balls [into the sessions], but it's a moment when there is no time to think too much about what somebody doesn’t like and the best thing is that they understand this. They gave me their availability to do these things."

Tudor downplayed suggestions that he put his players through double training sessions at Juventus, saying: "No, we did not. Just three...no, joking!"

The new man believes that the problems for the Tottenham players can be found both in their legs and in the minds right now.

"It is both things, physical and mental. There is some pressure here in this club, of course. Some players are still young. They were brought here to help and now maybe they are in a moment where they need to resolve the problems," said the Croatian. "So, if you have too many of these players, because of the amount of injuries, who are playing together in the squad it does create some problems, but it is also an opportunity and a challenge to grow fast, to become a man.

"To grow fast and say, ‘Come on, I’m the guy, give me the ball, I will score’ instead of just ‘What can I do? I’m just here you know’. This is the challenge for each of them. Why not? To say, ‘Come on, give me the ball, I will not cry, I will take the ball, I will defend my box’.

"It’s always how you see the situation. You can always see it both ways. Or 'I’m just here and we had 15 players and I was always left out and now we have 10 players out, so I play'. How do you really see that situation? If you are the right guy, positive there is opportunity."

The Spurs boss made it clear that he wants his players to forget the Arsenal game, only having shown them a couple of clips because "it was important to show a few things but not too much".

One man in a Tottenham shirt who did emerge with credit from the north London derby was Randal Kolo Muani. The Frenchman impressed under Tudor at Juventus last season with five goals in 11 matches and when the head coach was told that he got more out of the 27-year-old last weekend than Spurs fans have seen so far this campaign, he grinned broadly.

"That’s good. One good thing!" he said.

So what’s the key to unlocking the France international's talent?

"I don’t know. As I said before, I always do my job, speak with people. Maybe sometimes some players feel better with other coaches," he said. "Sometimes it's style of play, sometimes it's the moment, sometimes it's confidence, the moment of the team, there's a lot of issues to comment. It’s a big theme."

So can Kolo Muani score the goals to get Spurs out of trouble?

"Yeah, I believe, yes," said Tudor. "I really hope he continues to score."

Injury returns, Igor Tudor demands - Six things spotted behind the scenes at Tottenham training  Football London

Mauricio Pochettino has been linked with a return to Tottenham as the club search for a permanent replacement for Thomas Frank

Tottenham Hotspur had their most successful league campaigns in recent memory under Mauricio Pochettino, with the manager linked with a move back to North London this summer.

Spurs are on the lookout for a permanent manager following the sacking of Thomas Frank. Igor Tudor has come in as his replacement, on an interim deal until the end of the season, with the search going on in the background.

Pochettino, who is currently the manager of the USA national team, has been linked with the vacancy. His latest comments have hinted at a possible return to the club.

"I'm always linked [to clubs]. To Tottenham, just like at one time I was linked to Espanyol, or to other clubs," he told Radiogaceta de los Deportes.

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"In the end, especially because of my past at those clubs, when things aren't going well, people tend to fall back on emotion and say, 'Well, with Mauricio we played good football,' or whatever it may be.

"But no, we're focused on the World Cup, on the United States. My contract runs until after the World Cup, so after that we'll see what might happen. Open to everything, right?"

If it happens, an appointment is likely to take place after the World Cup. But preparations for the summer transfer window could begin.

Pochettino's managerial career has seen him work with hundreds of different players, both on the domestic and international stage. Here are five that he could turn to, should a Tottenham reunion happen.

Ben Chilwell

Pochettino worked with the left-back during his time at Chelsea. Chilwell’s time under the Argentine was disrupted by injury, with him making 20 appearances in all competitions, where he often wore the captain’s armband.

Chilwell since fell out of favour at Stamford Bridge and completed a permanent move to French side Strasbourg in the summer, where he has been a regular. He will have just one year remaining on his deal when the summer comes around, meaning he could be available at a cheaper price.

At 29 years old, he could bring much-needed Premier League experience to the back-line.

Andrey Santos

Like Chilwell, Santos worked with Pochettino during the manager's time at Chelsea, although he never made a first-team appearance under him, with the midfielder just starting to make the breakthrough.

Still aged just 21, the Brazilian has now made that breakthrough. Although he has been in every matchday squad he has been available for, he has been in and out of the starting XI at Chelsea this season.

If Spurs could promise him more regular starts, then it could be a deal that could possibly be done. Although with him under contract until 2030, it may prove expensive.

Weston McKennie

Another option for the midfield could be USA international Weston McKennie. As it stands, the 27-year-old is out of contract with Juventus at the end of the current season and will be available on a free transfer.

The midfielder has impressed with his performances in Italy this season, and looks set to be a key member of Pochettino’s US team for the upcoming home World Cup.

His versatility, allowing him to play pretty much anywhere on the pitch, could be invaluable.

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Florian Balogun

Another player who Pochettino is likely to turn to during the World Cup. The 24-year-old striker has scored five goals and provided four assists in 19 Ligue 1 appearances for Monaco this season.

Another five goals have come in his 10 appearances for the club in the Champions League, as well as three goals in his last five games for the national team.

The forward started his career with Arsenal, before joining Monaco in August 2023 and has since gone from strength to strength.

Haji Wright

The American has impressed for Coventry City as they aim to secure promotion from the Championship at the end of this season. The 27-year-old has scored 14 goals in 30 appearances in the Championship so far this campaign, with the Sky Blues sitting at the top of the table.

If they earn promotion, a deal may be hard to do, with the club likely to want to keep their best players to try and compete in the Premier League. It could, however, be a cheaper option if Coventry have a late-season collapse and misses out on promotion.

Tottenham have been drawn against Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League with both ties set to take place next month

Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid director Mateu Alemany have both made it clear they will not underestimate Tottenham in the Champions League - despite their shocking Premier League form.

The two sides are set to meet in the last 16 of Europe's elite club competition following Friday's draw in Switzerland and a box-office quarter-final clash against Barcelona or Newcastle is up for grabs.

Simeone said this afternoon when delivering his initial reaction to the match-up with Spurs: "Tottenham Hotspur in the UCL round of 16? I'm thinking about Real Oviedo.

"There will be time to talk about Tottenham, who is a tough opponent, an important club in world football. But we’ll speak more about them when the time comes."

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Meanwhile, Alemany also made it clear Atletico have full respect for the Europa League winners, who finished fourth in the league phase standings.

He said after avoiding Liverpool: “Either opponent would have been extremely difficult. You have to look at their [Tottenham's] European record, which has been brilliant. A top-level team, a Premier League favourite, whatever the draw, it was going to be tough. The important thing is to focus on our performance.”

Interestingly for Spurs and Igor Tudor, they will receive an extra period of rest ahead of the first leg at the Wanda Metropolitano.

Atletico play the second-leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final against Barcelona (leading 4-0 on aggregate) before Tottenham host Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

But beyond that, Spurs have a free weekend because they've already been eliminated in the FA Cup while Atletico host Real Sociedad in La Liga action.

Alemany isn't too worried though, stating: “We know we’re in the highest level of competition, facing the highest level of rivals and difficulty.

“It depends on the opponent, their ability to rotate their squad in their domestic league. Whatever happens, we can’t change it; we’ll accept it and adapt.”

Spurs travel to Atletico on March 10 before the return fixture at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on March 18.

Should Tudor's men progress, they could face a potential North London Derby in the semi-final against Arsenal further down the line.

For that to happen, they'd have to battle past Atletico and then the winners of Barcelona versus Newcastle.

Tottenham now know who they will face in the last 16 of the Champions League and what will come next if Igor Tudor's men progress

Tottenham have been drawn against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League round of 16 in Friday's afternoon's draw.

The north London side secured their spot in the last 16 with a fourth-place finish in the big league phase and that makes them seeds going into this round as well as the quarter-finals should they progress.

Now Spurs' interim head coach Igor Tudor will take his men to face Atletico, which means a quick homecoming for Conor Gallagher after the midfielder made the switch between the two clubs in January. It will also mean Tottenham captain Cristian Romero going to the Riyadh Air Metropolitano Stadium to face a club that has openly courted him with manager Diego Simeone have said he would love to bring the World Cup winner to Madrid.

Atletico eventually eased into the last 16 with a 7-4 aggregate victory over Club Brugge, following up a 3-3 draw in Belgium with a 4-1 win at home this week.

Spurs also know the Metropolitano well when it comes to this competition, having lost in the Champions League final to Liverpool in that stadium in 2019.

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The north London side's high league phase finish also means they will play their first game away and the second at home at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in both the round of 16 and, if they progress, the quarter-finals.

The dates for the two last 16 away and home times will be on March 10-11 in Madrid and 17-18 back in London.

If Spurs were to progress then the quarter-finals are on April 7/8 and 14/15, the semi-finals on April 28/29 April and May 5/6 May and then the final takes place in Budapest on May 30.

The path to the final now shows that Tottenham would face Newcastle or Barcelona in the quarter-finals if they were to progress past Atletico. In the semi-finals, if Spurs made it through they would face one of Bodo/Glimt, Sporting, Leverkusen or their north London rivals Arsenal.

The club's former chief football officer has taken part in an interview in his homeland and opened up on his time in north London

Tottenham's former chief football officer Scott Munn has said he was unable to push through all of the changes he wanted to in the club's medical department to stop the constant injury problems.

The Australian spent just two years at the club after arriving from The City Group and while he oversaw a period in which Spurs won the Europa League, his fate appeared to be somewhat tied to that of head coach Ange Postecoglou after the club's 17th-place finish in the Premier League.

Once Postecoglou departed, Munn was placed on gardening leave and it was not long before long-time chairman Daniel Levy also departed from his role with CEO Vinai Venkatesham taking charge of the day-to-day running of the club.

With Munn's gardening leave now over he has now become head of football for the Krause Group, which owns a 90% stake in Serie A club Parma. Munn has now opened up on his time at Spurs, his frustrations and what he enjoyed about his time in N17, in an interview with Australian media outlet Football 360.

He was asked about the club's injury problems which have continued this season with Igor Tudor taking over after Thomas Frank's unsuccessful and brief tenure to discover just 13 outfield players available for his first training session with many of those absent out with long-term injuries.

"We did a review into every department – the academy, medicine, everything… So yes, that happened. We wanted to come through with a number of changes and take the medical department to a level that equated to a big club in England. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make the changes we recommended – some parts were accepted, other parts weren’t. That wasn’t an optimal outcome," said Munn.

"If you look at this year’s injury position, not much has changed. You need to look at it in totality, and there’s many parts to this…but yes ok, I’ll wear that accusation."

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With Frank struggling to improve Tottenham after Postecoglou's departure, Munn pointed towards the culture around the club compared to his previous job with The City Group.

"History shows it has been 17 managers in 20 years or something – for me it’s about actions along with the results," he said. "If you are with a club and you don’t win anything, then that’s a pretty important measure. I remember a CFG board meeting, and we (Manchester City) had finished second in the Premier League the year before. The Chairman – Khaldoon Al-Mubarak – started the meeting by saying that wasn’t acceptable! That was instilled in everything we did in the club.

"I didn’t have that same feeling at Spurs. At that level, the margin for error is so small that culture and mentality can be the difference between three points on a Saturday.

"There were two significant games for me at Spurs – one was against Chelsea, when we went down to nine men and we kept chasing the game, (goalkeeper Guglielmo) Vicario was on the halfway line acting as a sweeper. Even though we ended up losing the game, we felt that was how we wanted to play. The second one was the Manchester City game – the sentiment from the fans, indicating that they’d prefer to lose the game to ensure Arsenal didn’t win the league. I couldn’t get that in my head. I got the fan rivalry – but when you work in football and don’t want to win, I can’t understand that."

Munn enjoyed his time at Tottenham and his relationship with Postecoglou though.

"I learned a lot professionally and I made amazing friends. I didn’t know Ange previously or his staff. On the field – the key metrics were that we were fifth in the first year after finishing eighth the season before. The second year we won the club's first trophy in 20 years and we qualified for the UEFA Champions League – on those measures you’d say we did a pretty good job in trying circumstances," he said.

"We all understand the Premier League performance wasn’t good enough, but we had to make a decision on what outcome was better for us – a higher Premier League finish, or to put all our efforts into success in Europe, and we did that."

Postecoglou in particular left an impression on Munn and the former CFO praised his leadership skills.

"We stay in touch – I am having lunch with him on Friday! He’s an amazing sounding board, and he’s quite a selfless leader – he’ll take responsibility, and will make sure others perform around him. The team we had supporting Ange – Nick Montgomery is now at Beijing Guoan, Mile [Jedinak] is back with the Socceroos, Serge (Raimundo) is working for me," he said.

"All went back into big jobs very quickly – and that’s because he provides a great platform to give people opportunity. We went through a pretty unique moment together. Where will he end up? I think any manager that’s out of the game, even for five minutes, misses the daily interaction with players and staff and preparing for the next game. I absolutely know that he would be looking forward to getting back."

On the criticism Postecoglou faced from the UK media, Munn pointed to the scrutiny in the Premier League for all managers.

"Well, in Australia I worked in AFL so I’m not naïve – but the daily scrutiny in the Premier League is like nothing else in the world. I found it quite suffocating at times, with the protection you need around you – the level of exposure, people being in your face all the time, it’s like nothing else. In AFL, it’s only 30 games a season – I don’t know if people quite understand that in Australia," he said.

"I also think the scrutiny on Spurs is next level – I think it’s much larger than (for example) at Manchester City. There are more journalists in London for a start – if you are in a one, or two team city you can manage that better.

"I don’t think it was personal or vengeful towards Ange, but I think certainly some media found it intriguing and didn’t understand it – a Greek-Australian coming via Japan, how did he end up here? I felt there were some things that were unfair, but Ange is well-read, well-educated, and I think they got that towards the end of the first year."

The Tottenham Hotspur boss had plenty to say ahead of the Premier League game against Fulham but one comment stood out for people

Tottenham head coach Igor Tudor got the supporters talking with a cryptic answer during his press conference ahead of the Premier League match at Fulham.

The Croatian admitted at Hotspur Way on Thursday that he has already realised the challenge that lies before him at Spurs is harder than he thought it would be when he signed on the dotted line until the send of the season. Tudor has gone into clubs like Juventus, Lazio, Udinese twice and others across Europe and instantly improved them but arriving at Tottenham with just 13 outfield players fit and available in his first week was something he was not expecting.

The 47-year-old at least has defenders Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso back in training this week but when he was asked about why he thinks Spurs have so many injuries each year, the two-time Serie A title-winning centre-back was keeping his cards cryptically close to his chest.

"I have my thoughts, I have opinions here, but I keep them to myself," he said.

That got the supporters on social media wondering exactly what those thoughts were and who or what he believed was the real culprit behind a second year of injury woes for the club.

football.london asked Tudor when he thinks he will have Destiny Udogie and Dejan Kulusevski back in action. The former suffered a hamstring injury earlier this month and the latter has been out since undergoing knee surgery towards the end of last season following a patella injury at Crystal Palace.

"It's a weekly basis. When they come, they come. We need to be focused on the way, also, how they come back into the team. Also, the main important thing is, in time, they are recovering to put them in good condition so when they come back, they are in good shape. Otherwise, it's a problem, but we are working. This is an important part of our job."

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He added: "I know [Kulusevski] from Juventus. Fantastic player, fantastic guy. Difficult moment. He's had really big problems, as you know, here. But he's positive and also the doctors are positive. So we'll see, next week, how it's going."

When asked if he expects to have Kulusevski back this season after a slower than expected recovery, he added: "We hope so. In this moment, I don’t know."

Joao Palhinha will return to Craven Cottage on Sunday looking to help get Spurs back on track against his old team and Tudor has been impressed with the Portuguese midfielder, who has been playing in central defence, since he arrived last week.

"Big leader and important for the dressing room all these skills – not just as a player, but as a human being. He played there [in defence] and it’s not his natural position. He did something else for the team in this particular moment and I know he did his best for that," he said.

"We put a line of four for the last game to protect other weakness we maybe have in these moments against teams. You always need to do some adjustments you believe in moments are best for the team. In this particular moment some of us need to play in a role that's not their best position."