Here is very single word the Tottenham Hotspur interim head coach said during his first press conference ahead of the match against Arsenal
Igor Tudor faces the questions at his first press conference as Tottenham interim head coach on Friday afternoon ahead of the North London Derby on Sunday.
The Croatian was appointed until the end of the campaign to replace Thomas Frank who was sacked with Spurs lying 16th in the Premier League table, just five points above West Ham in the Premier League drop zone. Now Tudor faces the toughest of debuts in the dugout against Mikel Arteta's Arsenal side.
Tudor has inherited the injury problems that dogged Frank this season, and his predecessor Ange Postecoglou before him, and the 47-year-old has been training with just 13 fit outfield players ahead of the north London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Our Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to the new man at the helm ahead of the match. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at Hotspur Way.
Welcome Igor, have you enjoyed your first few days?
I didn’t enjoy because I’m not here to enjoy I’m here to work. Enjoying is just the first moment after there is work to do. It’s a privilege to be here, as I said before, at this fantastic club. Also very focused and concentrated to do the right things that this club, this team and these fans need. I’m focused on that, I’m not thinking too much about what you asked me to enjoy.
You've lots of injuries. How difficult will this job be?
Very particular moment as you know this very rare situation that you find with 10 players injured, with big injuries also. We made training with 13 players. It is how it is. It is not fantastic beautiful but in this case it’s an even bigger challenge to succeed and come out of this situation.
But what was my goal in this first sessions we made is that we became a team. That we became a team with a really right way of going to war, a team who want to suffer, we need to suffer. To fight, to run, to have the right mentality. Also, this is the start. I was working on a lot of things, not everything because it’s not only football, it’s not only about that, it’s about clear idea of what we want to do. Very specific things we want to do with the ball, without the ball, when we are pressing, when we are low. We work a lot but the start is always about mentality because the people come before the football player.
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You have a great reputation for coming into clubs and making an immediate impact. What is it that you do?
I don’t know. I do my job. Nothing special. I do the things I believe is important. Nothing more, nothing less. Each coach has his own style to achieve the results. I have my style which I believe is the best. It’s never the same because there are always different characteristics, different clubs and different culture. Not even of the league but the club. Some clubs like this kind of football, some like this. You need to resolve the problems. Everywhere the problems, if you go to the best clubs in the world you believe there are not problems there but there are problems there like in the third division. It’s all about how you resolve the problems in a very quick time. Not easy but it’s okay.
When you talk about making these football players a team with a mentality, have you spoken to the team about what you expect from them on Sunday because they really struggled at home in the Premier League?
Yeah, we speak from day one. We have these three, four sessions. From day one, I go immediately to very concrete things, because there's no time to lose. Even choosing the exercise, I need to choose the exercise for in a short period, they can do the improvement.
Not losing too much time on basic principles, maybe sometimes I do. So, what I said, it's not, of course, possible in short trainings to do big changes, but something we need to see. And I'm sure that we will see something. I saw the players very available, very motivated to turn on the things. So, that's a nice start.
Given that you've got so many players out injured, has it been particularly easy or difficult to work out how you want to set the team up? And also, what kind of style of play do you want to try and implement?
I would say that it's more difficult when you don't have players, of course. But in one way, then it's easy to choose. The system is always after the style, after the mentality. The system can be...as you know, during the game, the players move, change. So, it's only start position after it's all about fluidity, about movement. Without the ball, of course. Then you need to choose for the characteristics of the players you have That's the thing. With the players, if you have wingers, fantastic wingers, you can play with the wingers. If you have, I don't know, fantastic strikers, you can play with strikers or midfielders. So, that's the key. But it's not about the system. That's the last thing that's important.
For this start, you know, what I said before, we need to become a team, we need to become the group of the people who are available, who will give something more, who will not watch each other. Who will not watch themselves, but each other, to help them. So, this is, for me, basic, and after, all the quality can come out, because this is a team that is full of quality, I believe, full of talented players, with good motor engines, I like to say, the legs who can run, you know. So, there is plenty of potential. So, to come out of this potential, some basic needs to be done.
You mentioned you've had 13 players in training. Have you got anyone coming back from injury before this game on Sunday?
Probably no, probably no. Solanke, Dominic, had some problems with his throat, but he made today some training. So, all others, probably someone next week.
This club has a great history of having had really top-level, world-class Croatian players who've played here, so how proud are you to continue that link between Croatian players, managers and this club?
Yeah, my best friend was here, Stipe Pletikosa as goalkeeper, and also the best player in the history of Croatian football, Luka Modric. So, of course, nice things happened 10, 15 years ago, so it's passed a little bit of time, but it's nice.
Radu Dragusin is going to be an important player for you in the weeks ahead, with Cristian Romero out. Did you work with him in his first season coming through?
Yeah, he came out as a young player in that period. I've been there, recognising him immediately, the skills, he was good already. When he was young, he's still young, but not like he was four or five years ago.
Did you work with Romero maybe just for a week or two?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I sent him out, I sent him to Atalanta. No, no, he told me that now 'you sent me out!' I said, no, no, no. He went to Atalanta, and then he made this fantastic career, and that's what he became.
What was your first conversation like with the leaders in the group, like Cristian?
The conversation was what I said now before here. It is about everything, you cannot say we speak about this and we don’t speak about this. You need to speak about these values, but also about concrete things on the pitch and what you want because the players need and they want to have clarity about what we want. This was a goal to send two messages about people, about men, about values and about what we want to play, so these two things together working.
Who will be your captain with Cristian out?
Yeah, he (Romero) will be. Ah, you will see on Sunday.
Do you think Spurs are in a relegation fight?
This is not important. To be more clear, fighting for every position – relegation, first position, UEFA [European qualification] – it is for me, how can I explain, it is all about you achieve what you do during the week. You achieve your position how you do things on Sunday. So it is always a consequence of that. This brings you nothing if you start to think about relegation or ‘I’m fighting for this.’ All these goals, they are far away. I never give them importance. I never speak about results.
I never speak about what we need to achieve at the end of the season. I don’t believe in this. I believe in today’s training. This is all I want the players to think about. I go strong on things we need to do on training, after we speak, I go man to man to give concrete advices, all I have – love, also support – but the right advice, It is all about that. The position [in the table] is a consequence of this.
Do you think the players have taken that on board – the gap is only five points so they may be thinking about it?
It can be five, ten, two, The behaviour needs to be the same. We need to be focused on what we need to become as a team. That’s the process, that’s the path so let’s focus on this and see what we can become. Not that we need to see what is down, what is up. This doesn’t bring you anything. We need to concentrated on us, me as a coach, helping the players every day and what the players can do. This is the main goal.
The atmosphere has been negative at home games of late – what is your message to supporters?
The message is give us support. The players need this. It is an amazing game to restart. I heard a lot of good things about them, about the love they have for the players. I am sure they will give us support and we show them that we care and we want to switch, we want to make a change immediately.
Does it matter that you have no experience in the Premier League?
I don’t believe [it matters]. Football is everywhere, it is 11 vs 11, there is a referee, there is offside, there is everything, so of course something, but I know the club, I know who is staying with the guys inside. Small details of course you will know much better with the months, but in the end it is always about football, about pitch there, about relationships and what you need to do there.
What are your memories of facing Tottenham in 2022?
Not nice because we lose, so not nice but two good games. Champions League, Marseille against, it was good game, beautiful, beautiful. Good atmosphere in the stadium, I remember. Unfortunately we lose.
How confident are you that come next season Tottenham will still be a Premier League team?
Confident? 100 per cent, 100 per cent.
