Igor Tudor has delivered a frank assessment on the problems his Tottenham Hotspur side are facing.
Tudor has taken over at Spurs, who are only four points above the relegation zone, until the end of the season.
His first game in charge was a heavy north London derby defeat to Arsenal last week, but Tudor has told his players to quickly move on from the loss.
“After the first game, as I said, if you’re playing 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 that we are soldiers or not we are soldiers,” he said.
“So that is true. But they show they can be in part of the game, in some parts of the game, you know. Long term, long game, the problems we have in defence especially, you know, it’s not easy against them. So let’s see the next games.
Asked who he thinks his “soldiers” are, Tudor replied: “I will tell you when the season is finished.”
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Tudor also reiterated that the physical condition of his players needs to be improved.
“I believe that physically we are not in an amazing situation, amazing moment,” he said.
“There were a lot of games they played (in the) last period without too many players available.
“So I believe the physical condition of the team dropped down. So we need to use this period where we don’t play the games to put some petrol in the engine. To start to work better.”
On whether fatigue is a problem given the injury situation, Tudor explained: “Yes, fatigue. To do the pressing up high, you need to be all fit.
“Because if you go and someone is not in the right shape, there are problems because someone is coming late also.
“And also second thing is there is also other another goal to protect. It’s easy to run there but you need to run back. So if you run up and don’t run back, it’s a problem.
“So for sure we will come up, we will do better things with the time, in this way.
“But in this moment, it’s a big question, what we can do and what we cannot do.”
Tudor also admits there are some mental obstacles his side must overcome, and challenged his available players to step up.
“There is some pressure here in this club of course,” he said.
“Some players are still young, very young. They are brought here to help and now maybe they are in a moment where they need to resolve the problems.
“So if you have maybe too many players because of the amount of injured players in this moment, who are together in the squad, that creates some problems.
“But it’s also an opportunity, a challenge to grow fast. To grow fast, to become a man, as your colleague said, fast. ‘Come on, I’m the guy. Give me the ball, I will resolve’. Instead of ‘how I can do it? I’m just here’.
“So that’s the challenge of each of them, to see why not. ‘I will be the guy. Give me the ball. I will not hide. I will take the ball. I will defend my box.’
“It’s always how you see the situation. You can always see it in both ways. Or ‘I’m just here, there was 15 players here, now we have 10 players out, so I play’.
“How you see the situation. If you are the right guy, then you will see it as a positive, as an opportunity.”