Tottenham Hotspur

As he gets set to take charge of the club for the first time against Arsenal this weekend, Igor Tudor has spoken about his close friendship with one of our former players – who also coincidentally made his Spurs bow against the Gunners.

Croatian international goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa spent the 2010/11 season on loan with us from Spartak Moscow, having enjoyed a successful early career with hometown club Hajduk Split and Shakhtar Donetsk.

A talented shot-stopper, he found his opportunities limited here with both Heurelho Gomes and Carlo Cudicini in front of him in the pecking order and ultimately only made a solitary first team appearance in our colours, which came in a League Cup third round tie at home to Arsenal in September, 2010.

Nevertheless, Stipe holds a place in our history – something our new Head Coach Igor takes pride in, as he considers the 47-year-old former shot-stopper his best mate after the pair grew up together in Split.

“Stipe and me, we know each other from when we were seven, eight, maybe nine years old,” our new boss told tottenhamhotspur.com.

“We played all the youth academy at Hajduk Split together and then also in the national team. He’s an amazing guy – he’s now working in the Croatian Football Federation.

“We live in the same city and also we are family friends – our families have a really good relationship. We’ve known each other for over 35 years now – it’s a long time!”

Unfortunately, Stipe’s encounter with the Gunners ended in defeat, but Igor will be keen to rectify that on behalf of his childhood pal and all of his new Spurs family on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium!

Armend Muslika’s fine free-kick on the stroke of half-time settled the contest as our Under-18s ground out a 1-0 home win over Fulham on Saturday.

In a game where we didn’t manage to capture our usual rhythm, it needed a moment of magic from Muslika to break the deadlock and ensure we kept pace with leaders Chelsea, who remain two points clear at the top of the Under-18 Premier League’s southern division standings.

Substitute Phoenix Offiah was denied a second by an incredible save from Fulham goalkeeper Matt Bagot six minutes from time while some last-ditch interventions from Cameron Thomas and goalkeeper Dylan Thompson prevented the visitors from scrambling in a late leveller, but on the whole it was tough going for our much-changed side in what was our third game of the week at this level.

With the hectic schedule in mind, Under-18s Coach Jamie Carr rotated his team with four changes from the midweek win at Arsenal, including a debut for recent signing from Chelsea, Joel Vidal-Philbert, on the wing. He almost made an explosive start, firing into the side-netting and then sending Oliver Boast through on goal with an exquisite pass inside the first couple of minutes, although the latter couldn’t find a way past Bagot after colliding with him in the box and the chance went begging.

A through ball from deep caught everyone out at the other end as Anand Batra went through on goal but he fired straight at Thompson, while Muslika felt he should have had a penalty when he took on Fulham defender Logan Cooke in their box and went to ground, but the referee waved play on.

Injuries to a couple of Fulham players meant the first half was rather drawn-out, but in the fifth added minute at the end of that period we took the lead, Muslika curling a beauty of a free-kick inside the near post on his right foot, as he has done before on a couple of different occasions this season, to give us the upper hand.

Oscar Sandiford and opposite number Nazim Benchaite fired over the bar at either end in the second period but clear chances were at a premium until the 84th minute when – not for the first time in the game – substitute Conall Glancy released Miracle Adewole with a great pass down the left flank, Offiah subsequently thumping the latter’s cross towards goal from the middle of the box, only for Bagot to somehow turn it away. We had to be strong at the back as Fulham tried to force a late equaliser on the second phase following a corner, but a block from Thomas almost on the line, followed by a low save from Thompson, saw us escape and secure maximum points.

‘Disappointed with the performance’

Coach Jamie made it clear after the game that our display didn’t hit the levels he expects, telling SPURSPLAY: “Overall, we’re coming away slightly disappointed with the performance. We spoke about having enough on the ball to show that we can play, regardless of the situation or the state of the game, and just to make sure that we have enough control of the ball to just show our level really, so that was probably one of the disappointing things for us today. We scored a great goal with an individual free-kick from Armend, but other than that we didn’t really show the quality that we’d like to see.”

Dele's best moments in a Spurs shirt

"Can Igor Tudor implement his bold brand of intense, attacking football for the visit of an Arsenal side that has found a new role for Bukayo Saka?"

Rob Daly, official club commentator, presenter and pundit

Which system will Igor Tudor use?

The Croatian is known for favouring a 3-4-2-1 formation, with potential variations in attack. High wing-backs, aggressive man-to-man pressing and brave attacking play are all hallmarks of a style honed over a long coaching career. But can that philosophy be worked into this Spurs team after just a week of training with Tudor taking his first session on Monday. “We have a lot of injured players, so, we need first to find the best system that suits the players that are available at this moment. So, (it is) a very particular moment," he told us in his first club interview this week.

Who could play in a back three?

If Tudor does line up in a familiar style, with Cristian Romero and Kevin Danso unavailable, you could imagine Joao Palhinha, Radu Dragusin and Micky van de Ven making up the defence. In his teams of the past, centre-backs have been given license to get forward in open play should the chance present itself. Again, will we see this in a game as soon as this North London derby? “The team needs, I believe, first of all, to get some confidence, to get some courage,” explained the Croatian upon his immediate plans, speaking of the importance of buy-in during training from the group. “The coach needs to show the path, where is the way we want to go, how we want to go, and the players need to accept this and together we, in this way, we prepare."

Is this Randal Kolo Muani's chance to shine?

After stepping into the Juventus dugout last March, Igor Tudor guided the Bianconeri back into the Champions League places by the season’s end. A key man in that late charge for fourth place was Randal Kolo Muani. While on loan at Juve from PSG, the French international was used by Tudor as one of two players behind a centre-forward, as a lone striker himself or as one of two up front in a 3-5-2. Scoring in three of the final five league games of the season, Tudor spoke of how 'complete' his performances had been.

How have Arsenal reshaped their attack?

Since the previous north London derby in late November, there have been some changes for Arsenal. Right now, Noni Madueke has been starting on the right wing, ever since Bukayo Saka picked up an injury in the warm-up versus Leeds last month. Madueke came into the starting XI and set up one before scoring himself directly from a corner in a 4-0 win. Since that game he’s claimed goals against Brentford and Wigan and the England international started there again for the midweek trip to Wolves.

Where is Saka playing?

That doesn’t mean Saka is out of the side – and another injury in the warm-up to a game, this time Wigan, forced Mikel Arteta into a reshuffle that saw Saka deployed in the 10 position. The experiment worked well in a 4-0 victory, so it was no surprise to see him start centrally at Molineux and within five minutes he’d made a well-timed run to head home a Declan Rice cross. Despite the late collapse to draw that game, did Mikel Arteta see enough from Saka in that role to do it again, despite there being other candidates? Martin Odgegaard, the primary player for Arsenal in that position, and Kai Havertz, were both injured midweek, with the hope of returning today, while Eberechi Eze hasn’t scored since the north London derby earlier in the season.

It’s just over six years ago since we progressed to the quarter-finals of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup for the first time in our history after a thumping 5-0 win over Coventry United.

Rianna Deam was at the heart of our excellent win in the fifth round win at Butts Park Arena, with the forward scoring a hat-trick in the contest – including two penalties in the first half – after Siri Worm curled home into the top left corner just before the midway point of the first period.

Lucia Leon was on hand to extend our advantage to four goals when she tapped home at the back post from Lucy Quinn’s exquisite delivery before, on the stroke of full-time, Rianna registered her hat-trick as she headed home from Quinn’s cross to seal a comfortable win against the Championship side.

That would secure our spot in the final eight of the competition for the first time, where our journey came to an end after a 4-0 loss to Arsenal.

A goal of the season contender from Rio Kyerematen spurred our Under-21s on to victory at home to Norwich City on Friday night.

The midfielder lit up an at-times cagey contest with a superb strike from distance that crashed in off the underside of the crossbar mid-way through the second half to restore our lead at Stevenage’s Lamex Stadium.

It was the stand-out moment as we’d struggled to play with our usual attacking zest until that point due in part to the visitors defending in numbers, James Wilson’s first goal in our colours after just 61 seconds cancelled out by Botan Ameen with Norwich having the better chances to forge ahead, Ameen squandering a great opportunity and Luke Towler twice brilliantly denied by goalkeeper Carey Bloedorn.

But Kyerematen’s third goal in two games proved the spark for us to push on to a comfortable win, Reiss Russell-Denny adding his name to the scoresheet on 78 minutes before Ellis Lehane opened his Premier League 2 account a minute from the end to round off a 4-1 victory – the second time in as many matches Wayne Burnett’s charges have scored four.

Some slick play down the right side led to the opener just over a minute in, Luca Williams-Barnett racing into space down the flank and sending in a perfectly-timed low delivery that Wilson was able to sweep home to register his first Spurs goal on his second appearance since joining on loan from Hearts.

He could have had a couple more thereafter as well, the striker just missing out on Maeson King’s delivery from the left that ended up deflecting onto the far post via defender Sonny Rowland and then sending a bullet header wide from Kyerematen’s right-sided delivery inside the first quarter of the game, but Norwich began to cause us problems at the other end as time went on, Elliot Myles and Zach Baumann both going close with Myles having the ball in the net at one point, although an early offside flag denied him.

Norwich did eventually fashion an equaliser on 40 minutes, Toby Chilvers knocking the ball down the right side of the box for Myles to square across goal, with Ameen arriving to convert from close range. Ameen was played clean through in first-half stoppage time as he chased a second, but when he tried to chip the advancing Bloedorn he put too much on it and lifted his effort over the bar.

Bloedorn got a strong hand down to his right to superbly save Towler’s low shot eight minutes into the second half but while we had to stay patient in our attempts to get back in front, it was certainly worth the wait as Kyerematen took control on the left side, some 30 yards from goal, and with seemingly nothing on unleashed a rocket of a shot that crashed off the underside of the bar, bounced down and then back up into the top corner – an unbelievable strike that put us back in the lead with 64 minutes gone.

Bloedorn somehow kept out Towler’s close-range effort a few moments later after ex-Spur Theo Adelusi had headed Myles’ free-kick back across our box, a save that proved crucial as we pushed on to take the game away from the Canaries. Dante Cassanova advanced down the right and cut back for Russell-Denny to force home our third goal on 78 minutes before two of our substitutes combined as Luca Furnell-Gill’s ball in from the same side was converted at the front post by Lehane, rounding off a hard-earned victory.

Reaction on SPURSPLAY

‘Norwich condensed the spaces’

Coach Wayne felt we deserved the victory in the overall reckoning, telling SPURSPLAY: “I thought at times we played some very good football, created some opportunities and probably didn’t capitalise, certainly in the first half. Norwich were very good, they made it difficult for us, they condensed the spaces – certainly inside, so we had to play more on the outside – and it was a tough game, but once we got the second goal, which was an excellent strike by Rio, we went on to be worthy winners.”

On Wilson’s first goal in our colours, Wayne added: “James has worked very hard. He’s a player that we know can score goals and he took his goal very well. He’s still getting up to speed but we’ve been really pleased with him, he’s a top individual, he’s a very good footballer and I think he’s going to score goals. He wants to get in the frame of the goal and, as I said, he took his goal very well.”

Press Conference: Tudor speaks to the media ahead of north London derby

Igor Tudor spoke to the media for the first time as our Head Coach on Friday afternoon, looking ahead to his first game in charge against Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

Here’s what he had to say...

How much have you enjoyed your first few days at Spurs?

Igor: “I didn’t enjoy because I’m not here to enjoy, I’m here to work. Enjoying is just the first moment, after that there is work to do. It’s a privilege to be here, as I said before, at this fantastic club. Also I’m 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.”

How difficult will this job be, with all the injuries affecting the squad?

Igor: “It’s a 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. Of course, 13 we will have for sure and it’s quite enough to achieve what we want on Sunday. And the first goal of all, of course I understand the importance of this game, this is a derby, a north London derby, everybody expects the three points from us. We are aware of this, but what was my goal in these first sessions we made is that we became a team, that we became a team in the really right meaning of the word. A team who want to suffer, we need to suffer, to fight, to run, to have the right mentality. 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 having a 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.”

How have you made such an immediate impact at your previous clubs?

Igor: “I don’t know. I do my job. Nothing special. I do the things that I believe are 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 cultures, 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 there are 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. It’s not easy but it’s okay.”

What have you told the players you expect from them on Sunday?

Igor: “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 an 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 training sessions 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 doing all the things. So, that's a nice start.”

Has it been easy or difficult to work out how you want to set the team up?

Igor: “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, as I said on Tottenham television, is always after the style, after the mentality. As you know, during the game, the players move, change, so it's only the starting position, after it's all about fluidity, about movement, without the ball, of course. Then you need to choose from 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 a group of the people who are available, who will give something more, 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 things need to be done.”

Is anyone coming back from injury for Sunday?

Igor: “Probably no, probably no. Solanke had some problems with his throat, but he made today some training. All others, probably someone next week.”

How proud are you to continue the history of top Croatian figures at Spurs?

Igor: “Yeah, my best friend was here, Stipe Pletikosa, the goalkeeper, and also the best player in the history of Croatian football, Luka Modric, so, of course, nice things happened. It was 10, 15 years ago, so it's passed a little bit of time, but it's nice.”

Did you work with Radu Dragusin at Juventus?

Igor: “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 Cristian Romero briefly too?

Igor: “Yeah, I sent him to Atalanta! (Laughs). No, no, he told me that now, 'you sent me out!' but I said no, no, no. He went to Atalanta, and then he made this fantastic career, and that's what he became.”

How was your first conversation with the leaders in the group?

Igor: “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 against Arsenal?

Igor: “You will see on Sunday!”

Do you think Spurs are in a relegation fight?

Igor: “This is not important (to think about). To be more clear, fighting for every position – relegation, first position, UEFA 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 in training, after we speak, I go man to man to give concrete advice, all I have – love, also support – but the right advice, so it’s all about that. The league position is a consequence of this.”

Do you believe the players have taken that on board?

Igor: “It can be five, 10, two points. The behaviour needs to be the same. We need to be focused on what we need to become 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 concentrate on us, me as a coach, helping the players every day and what the players can do. This is the main goal.”

What is your message to supporters ahead of Sunday’s home game?

Igor: “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?

Igor: “I don’t believe so. Football is everywhere, it is 11 against 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 the pitch there, about relationships and what you need to do there.”

What are your memories of facing Tottenham with Marseille in 2022?

Igor: “Not nice because we lost, so not nice but two good games. Champions League, Marseille, it was good game, beautiful, beautiful. Good atmosphere in the stadium, I remember. Unfortunately we lost.”

How confident are you that come next season Spurs will still be in the Premier League?

Igor: “Confident? 100 per cent.”

Igor Tudor revealed that Dominic Solanke has returned to training today after recovering from a throat issue earlier in the week.

The striker has been back for a month following a lengthy spell out with an ankle injury and has started our last four Premier League fixtures, opening his league account with a brace in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City on 1 February.

With 10 players currently sidelined through injury, Dom was one of the 13 available players who trained at Hotspur Way on Friday ahead of Sunday's north London derby against Arsenal at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Speaking in his first press conference on Friday (20 February) ahead of his opening fixture in charge, Igor said: "Dominic has a problem with his throat but he make today some training. All others… Probably someone next week."

Our Head Coach was also asked about whether any of our longer-term absentees could return at the weekend, to which he replied: "Probably not."

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