Igor Tudor’s position untenable as Tottenham humiliated

The career of Antonin Kinsky at Tottenham Hotspur will sadly probably never recover from this. But the more immediate question is how can Igor Tudor carry on for even one more day as interim head coach? The answer surely is he cannot. There should be an announcement as soon as possible.

Every call, every decision has not worked in Tudor’s four games in charge with four increasingly demoralising and disorganised defeats. No previous Spurs manager has lost his first four fixtures and it is six in a row now for the club. That has never happened before in their history. And things are getting worse, markedly worse, and not a shred better. This is car-crash football.

It was Tudor who decided to drop Tottenham’s established No 1 – Guglielmo Vicario – and select Kinsky, and while he cannot be responsible for the awful individual errors he is in charge. For now.

And it was his stunning decision, also, to replace his 22-year-old goalkeeper after just 17 traumatic minutes. Seventeen minutes; three goals conceded and just five touches for Kinsky in his first appearance since Spurs exited the League Cup in October.

If this Champions League last-16 tie against Atlético Madrid felt like a free hit for Spurs – given their desperate fight against relegation from the Premier League – then it ended up being a series of heavy blows to the face. They are punch drunk. And, for Tudor, surely a knockout blow.

It was all, maybe, symbolically summed up at the end with both substitute João Palhinha and captain Cristian Romero having to go off, after a clash of heads, appearing concussed and unsteady on their feet as Spurs finished with nine men. Everyone, though, was groggy.

As Kinsky was replaced, Tudor did not even look at him. He did not even try to console or explain. What kind of management was that? Maybe he deserves the same kind of cold treatment.

But even the song from the Spurs end reminding Pochettino he is “magic”, heard after half-time, felt subdued and the club just appears so rudderless, so leaderless, so bereft, so doomed. From the top down. And that bit is not Tudor’s fault.

No one who was here, no one watching will ever forget, the start to this game. No one could quite believe what happened. It was unprecedented. Loris Karius’s career at Liverpool did not survive after his mistakes in the 2018 Champions League final but this felt far more jaw-dropping and far more brutal. Especially with the substitution.

Twice Kinsky made horrendous errors to slip up and give goals away. The young Czech looked raw, he looked like a bag of nerves. He looked like he had his boots on the wrong foot; like he was wearing the wrong studs; like he had been exposed at the highest level. The personal tumult and the public humiliation was awful to witness.

After the third goal he was replaced. As he was consoled by two Spurs staff members three substitutes also ran down the tunnel to offer support: Conor Gallagher, Palhinha and Dominic Solanke. It felt and looked heartbreaking and the speed of their actions spoke volumes. There was genuine concern for what this meant.

For the first goal, Kinsky miskicked under no pressure and fell, giving the ball to Ademola Lookman who quickly found Julián Alvarez who quickly found Marcos Llorente who found the net.

For his second mistake, even worse, he appeared to strike the ball against his own foot, presenting it to Alvarez who could not believe his luck. In between another Spurs player lost his footing to surrender another goal with Van de Ven at fault and Antoine Griezmann taking advantage. That time at least no one could point the finger at Kinsky.

And Spurs went further behind. Their world was falling in and, while Vicario made a superb save, to repel Pape Sarr’s inadvertent goalward header from a corner, Robin Le Normand was there to meet the rebound with the ball crossing the goal-line before it was cleared.

On the touchline, Tudor desperately tried to call for calm but some Spurs fans had had enough and were already leaving. Four goals in 22 minutes and all of them his own team’s fault? Even by Spurs’ current plight this was new depths.

Remarkably Spurs then scored – and it was a fine finish from Pedro Porro. He sprinted back to halfway. There was indeed time but it was folly. Vicario was by far the busier goalkeeper.

Tudor made more changes, bringing on Gallagher – against his former side – and Solanke. So why did they not start? There are just so many questions about Spurs and Tudor. And he appears to have so few answers. Any answers.

And no fortune. Immediately after Spurs went close, with Jan Oblak beating out Richarlison’s close-range header, they conceded once again. Yes, it was a rapid counter, yes it was a wonderful flick by Griezmann and a calm finish from Alvarez. But what about the defending. The lack of structure. The absence of aggression and anticipation as Spurs were cut open.

And what do you know? Solanke scored as Porro seized on an Atlético mistake this time. It gave a little hope but a greater reminder that Atlético are not, actually, that good – especially in defence. Only Spurs are indefensible.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]