Is Tudor's Spurs reign almost up after only four games?

By

Chief football writer in Madrid

If Igor Tudor's jaw-dropping removal of goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky after 17 calamitous minutes in Madrid was a brutal example of a mistake being rectified swiftly, then it is time for Tottenham Hotspur's hierarchy to consider doing the same.

Interim head coach Tudor delivered the time-honoured blunt "no comment" when asked whether he deserved to keep his job after the 5-2 loss at Atletico Madrid, his fourth straight defeat.

This situation, like Spurs' season, is out of his control. Those above him must now act.

In reality, the Croat's position is looking increasingly untenable, every scrap of evidence produced since he succeeded Thomas Frank suggesting he is the wrong man in the wrong place.

With their former manager Mauricio Pochettino watching on from the stands in Madrid, the Spurs power brokers must be pondering another emergency appointment as their season slipped further into crisis.

In the emotional, atmospheric surroundings of the Metropolitano this was, in a strictly sporting contest, like being present at the scene of an accident.

This was Spurs in microcosm with mistake piled upon mistake – the self-destruct button pressed with despairing regularity.

And at the centre of it all was poor 22-year-old Kinsky, selected ahead of previous first-choice Guglielmo Vicario, but substituted in short order after two slips gifted goals to Marcos Llorente and Julian Alvarez.

If the Spurs fans who travelled to Madrid – with neither hope nor expectation – thought this wretched season could not produce fresh horrors for them, one of the worst opening 23 minutes in the club's recent history soon put them straight.

Where do you even start?

Atletico, without being above average in those ill-fated 23 minutes, were 4-0 up, Micky van de Ven also failing to keep his footing to present Antoine Griezmann with a goal.

The final score makes the second leg of this last 16 tie a formality. Spurs only have a fight for survival now.

Tudor's unique selling point in a chequered, nomadic coach career was supposedly his ability to provide an instant spark of impact. At Spurs, this has been The Midas Touch in reverse. The Minus Touch.

Four defeats from four games is the worst start by anyone in charge at Spurs, with each one more damaging and demoralising than the last. Tudor is not arresting the Spurs crisis, he is accelerating it.

On his own future, Tudor said: "This is not a topic for me. This is not about my job. It is about helping the team."

As yet, Tudor has not fulfilled his part of the bargain. His days must now be measured in very small numbers.

Tudor has demonstrated he is not afraid to make the big calls. The snag is he is getting them wrong when Spurs can ill-afford it.

Opinion will be divided on his decision to substitute Kinsky after only 17 minutes, between a coach saving the keeper from himself or a hard-nosed act that might kill a young player's career.

It was a stunning move, smacking of a coach who either feels he had nothing to lose or possibly feels he has lost it already at Spurs.

He said in a brief post-match inquisition: "It was a very rare thing. I have never done this in 15 years of coaching. I did it to preserve the guy and to preserve the team.

"It was an incredible situation."

Of course, Tudor cannot be held responsible for what happened to Kinsky, but it was symptomatic of how things have got worse on his watch.

What is firmly at Tudor's door was that it was his bold decision to drop Vicario and play Kinsky and to say it back-fired is a masterpiece of under-statement.

When Kinsky's number went up, it was left to his Spurs' team-mates and even Atletico Madrid's fans, who pushed their passion and partisanship to one side to offer sympathetic applause, to console him.

Tudor did not appear to have consolation on his mind as the heartbroken youngster came off.

So what now?

He cannot play Kinsky at Liverpool on Sunday. It is unthinkable. He must turn again to Vicario, the keeper he appears to doubt and who was left out here in Madrid.

Kinsky, a talented rookie keeper, suffered humiliation piled upon a nightmare. It will take huge strength of character to come back from this – and reality dictates he will probably do it somewhere other than Spurs.

As self-inflicted wounds go, this was extraordinary even for Spurs, a club that specialises in them.

Former Spurs and England keeper Paul Robinson, watching on at Metropolitano, told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The manager certainly has not helped his case. Nobody will understand where he [Kinsky] is at unless you are a goalkeeper. It is a lonely place.

"It will be soul-destroying for Kinsky. I would not be surprised if he was in tears. It is a difficult thing to handle.

"It is selfish from the manager - he knows he will not be here for long. I have never seen that in my whole career. It is clearly for self-preservation and with no consideration for the young goalkeeper."

Robinson added: "Igor Tudor is not the right man and is not in the right place. You need someone to put their arm around players and not criticise the players. You don't need the players turning against you.

"You need to get the best out of what is in front of you and Igor Tudor has not done that. This has been a disappointing night for Tottenham. The important thing was to have some kind of confident performance.

"They were devoid of confidence - it was awful."

What Pochettino, the popular choice of fans as long-term successor to Frank, made of it is anyone's guess.

He may crave a return to Spurs. Would he crave it quite as much if they were in the Championship?

Unless the Spurs top brass act quickly, that might just be where Igor Tudor is taking them.

By

Senior football correspondent

This is the question Tottenham's board members will be asking themselves after Tudor's latest aberration: are the players responding to the manager's methods?

The answer appears clear. Four games have brought four losses, with 14 goals conceded.

Results aside, sources have indicated to BBC Sport in recent days that members of the Tottenham squad are still to be convinced that Tudor has the tools to guide this struggling team away from the sorry predicament they find themselves.

So, with that in mind, the club's hierarchy clearly has a big decision to make.

Before this latest loss, internal concerns over Tudor's position had already started to generate. This result will only serve to sharpen the focus on Tudor's job security in the coming days.

Before the clash, there was a sense that a positive performance in Madrid could be used as a building block for Tudor before a crucial game at Liverpool in the Premier League this weekend.

You wonder if the manner of this loss – and the sub-plots that unraveled on a tortuous night for Spurs – has altered the direction of travel.

Tudor was appointed because of his track record in sparking immediate improvements at other clubs, namely at Juventus and Lazio.

His arrival has heralded the opposite effect. That, coupled with what some have described as a "disconnect" between players and the manager, leaves Tudor under increased scrutiny.

A decision to sack Tudor so soon after his appointment would provide a clear admission of error from the Tottenham hierarchy. The club's ownership, you would imagine, will be demanding answers.

But keeping Tudor may prove an even bigger mistake with Tottenham's top-flight status on the line.