Tottenham must sack Igor Tudor after just 20 days – or they’re going down | Football | Sport
Igor Tudor has lost all of his three matches as Tottenham’s interim manager (Image: Getty)
Three games. Zero points. Three goals scored. Nine conceded. If Tottenham continue this wretched Igor Tudor experiment beyond this weekend, the worst imaginable fate looms – relegation to the Championship. For the Europa League holders, a team also in the Champions League round of 16, that is unthinkable. Except actually, no it isn’t. Not anymore. Because Spurs are an absolute mess from top to bottom. On the pitch, off the pitch. This is now utter turmoil and serious changes are a must.
They are a very hard watch right now, unless you’re an Arsenal supporter. Incredibly, they’ve only gotten worse under Tudor. They’ve gone even further backwards. The dream of a ‘new manager bounce’ is so dead and gone it might as well be a dodo. They have lost five Premier League games in a row now. They are 11 without a win in the league in 2026. It is the first time since October 1975 that they have gone so long without a victory. If they do get relegated, it’s hard to argue they don’t deserve it.
And Spurs’ higher-ups have to get brutal, even though the club’s failings also lie at their feet. Tudor has to be sacked because these players don’t believe in him. The fans, who booed heavily at half-time and left in their droves before the second half, certainly don’t. He has given them exceptionally little to believe in.
The north Londoners still have time to save themselves. They have nine league games, plus a two-legged Champions League last-16 showdown with Atletico Madrid. Two of their final few domestic matches come against direct relegation rivals – Nottingham Forest, Wolves and Leeds United. The performances and results of late suggest more misery is on the way, though.
Is it Tudor’s fault that Micky van de Ven got himself sent off against Crystal Palace? No. But the atmosphere was as toxic after Palace’s three goals in seven minutes as it was at the end of Thomas Frank’s reign. Even after the Croatian made multiple changes to his starting line-up here, even after Spurs went 1-0 up, they still collapsed.
The hosts tried, with 10 men, to stir themselves for a comeback in the second half. To give them some limited credit, the players did not just lie down and take a beating. Presumably because they took a half-time rollicking from Tudor. But ultimately they still managed only two shots on target, the same they mustered with 11 men in the first half.
Against Fulham, they recorded one on target the entire 90 minutes. Against Arsenal it was five, but two came when the scoreline was 3-1 to the Gunners and one at 4-1. They are simply not giving themselves a chance to win games.
Igor Tudor was a surprise appointment on February 14 (Image: Getty)
Tottenham are just one point above the relegation zone (Image: Getty)
Yet Tudor told TNT Sports after the Crystal Palace loss: “We need to keep working and believe. After this game I believe it more than before. Maybe that sounds strange but I saw something with the team, I saw there is something, even now in the dressing room after the game.
“When we’re complete [with returning players], and I choose the right guys, it will be good I believe. I saw something – some good energy, some wish to do, some passion. The fight was there. Unfortunately the red card changed the game. There are still nine games to play. When we’re complete, it will be good.”
And in fairness, Tudor can argue he’s got one arm behind his back with the list of players he has unavailable. But look at the teams he has put out so far, are they so vastly inferior to Fulham and Palace? And this is a Palace side, remember, that was in turmoil itself recently. Oliver Glasner was criticising his own fans and there was speculation the Austrian could be sacked.
It feels insensitive to tell Spurs to axe Tudor after just 20 days. That is such a short space of time to have a positive impact. But they need to put the future of the club first. And what’s best for the club is that they part ways. The brutal truth is Tudor’s had an impact and it’s been a dreadful one. Rather than galvanise the club and the fans, he has merely poured more fuel on the fire. There is even less optimism they stay up than there was when he arrived.
Spurs need their senior players to step up and under Tudor it isn’t happening. Nothing has improved under him. Given how realistic relegation now is, they need to roll the dice again. Going down to the Championship in the same season Arsenal win the Premier League would surely be the worst season in Spurs’ entire history.
