Igor Tudor may be remembered at Tottenham Hotspur as a "firefighter" carrying gasoline instead of water. It is also possible that his time was so short that he left nothing but a deep cut in the already chaotic season of this team.
Tottenham and Tudor officially terminated their contracts last weekend, just 43 days after he was appointed to replace Thomas Frank with the opportunity to become a long-term head coach. At that time, the task assigned was very clear: improve performance, bring results and pull the team to a higher position in the Premier League.
But everything quickly became a disaster. Depending on what happened next, Tudor's term will either be seen as a boost that caused Tottenham to slide further into the abyss of relegation, or just a sad note in one of the worst seasons in the club's 143-year history.
However, Tudor is not the one who ignited that fire. Since the beginning of last season, Tottenham has lost 46 matches in all competitions. They once won the UEFA Europa League under Ange Postecoglou, but the decline in the domestic arena has been simmering since the second half of last year and now becomes much more serious than all predictions. Anger, disappointment and even indifference are spreading in the community of fans, who believe that the club is losing direction.
Tottenham is currently said to be trying to persuade Roberto De Zerbi to become the next head coach. However, the prerequisite is that the team must remain in the Premier League. That is also the biggest paradox when they are trying to invite a new person to come immediately to save the team for the third time in just one season.
Start of disaster
In an interview in February, Sporting Director Johan Lange explained why Tottenham chose Tudor. According to him, the Croatian strategist made a strong impression in the interview, has experience at the highest level and is particularly prominent in his ability to create a positive impact right after taking over the team in the middle of the season.
In fact, Tudor has significantly improved the average score of many teams such as Udinese, Hellas Verona, Lazio and Juventus when he came in a difficult period. Tottenham therefore expects him to be able to repeat that.
But football is not a mechanical addition.
As soon as they arrived, Tudor immediately increased the training density with the belief that the players needed to improve their fitness. They had to run a lot. However, that effort soon encountered obstacles when close assistant Ivan Javorcic could not go to England due to work permit issues.
Tudor also publicly affirmed that he completely believes Tottenham will not be relegated, even saying that discussing the risk of relegation is not worth mentioning. But when he left, Spurs were ranked 17th, only one point ahead of the bottom group and with 7 matches left.
Tudor's first match was hosting Arsenal at home. A North London derby should have been an opportunity to unite fans and create a morale boost. But after a 1-1 draw in the first half, Tottenham collapsed in the second half and lost 1-4 overall.
After the match, Tudor immediately gave a frank speech to the point of being cold. He questioned the goals of the club, the goals of the team, the coach, the players and the coaching staff. His message was very clear: Tottenham needs to be more serious, and everyone must look back at themselves.
A week later, after the 1-2 defeat to Fulham, Tudor spoke even harder when saying that the team lacked everything on the pitch. With a team that was already depleted of faith, that approach did not help the situation improve. On the contrary, it made the atmosphere even heavier.
Perhaps that's why after the third consecutive defeat, against Crystal Palace, he suddenly changed his tone, declaring that he trusted the team more than ever. But that belief did not bring results.
The nightmare named Kinsky
If there is a typical moment for Tudor's term, it is probably the shocking decision in the match against Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League.
Guglielmo Vicario did not have his best season, and was even booed by a part of the fans. But Tudor's removal of the Italian goalkeeper to give an opportunity to Antonin Kinsky still surprised many people.
And then everything became worse than imagined. Kinsky made a mistake in the first two goals conceded and was substituted after only 17 minutes. It was a public insult to this young goalkeeper, and it became even more controversial when Tudor almost had no consolation gestures when he left the field.
A part of the dressing room believes that there needs to be a certain toughness. But many others are shocked by that excessive handling. Under Tudor, Tottenham continuously changed between a three-defender and four-defender system, even many players were placed on the wrong side of their forte, all showing that a coaching staff is desperately groping in the search for a winning formula.
The problem is, the more they change, the more Tottenham loses direction.
Fake dawn then bitter ending
After the defeat in Madrid, Tottenham still had the opportunity to react at Anfield. Despite being underestimated, they played resiliently and drew 1-1 against Liverpool thanks to Richarlison's late equalizer. In the context that the team is missing 13 players due to injury, that is a noteworthy point.
4 days later, Tottenham defeated Atletico Madrid 3-2 at home. Although not enough to avoid being eliminated with a total score of 5-7, the first victory after 8 weeks still created a feeling like a morale boost.
Everything seems to be prepared for the "relegation final" match with Nottingham Forest. The club organized many activities calling on fans to come to the stadium early, welcome the team's bus, and captain Cristian Romero also spoke out calling on the whole team to rise up.
The atmosphere before the match was very exciting. Tottenham started well, but did not score. Then right before halftime, Igor Jesus shot into their net. Then there was a complete collapse when Tottenham lost 0-3.
