IGOR TUDOR has told Tottenham fans to stop sweating over the dreaded R-word, insisting he’s “100 percent” certain the club will be a Premier League team next season.
The Croatian firefighter has walked into a crisis at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Thomas Frank got the bullet following a horror run that’s left the north Londoners staring down the barrel just five points above the drop zone.
With 16th place making for grim reading and an injury list longer than a Tesco receipt, most punters would be reaching for the panic button. Not Tudor, though.
Speaking ahead of a nightmare debut in the white hot north London derby against table topping Arsenal, the new gaffer was having none of the doom and gloom.
“What I saw this week was the quality of the players,” he declared. “We have enormous quality in the squad.”
When asked straight up if Spurs would be dining at English football’s top table next season, he didn’t even blink: “100%.”
Bold words for a bloke walking into an absolute shambles.
Tottenham have won just once in the league since the end of January, a squeaky 1-0 at Palace and haven’t tasted victory at all in February. Frank was given his marching orders after the latest gut punch against Newcastle, leaving Tudor to pick up the pieces.
And what a mess it is. James Maddison? Not kicked a ball all season. Dejan Kulusevski? Same story. Throw in Wilson Odobert, Mohammed Kudus, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies, Lucas Bergvall, Destiny Udogie, Richarlison, Pedro Porro and Souza all crocked, and Cristian Romero still serving a three match ban, and you’ve got a squad held together by sticky tape and hope.
Tudor, who’s done this firefighting lark before at Marseille, Lazio and Juventus, ain’t daft. He knows he can’t just wave a magic wand and have them playing like peak Barca by Sunday.
“This is an emergency, an emergency situation,” he admitted. “When you need to find fast what suits the 10 plus three players and it’s totally different.”
Different indeed. Arsenal roll into town on Sunday top of the pile, even if they did cough up a two goal lead to draw with Wolves last time out. The Gunners will smell blood against a patched up Spurs outfit, but derbies have a funny way of tearing up the form book.
Tudor, for his part, claims he won’t even be glancing at the league table between now and May. “When I coach I never watch the classification,” he shrugged. “Maybe it sounds strange. I don’t watch where we are. It’s a process.”
What he does want to see is something his new fans can actually get behind. “If you ask me what we are going to see on Sunday, I believe that we are going to see something concrete, something good that the people will like.”
After Arsenal, March dishes up Fulham, Palace, Liverpool and Forest. Oh, and there’s the small matter of a Champions League last 16 tie against one of Brugge, Galatasaray, Juve or Atletico.
Piece of cake, right?
