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As Tottenham Hotspur supporters watched Thomas Frank repeatedly lose big matches and then come out with a big smile and act as if Spurs were playing well, they began to realize that things were much better under Ange Postecoglou, even if there were serious issues at the time. And now watching Igor Tudor fumble through even more defeats, the Spurs faithful are starting to come to the same realization about the former Juventus manager.

Although "former Juventus manager" has a nice sounding ring to it, realize that Tudor was only a marginally successful interim coach for the Bianconeri. He has never lasted more than a single season at any team he has coached, and his best league finish was in 2022/23 when he came third in Ligue 1 with Marseille, who were second in the league the season before his arrival.

Tudor came into the Spurs job with less respect and credibility than either Postecoglou or Frank did, but, well, that is why he was a desperation interim manager hire. Spurs supporters wanted to get behind Tudor and do their best to support him, but the notion that he would be an upgrade over Frank was always going to be a flawed one.

Igor Tudor is no upgrade on Thomas Frank

Now, there are actually some ways in which he has been better than Frank. At least he gave Antonin Kinsky a chance in the first place. But the way he did it - and the way he handled the obvious conclusion of the young goalkeeper struggling for confidence against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League knockouts - was appalling.

The reality is that Tudor is not the caliber of manager who should be managing a Premier League Big Six side with one of the top 10 highest revenues in the world. He might not even be the caliber of manager who should be in charge of Crystal Palace or Fulham, given he is significantly worse than either Marco Silva or Oliver Glasner - by the way, two coaches near the top of Spurs upcoming summer wish list.

Tudor isn't good. He, again, has no real track record of managerial success in world football, and his reputation as a savior actually makes no sense. He has no system or identity to how he plays, he is not known for enhancing young players, and it is quite apparent already that he cannot manage the personalities or the flames of a volatile situation at a big club. At least Frank was a standup guy who didn't humiliate young players on the pitch like what Tudor did to Kinsky.

Tottenham Hotspur are 100 percent going to be looking for a new manager this summer, and we may see interim coach Igor Tudor lose his job even sooner after the club's latest ill disciplined debacle, which included Tudor throwing Antonin Kinsky under the whole entire bus early on in a 5-2 blowout loss to Atletico Madrid.

The dream manager to replace Tudor - well, really, failed summer hire Thomas Frank - is none other than a former Tottenham coach in Mauricio Pochettino. He is the most respected manager in recent memory, having been the only man to lead Spurs to a Champions League Final and an agonizingly close run at the Premier League title.

Firing Pochettino is, to this day, viewed as a grave mistake by Tottenham fans, and most are fully on board with him re-signing, especially since Spurs are so poor that they would almost appear to be a nostalgic charity case on his part.

Real Madrid want to hire Mauricio Pochettino

That's the thing, though, Tottenham have to be very worried about more attractive jobs opening up, and there is one, in particular, Spurs now have to be worried about. According to a report from ESPN FC just before the Champions League Round of 16 matchup with Atletico Madrid, Mauricio Pochettino has been generating interest from La Liga giants Real Madrid.

Real's interest in Pochettino is worth taking seriously and is a shot of troubling news for Spurs supporters, because Real have shown serious interest in him in the past. Back in 2021 when Zinedine Zidane resigned after a tumultuous campaign in the COVID-stricken season, Spurs were seriously considering Poch even after his own poor season in which he dropped the title to Lille at PSG. However, Carlo Ancelotti made himself available again, and the rest is history.

Now, Real Madrid are in a tough moment, having fired their supposed savior Xabi Alonso early in the season, only to realize the problems were not going to dissipate under his former teammate Alvaro Arbeloa as the interim manager.

Tottenham Hotspur did actually add an important player in the last summer transfer window in right winger Mohammed Kudus, but, for the most part, the club's signings have been misses. And the biggest miss was undoubtedly Conor Gallagher, who was a bit player at Atletico Madrid before Spurs blatantly overpaid to bring him into the fold.

Yet Gallagher is on a lengthier than expected list of players Tottenham will be trying to keep at the end of the season, including if they are relegated to the Championship. That information comes from The Daily Telegraph's reporter Matt Law, who states that while some high profile players could be sent packing from Spurs this summer, Gallagher, Lucas Bergvall, Mohammed Kudus, Dominic Solanke, Micky van de Ven, Xavi Simons, Archie Gray, and the injured duo of Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison are players they would ike to keep.

Gallagher certainly sticks out in a negative way from the other names on the list. While Spurs fans have quietly turned on Van de Ven, even the most pessimistic and disgruntled of them would agree taht Van de Ven is a very talented footballer.

Conor Gallagher is someone Tottenham want to keep

On the other hand, Gallagher has neither shown the potential to be great for Tottenham, nor has he been even a remotely passable starter for the club. It seems as though his performances are only getting worse, including struggling in a surprising appearance off the bench against former employers Atletico Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16.

As much as Johan Lange sold everyone on the idea that Spurs did not sign many players this winter transfer window because they wanted to avoid panic buying, the reality is that Gallagher was the definition of a panic buy. They literally bought him after an injury to another center midfielder, then overpaid on his wages and transfer fee so as to not watch him join a rival in Aston Villa.

Gallagher has been redundant in positional value and skill set, offering nothing that Spurs do not already have. To compare, Gallagher has not played as well as Pape Matar Sarr - a player who is already deemed by Spurs as being nothing higher than a backup player.

Tottenham have limited resources, and they are going to need to make some tough sales this summer. When it comes to Gallagher, the bigger conversation should be about how they can even offload his wages, rather than if they should be selling him at all.

Finally, with his save percentage sinking to the lowest in the Premier League among starters, Guglielmo Vicario earned a benching from Tottenham Hotspur in their huge Champions League Round of 16 matchup against Atletico Madrid.

The result was that Vicario ended up back on the pitch before 20 minutes, as Igor Tudor swiftly scapegoated Kinsky just as quickly as he threw him to the wolves for his first start in months - against one of the top teams in European football at a time when Spurs cannot buy a win, no less.

Tudor is obviously, to anyone with critical thinking skills, the biggest loser in all this for the way he has carried himself, doing his best to kill the young and promising career of Kinsky. And the biggest winner, on the surface, appears to be Vicario, whose replacement embarrassed himself on an international scale.

What is Guglielmo Vicario's excuse for his struggles?

The thing is, most Tottenham fans aren't really fooled by Vicario here. Vicario only comes out looking better to the people who go, "See? This is why Kinsky never started," without understanding the context of Kinsky struggling as a young keeper lacking confidence in a big game when he was so rusty because Vic was hoarding all the minutes.

Vicario is still the root of the issue. Tottenham had to turn to Kinsky and throw him under the fire because Vicario was so bad, Spurs thought they could not possibly look worse at keeper even if Kinsky were to be overmatched and rusty.

And the weird thing is, they were right to feel that way. Even if you say that Spurs came closer to winning and that Vicario made fewer mistakes than Kinsky, you can't really assert that Tottenham played any better with Vic in goal - or that Vicario played well.

Vicario is saving barely more than 60 percent of the shots he faces. Despite making the same mistakes Kinsky has made all season and a higher volume of them, he has shown no improvement. If anything, he has regressed as the season has gone on. He also throws other players under the bus, whereas Kinsky looks genuinely gutted and accountable for his errors.

Before the Champions League Round of 16 battle against Atletico Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur supporters were ecstatic to see young goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky getting his first opportunity between the sticks in ages, having just watched another Guglielmo Vicario disasterclass. But nothing could prepare them for what was about to unfold.

It is wild looking back on how promising Kinsky started his career at Tottenham to now seeing what happened against Atleti. In mere minutes, Tottenham surrendered three goals, with Kinsky being the central figure in each error, sending Spurs spiraling into a deficit they could never recover from.

Kinsky, make no bones about it, was terrible. He looked completely shaken after the first mistake, and it was clear that this was not going to be his night. Spurs manager Igor Tudor, who finally gave Kinsky the chance he was waiting for, hooked him off after just 17 minutes.

Igor Tudor fed Antonin Kinsky to the wolves

Legendary Premier League goalkeeper David de Gea tweeted out public support for Kinsky, reminding everyone that the goalkeeper position is extremely tough - and unforgiving. And on the Champions League broadcast, another former Premier League icon between the sticks, Joe Hart, tore into Tudor for not only subbing Kinsky out, but visibly ignoring him as Kinsky walked off the pitch.

Tudor's abrasive attitude initially appeared to be a breath of fresh air, but his total mishandling of the Kinsky situation will ultimatey be his undoing. Because Tudor could have picked literally any other time to get his rusty, young goalkeeper into the action than rather a high pressure road trip to Atletico Madrid, one of the best Champions League clubs of the last 15 years.

Instead, he threw Kinsky out to the wolves and watched them tear him apart before embarrassing him and cold shouldering him in front of the world. This is the kind of lack of man management skills or long term care that you get from hiring a desperation manager with no track record of success in world football - a man who has never lasted more than one season at any club he has been with.

Tottenham's Tudor appointment thus feels like the club's overall strategy, including with transfer deadline day signing Randal Kolo Muani - sign mercenaries they have heard of and hope that these people with no regard for Spurs will do well.

Tudor's mistake was not giving Kinsky the chance. Every Tottenham fan wanted it and knew that Guglielmo Vicario was no longer the answer. And Spurs would not have won this game with Vicario in goal anyway, as Vicario has made these same exact mistakes time and time again this season.

No, the problem was Tudor picking THIS game to give Kinsky his first start in ages, then shattering his confidence. Kinsky has been ruined by Spurs and should want out of this dysfunction as soon as possible to spare his own career. He is a talented player with a bright future ahead of him, but the actions of the club towards him this season are unacceptable. Kinsky must have realized at this moment that he cannot succeed at a club that treats him this way, and barring a huge turn of events, he will want out of this mess to save himself.

Spurs, to save their season, need to get rid of Tudor as soon as possible. Not only is Tudor just as incompetent, if not worse, than Thomas Frank with even worse results, but he is not a likable character and cares even less about the long term futures of his players. He was perfectly willing to screw over Kinsky to save himself, and his body language is more unforgivable than any snubbed handshake or scream at the fans by Pedro Porro or Micky van de Ven. Tudor was a grown man behaving like a child playing FIFA.

A few weeks ago, the idea of Tottenham Hotspur being relegated still felt fanciful, but that is very much no longer the case. Spurs' latest defeat was completely as a result of a needless red card, this time not shown to Cristian Romero, but the Argentine's absence was very much felt.

On Thursday night, everything seemed to be going their way. One of Crystal Palace's best players Daniel Muñoz was forced off with a shoulder injury, following a challenge by Souza, before Ismaïla Sarr had an opener disallowed because his face was offside. Mere moments later, Dominic Solanke opened the scoring after some great work by Archie Gray, and everyone inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could rest easy, or so they thought.

Five minutes later, as Sarr burst through on goal, he was hauled down by Micky van de Ven, with referee Andy Madley pointing to the penalty spot and, worse still, showing the Dutchman a red card, as he'd made no attempt to play the ball. Sarr converted the subsequent spot-kick and this commenced the complete Spurs capitulation. As we entered injury time, Jørgen Strand Larsen slotted through Guglielmo Vicario's legs, before that man Sarr burst through again to poke home a third.

It may only have been half time, but supporters headed for home in their thousands. The second half was a complete non-event, Igor Tudor's never threatened to get back into the game, as Spurs sunk to yet another defeat. Now without a win in 11 league matches, their longest such streak since 1935, the Lilywhites are just one point above the drop zone. By the time they're next in league action, they could find themselves in the bottom three.

Remaining fixtures for relegation candidates

Given that it is Anfield up next, with trips to Villa Park and Stamford Bridge to come in May, it doesn't get any easier for Spurs. That head-to-head encounter with Nottingham Forest on Sunday 22 March looks massive but, based on how they're playing right now, you would not back Tottenham to win it, would you?

The biggest problem facing Tudor is injuries. Djed Spence, Destiny Udogie, Ben Davies, Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, James Maddison, Dejan Kuluševski, Wilson Odobert and Mohammed Kudus all missed the latest defeat, the majority of whom are sidelined long-term.

Tottenham fans point the finger at Cristian Romero

Thus, they can ill-afford unnecessary absences, especially to key players. Cristian Romero has not been available since being sent off at Old Trafford on 7 February. His four-match ban is now over, so he will return against Atlético Madrid on Tuesday and then against Liverpool the following Sunday.

Micky van de Ven, however, will not be making the trip to Merseyside, after his sending off that entirely swung the momentum of Thursday's game. Had Romero been available, who knows, there may not have been such a great sense of panic among the Spurs defence, not just against Crystal Palace but also during the preceding defeats at the hands of Newcastle, Arsenal and Fulham.

At a time when Tottenham are crying out for leadership and their big players to step forward and be counted, van de Ven, but particularly Romero have done the complete opposite. One Spurs fan labelled the Argentine a "liability", while another said they were "sick and tired of how many games he [has] costs us".

If Spurs' 48-year stay in the top division does come to an end on 24 May, Romero will be one of many figures to blame.

Welcome relief or an unnecessary distraction? While embroiled in a relegation battle back home, yet to win a Premier League game in 2026, having finished fourth in the gigantic league table, Tottenham Hotspur will compete in the Champions League round of 16. The Lilywhites take on Atlético Madrid, first at the Metropolitano on Tuesday, before the return leg in North London eight nights later.

Amazingly, these two clubs have only ever met once before. This came in Rotterdam 63 years ago, with Bill Nicholson's side prevailing 5-1 in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final, with Jimmy Greaves and Terry Dyson both scoring braces at De Kuip.

It is unlikely that Tottenham will reach this year's final, with los Colchoneros overwhelming favourites to set up a quarter-final date with either Barcelona or Newcastle next month. However, if Spurs are to spring a massive surprise in the Spanish capital, backed by 3,476 brave supporters traveling with them, here are three players Igor Tudor simply must select.

Cristian Romero

Following the recent defeat at Craven Cottage, Tudor said that his team lack when it comes to attack, midfield, defence and brain, so all fine then. In all seriousness, centre-back is a major issue, but he should finally be able to deploy his best partnership in Madrid.

Cristian Romero's four-match domestic suspension is now over, albeit Micky van de Ven will not be alongside him at Anfield come Sunday, following a costly red card of his own against Crystal Palace last Thursday. Nevertheless, their partnership can be rekindled in the Champions League.

For so long, these two were the bedrock of Tottenham, not losing any of their first ten matches together, albeit Spurs are currently winless in eight when both have started. Nevertheless, given that Radu Drăgușin and Kevin Danso are the alternatives, Romero simply must come in, both for his quality as well as his ability to match Atleti when it comes to fight, determination and other intangibles.

Archie Gray

While basically no Tottenham player is earning any praise right now, there is one notable exception. This trip to Madrid will be Archie Gray's final appearance as a teenager but, despite his youth, he has been a key figure since arriving. Ange Postecoglou was forced to use him at centre-back for prolonged periods of last season, while he's regularly been deployed in both full-back roles, given the ongoing injury crisis.

On Thursday, Tudor surprised us all by having Pedro Porro as part of the back three and Gray in at right-wing-back. Despite this, Alasdair Gold of Football London wrote that he was Tottenham's "best player on the night by a mile", a view unanimously shared, even if it was a low bar.

So, not only must Gray start at the Metropolitano, this simply has to be in central midfield. None of Pape Matar Sarr, João Palhinha, Yves Bissouma or Conor Gallagher, facing his former club, appear capable of passing the ball forwards, so Gray must be made a central figure for occasions when Diego Simeone's side drop back and defend compactly.

Dominic Solanke

On position Tudor does have options, but there is only one choice to make, is centre-forward. The only Tottenham player seemingly capable of doing anything in the attacking half is Dominic Solanke, who bagged his fifth goal of the campaign against Crystal Palace, albeit that joy was short-lived.

Solanke has only been able to accumulate 714 minutes of action this season following ankle surgery, not featuring at all between 23 August and 10 January. Thus, he boasts the best goals-per-90 ratio at the club, albeit this statistic is alarming. Brennan Johnson, ranked third, now plays for Crystal Palace, while fourth-placed Ben Davies has scored only once this season, netting only ten times since signing 12 years ago, so he certainly isn't a reliable source.

Put succinctly, Randal Kolo Muani, Mathys Tel and Richarlison is just a pretty underwhelming set of attackers, so if Spurs are going to score in Madrid, it's likely to be Solanke who is responsible.

Even though Tottenham Hotspur had already signed young left back prospect Souza by that point to help provide depth for an oft injured Destiny Udogie while competing with Djed Spence for minutes, Spurs were still highly interested in swiping away Liverpool icon Andrew Robertson to add more supposed veteran leadership to the side.

Apparently, the geniuses at the Tottenham scouting department could only recruit players like Conor Gallagher and Robertson since they were known commodities in the Premier League before, or maybe they simply decided to hitch their wagons to veteran players with limited upside because they were already beginning to see themselves in a relegation fight.

Whatever the case, Tottenham were not successful in their chase for Robertson, and, at the time, Spurs supporters were sold on the deal not happening because Liverpool were unable to find a replacement for him, as they wanted to get Konstantinos Tsimikas back from Roma but were unable to.

Andrew Robertson rejected Tottenham

Apparently, that was not the story. As relayed by top transfer insider Fabrizio Romano, Andrew Robertson said that he, like Antoine Semenyo before the winter window started, simply rejected Tottenham Hotspur:

“There was obviously interest from Spurs in January… but the decision was that I wanted to stay. This club has given me everything and I've given this club everything. I’ve always been committed. Now as soon as I decide my future, it will be announced”.

Obviously, it makes far more sense for Robertson to stay with Liverpool, even as a backup, because of his love for the club. And even though the Reds are not in their best moment this season, they are certainly in a better situation than Tottenham, who are in the thick of a relegation fight and in an even worse spot than they were back when they had interest in Robertson in January.

Tottenham fans are used to the rejection by now, but it is still not a good look for Spurs that Robertson would have preferred to be a backup player at Liverpool than potentially get starts for Tottenham. It makes it look even worse on Johan Lange and the front office for not being able to convince or recruit Robertson. He probably cared more abou the nostalgia of staying with Liverpool, but it is also telling that Tottenham did not want anyone to know that they were rejected by Robertson, instead sticking with the story that the Reds could not find cover.

Young Luka Vuskovic is having a season for the ages in the Bundesliga, as the Tottenham Hotspur loanee has become one of the most coveted players in world football with clubs as big as Bayern Munich and Barcelona already gunning for the 19 year old center back's signature in the summer transfer window.

The future is entirely up in the air for Vuskovic, who is a no brainer for Spurs to keep but is now becoming someone Tottenham may not be able to keep, especially if they continue to lose games in the Premier League on the way to relegation.

Another loan year at Hamburg seemed to be the plan for much of the season, but Vuskovic is playing so mind blowingly well that he has already graduated from Hamburg - and probably even graduated from Tottenham, who have been worse than Hamburg this season, to clubs like Barca and Bayern.

Luka Vuskovic roasted Wolfsburg

Vuskovic's chances of a Barcelona transfer only increased this past weekend, as he won two penalties in an all around monsterclass of a performance as Hamburg took care of business against a club even more pathetic than Tottenham this season, corporate stooges Wolfsburg.

Beyond converting one of the two penalties he earned on the day for his fifth goal of the season as a 19 year old center back, Vuskovic delivered another impeccable defensive performance. He had an insane 17 clearances with three interceptions and a tackle, showing that next level reading of the game that has made him the league's best center back already while intervening and dominating the aerial game like literally nobody else on this planet in the 2025/26 season.

Barcelona had to be watching Vuskovic and salivating at the prospect of bringing him to the Spotify Camp Nou instead of overspending on an older, inferior player with less team spirit in current Tottenham first teamer Micky van de Ven - someone who Spurs themselves would probably like to leave behind in a heartbeat if it meant holding onto Vuskovic for a full decade.

As Barca supporters yearn for a pillar duo of Pau Cubarsi and Luka Vuskovic for their own decade of football to come, Tottenham have to be working extra hard behind the scenes to get Vuskovic to stay for at least the 2026/27 season in North London. His brilliance is only making it harder for Spurs, because at this point, everyone around Europe is starting to figure out that Vuskovic might already be the world's best center back.

The list of decent players Tottenham Hotspur could have signed in the winter transfer window is only getting more frustrating to look at as Spurs continue to drop points in the Premier League relegation fight, having just been trounced 3-1 by local rivals Crystal Palace.

Spurs had a litany of needs on the last transfer market, yet their only signing, Conor Gallagher, has been overpaid on multiple accounts and atrocious while being simultaneously a redundancy when Johan Lange blabbered about Spurs standing pat in the window to avoid panic buys. Well, Gallagher was the definition of a panic buy after the Rodrigo Bentancur injury, and, maybe, Spurs should have been panicking becuase now they do have a reason to worry greatly about their future.

Coming up, Tottenham will battle against Ademola Lookman - a star player who is shining for Atletico Madrid when Spurs had two opportunities to sign in the last summer and winter transfer windows. But he is not the only high profile forward at a Champions League club that Spurs could have signed.

Maghnes Akliouche owned PSG

Maybe Maghnes Akliouche is a bit overrated by the transfer rumor mill, but he is still light years ahead of Brennan Johnson and would have been an ideal replacement for him this winter. And certainly, he is better than Spurs having nothing on the wings, because after Wilson Odobert's ACL tear, Tottenham literally have one healthy winger in Mathys Tel.

Mostly a right sided player, Akliouche is one of the top young wingers in French football, and his stock is only rising since the winter transfer window that Tottenham failed to follow up their links on. Akliouche has been particularly dazzling against PSG, assisting and scoring with six total key passes in the two legs against PSG in the Champions League.

Monaco performed admirably in defeat in the knockouts against their great Ligue 1 rivals, but they were even better this past weekend in Ligue 1, avenging their Champions League exit with a commanding 3-1 display over the reigning Champions League winners.

Akliouche was the best player on the pitch, continuing what is now a string of positive performances. This time, he both scored and assisted against the Parisian giants, grabbing two key passes, three combined tackles and interceptions, and two combined fouls drawn and dribbles completed in an excellent all around performance.

Lange now has to be kicking himself watching Akliouche step up three times in big games against one of the best teams in Europe, showing the personality and intensity of a player who surely would have helped Spurs avoid relegation. And that fee would have then been paid. Akliouche absolutely would have been better than signing nobody, and as he continues to raise his game against big opponents, Spurs have to wonder why they let Lange do nothing all winter long.