Football365

Last summer was a big one for the goalkeeper market, with Manchester City signing Gianluigi Donnarumma, Barcelona bringing in Joan Garcia and Manchester United opting for Senne Lammens, among others.

This summer, Tottenham and Chelsea may have to enter the market for new keepers, which could spark its own domino effect.

Guglielmo Vicario is running out of time as Tottenham’s number one and Antonin Kinsky’s doomed cameo against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday ensured he is out of the race to replace him.

Meanwhile, Chelsea swapped Robert Sanchez for Filip Jorgensen on Wednesday and saw their own back-up make mistakes, with their first choice having experienced his own ups and downs during his time at the club.

The Blues could solve their own goalkeeping headache by promoting Mike Penders after his loan from Strasbourg, but after missing out on a more famous Mike – AC Milan’s Maignan – last summer, there could be demand for a more renowned upgrade.

Keep an eye out for Newcastle and Leeds as other clubs who might be considering their goalkeeping options, and the likes of Inter Milan on the continent.

But which goalkeepers could be available to meet the needs of those clubs?

It was a bit odd to see Tzolakis linked with Liverpool last month, but the Olympiacos regular could have his pick of other, more needy clubs in the summer.

The 23-year-old is a full Greece international and is approaching the last year of his contract with Olympiacos, who will have to decide whether to cash in.

Nottingham Forest have also been tipped to move him from one Marinakis club to another – and they do love a goalkeeper signing – but there will be plenty of suitors in mainland Europe for Tzolakis too.

The keeper with the highest market value on Transfermarkt with a contract expiring in 2027, Atubolu has played more than 100 games for Freiburg.

The German side may have to consider offers for him in the summer to avoid losing him for free, especially after Fabrizio Romano stated this month that he has “no plans to extend” his contract.

A move to Serie A has been touted.

It feels a bit tricky, if not impossible, to imagine a scenario where both Alisson and Mamardashvili continue at Liverpool for a second season together.

Alisson is approaching the final year of his contract, but the current expectation is that he’ll fulfil it, which could consign ex-Valencia number one Mamardashvili to a second season on the bench.

Liverpool are unlikely to sell the Georgian, whom they consider Alisson’s successor, but there have been whispers of him pushing for a loan.

And given the 25-year-old’s potential when playing regularly, that has to be somebody’s short-term solution. We dare Chelsea to make that call.

The German legend is out of contract at the end of the season and Bayern Munich have big plans for Jonas Urbig to become their long-term number one.

Neuer could yet get a new contract but Bayern are in no rush as his 40th birthday approaches and he recovers from an injury.

Sporting director Max Eberl said: “We know what age Manu is. We have always said, now he should first turn 40 at the end of March. And then we will sit down in peace and talk. Then he has to tell us how he feels, what his mood is like. And we have to decide for ourselves how to proceed. He’s had an outstanding season so far, he’s a top goalkeeper. But this injury doesn’t change anything for us.”

Neuer has been with Bayern for more than a decade and was the best in the world at his peak. If he’s not ready to retire and his contract lapses, it would be fascinating to imagine him at another club.

Brighton are notoriously tough sellers but are still the kind of club who can offer a platform towards bigger things.

Verbruggen has been with them for three years now and has also become an established Netherlands international during that time.

Chelsea have shown interest in yet another raid on Brighton, our colleagues at TEAMtalk have reported.

Trubin was one of the names tipped for Manchester City before they bought Gianluigi Donnarumma and James Trafford.

The 24-year-old is likely to have other potential routes out of Benfica – and possibly into the Premier League – after a season in which he has only conceded 15 goals from 23 games in the league.

Trubin even scored against Real Madrid in the Champions League for good measure, which absolutely isn’t what clubs will be signing him to do, but can’t have harmed his profile.

Perennially linked with major European clubs but still at Porto after seven years, could Costa put himself back in the shop window if Portugal have a decent World Cup run?

It may not help that he signed a new contract with Porto just before Christmas, but his release clause decreased from €75m to €60m with the updated deal.

Still only 26, Costa’s days of being a name in the gossip columns are unlikely to be over.

Of all the goalkeepers that were on the move last summer, you might struggle to find one filled with more regret than Trafford.

Just weeks after thinking he’d landed a dream opportunity with Manchester City, the club went and signed Donnarumma from Paris Saint-Germain, crushing his hopes of claiming the starting role.

Unused in the Premier League since Donnarumma’s arrival, Trafford may have to seek an exit from the Etihad to avoid his career stagnating.

Still only 23, he was close to joining Newcastle before City came back in for him and that could be one of the avenues that opens back up for him.

Martinez got itchy feet in the summer when Manchester United were interested in buying him before opting for Lammens instead.

Unai Emery hasn’t had to utter the words ‘Marco. Bizot.’ like a broken record too much since, but Martinez might still have ideas of an exit.

The likes of Inter and Juventus have been linked with the Argentine, who has a long contract at Aston Villa but is now 33 and may start to decline in market value.

Kobel has been Borussia Dortmund’s number one for the past five seasons after joining from Stuttgart and is a regular for Switzerland too

His impressive form has led to links with a Premier League move and at the age of 28 he could be ready. There are two years left on his contract, so a lot will depend on Dortmund’s valuation.

He refused to comment on transfer speculation last summer, but if he doesn’t sign a new deal in Germany, it soon could be the optimal time for Dortmund to cash in.

Kobel has kept the most clean sheets of any Bundesliga goalkeeper this season and Newcastle are among the clubs linked, but there could be more offers to field.

Sean Dyche could still be in play to replace Igor Tudor as interim Tottenham Hotspur manager, with the north London club struggling with the multifaceted issues involved with sacking Igor Tudor, while the return of club legend Robbie Keane is also proving problematic to pull off.

Tudor is in the midst of a disastrous run as caretaker boss in north London, having lost all four of his games in charge since being appointed as Thomas Frank’s replacement on February 14, conceding 14 goals in the process.

With nine Premier League games remaining, Tottenham are spiralling towards relegation unless they have a sudden turnaround in form, which looks highly unlikely to happen under the hapless Tudor.

In light of their struggles, and in the wake of the latest debacle at Atletico Madrid on Tuesday evening, the club’s decision-makers are currently grappling with the pressure of a deepening crisis as they deliberate over Tudor replacements.

While sources from our friends over at TEAMtalk have downplayed links to Sean Dyche, a move for the former Everton and Burnley can still not be completely ruled out at this stage – especially if other options, like Keane, falter.

Indeed, a report from The Independent states that Dyche is still very much in the running to take the temporary reins and guide the club away from the drop.

READ: Who will be Spurs manager next season? ‘Dark horse’ joins Pochettino on list

The same report also suggests that former Crystal Palace striker Dougie Freedman and Bournemouth’s Tiago Pinto are on the list to become the club’s new sporting director in the summer, as a complete revamp behind the scenes is set to take place.

As for Spurs’ hopes of bringing Keane back to the club, TEAMtalk’s Fraser Fletcher adds that while the 45-year-old ‘remains a viable candidate to take on the role’ his ‘potential appointment is not without issues’.

The club legend, who has impressed in his role with Hungarian champions Ferencvaros, is eager to step up to a permanent position at Spurs and is known to be ‘very much open to a permanent appointment back at N17’, regardless of what division Spurs find themselves in next season.

However, it’s claimed that Keane would ‘want a long-term contract to commit fully’, though Spurs would prefer, at this stage, to ‘only offer Keane a deal until the season’s end’.

Should they preserve their Premier League status, the club would have more ambitious managerial targets in mind, including the return of Mauricio Pochettino.

Keane, meanwhile, also remains on the shortlist of suitors for Celtic, leaving Tottenham in a real dilemma as they sit on the brink of what would be a disastrous drop into the second tier of English football.

Tottenham owners ENIC have responded to the dire straits at their football club not by relieving enflamed firefighter Igor Tudor of his duties but through the tremendously timed opening of season ticket renewals for the 2026/27 season.

Tudor has lost all three of his Premier League games in charge to leave Tottenham one point above the relegation zone and illustrated his expert man-management skills in a 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash on Tuesday to all-but end the career of Antonin Kinsky.

Fabrizio Romano confirmed on Thursday that Tudor is “at serious risk of being sacked at any moment” and that Roberto De Zerbi and Mauricio Pochettino are “high on the list” to take over in the summer.

That won’t provide much solace to Spurs fans, who look set to endure a season in the Championship if Tudor remains in situ for much longer as they struggle to understand his continued employment by the club after uncovering new nadirs with each passing game and spectacularly managing to make Tottenham significantly worse than they were under predecessor Thomas Frank.

We can only imagine the rush of traffic on the Tottenham website after their “incredible” supporters received the email announcing the release of season tickets for next season.

With their hands tied by their ‘Ticketing Charter’, ENIC had no choice but to open renewals before Sunday, the day of their next thumping defeat, at the hands of Liverpool, but have made concessions to placate their loyal fans amid the very real risk of relegation.

They are extending the renewal window beyond the end of the campaign so that the fans know if they’re spending their hard-earned cash to watch Liverpool or Preston next season. Good of them.

And those generous Spurs chiefs have also taken the charitable decision to freeze prices, meaning their lowest adult ticket stands at a measly £856, a mere £236 more than the current highest in the Championship at Middlesbrough.

The email read: ‘As previously communicated, General Admission Season Ticket Renewals for 2026/27 open today (Thursday 12 March).

‘In line with our Ticketing Charter published in March 2024, we are committed to opening renewals by no later than 15 March each year.

‘We recognise the seriousness of the current league position of our men’s team and, following discussions with our Fan Advisory Board and the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust, can confirm the renewal window for 2026/27 will now remain open for an extended period until Sunday 7 June to ensure fans have full clarity on next season before renewing.

‘Everyone at the Club remains absolutely steadfast in our collective commitment to improve our Premier League position and finish the current season as strongly as possible.

‘We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your incredible support during this time.’

I was eight years old back in 1993 when I saw my team lose an FA Cup semi-final to Arsenal; Tony Adams scored the only goal 10 minutes from time and I was heartbroken.

I ran to my room at full-time to cry my eyes out on my bed, pausing to occasionally curse at my posters of Teddy Sheringham, Nick Barmby and – caught in the crossfire simply because he was also blu-tacked to my wall back then – the Ultimate Warrior. It was the first time football really hurt.

Two years before, I had carefully selected the club that would be mine forever. And the reason is foolproof: my favourite letter was T (I was six), and this team had four of those in their name! I remember following their progress by checking the newspaper each week, looking at a table of football team names and numbers and starting to piece together what it all meant. I saw Tottenham play for the first time at Wembley in the 1991 FA Cup semi-final, coincidentally also against Arsenal. Shortly after, that was when ‘they’ became ‘we’.

Fast-forward to the present day and a whole lot has happened since. Much of it was joyful. There was Jurgen Klinsmann, David Ginola, a Worthington Cup, a Carling Cup, Bale, Ajax away, and that night in Bilbao.

But there was also Ilie Dumitrescu, Paolo Tramezzani, 2002’s Blackburn Rovers, Ben Foster, a lasagne, Vincent Janssen and being beaten 3-0 by Dinamo Zagreb while their manager sat in prison.

That latter list includes moments stretching across 30 years that brought shades of denial, anger, bargaining and depression, but then eventually acceptance. The last four months alone have featured heavy doses of the first four stages of grief in a jumbled mess, each one sparring with the other to take centre stage.

But on Tuesday night at the Metropolitano, when Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha lay prone on the deck after heading each other instead of the ball, the final stage was reached.

Tottenham: Romano reveals Tudor could be ‘sacked at any moment’ as he names two replacements

Tottenham actually started well against Atletico. In the first five minutes, we had a coordinated attack as well as a shot. It felt like ages since we had an attack and a shot. It was nice. But at Spurs, a ‘nice’ moment has a nasty habit of turning into an absurd situation real fast.

Antonin Kinsky slipped over while clearing the ball in the sixth minute. Then Micky van de Ven also slipped when in possession. When Kinsky kicked the ball off his own leg and became the 65th person to fall on their own bollocks in the first 15 minutes at the Madrid ice rink, I welled up as I almost pleaded with Julian Alvarez not to score. He scored. It was 3-0.

Kinsky was hauled off, blanked by his ‘manager’, headed down the tunnel, and legitimately might never be seen again. And Spurs still conceded from the next attack anyway. The young Czech keeper, hearing those home cheers shortly after reaching the dressing room, would probably have breathed a sigh of relief that maybe the whole story might not be about him.

One positive thing about Spurs is that we actually turn into a pretty decent side after we concede four or more in a first half. So obviously, at 4-0, Pedro Porro finished a slick team move to incite “well now..if Spurs can grab a second goal here then it’s game on”.

And Spurs should have. Richarlison had a free header, but he gave Jan Oblak a chance to save, and a couple of seconds later, Antoine Griezmann provided the kind of flick that leaves a lot of people, especially Ally McCoist, with a tingle in their loins.

Julian Alvarez, who is not noted for his searing pace, collected the pass from Griezmann about 50 yards away from the Tottenham goal with Porro approaching.

Alvarez was running towards Guglielmo Vicario while also focused on controlling a football. Porro was running after Alvarez and very much not also focused on controlling a football, and yet the gap between the two had actually widened by the time the Argentine fired in a long-overdue fifth goal. A reminder: Pedro Porro starts for Spain.

One positive thing about Spurs is that we are a tough side to play against when trailing 5-1. So we duly scored again to make people think the second leg could include a hint of jeopardy.

When the fourth official raised the board indicating injury time, the hope was for no more action – just take 5-2, get home and start planning for the annual defeat to Liverpool. At least Romero is back for that game, right? Within 60 seconds of that thought process forming, Romero jumped for the ball, headed Palhinha and duly ruled both men out of the game at Anfield.

And that was the moment. Acceptance. Calm. There is absolutely no doubt now that Spurs are getting relegated this season. It all became a real possibility after the 2-1 defeat to West Ham in January and far too much nonsense has happened even since then.

But it’s okay. The Championship isn’t the end of the world. It’s embarrassing that we are going there for sure, but when aren’t Spurs accused of being embarrassing? People still take the piss out of us for finishing third in the Leicester season, and that was our highest-ever Premier League finish at the time.

And that happened a year before we completed our only unbeaten home Premier League campaign. Seventeen wins and two draws in 19 games at White Hart Lane that season. But then we knocked the stadium down. Cos obviously.

Tony Adams’ late goal at Wembley is in the past, and soon enough, so too will be the 2025/2026 season. Daniel Levy is gone so there’s nobody to blame anymore. Even the Ultimate Warrior has passed on, so f**k it, bring on Blackburn, bring on Lincoln and bring on QPR.

Let’s look forward to a new season of finishing fifth and reaching the play-off final, before losing that in the kind of comical fashion that only Spurs can. And when we do, eventually, even that will be fine. Acceptance.

Interim boss Igor Tudor could be “sacked at any moment” by Tottenham after losing to Atletico Madrid, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Spurs have lost all four of their matches since Tudor took over from Thomas Frank until the end of the season and there have already been claims that the Croatian could be replaced.

Tudor was particularly heavily criticised for starting young Antonin Kinsky in their 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in midweek before withdrawing him on 17 minutes with Tottenham 3-0 down.

He was accused by Peter Schmeichel of “killing” the young goalkeeper’s career and there were claims in the Telegraph yesterday that the players have ‘no faith’ in Tudor.

It has been revealed that Tottenham have put him on press conference duty ahead of their match against Liverpool in the Premier League at the weekend – but Romano has warned that he could still lose his job “at any moment”.

Romano said on his YouTube channel: “Tottenham are in a very difficult moment after the defeat against Atletico Madrid.

READ:Kinsky ‘storms’ down tunnel and Tudor doomed, but there is some good news for Spurs…

“It is four games under Igor Tudor and four defeats, which is the first time in Tottenham’s history with a new manager.

“It is also the first time Tottenham have lost six consecutive matches.

“At the moment Tottenham have confirmed that Tudor will take the press conference ahead of the Liverpool game, but he remains at serious risk of being sacked at any moment.

“The situation is very fluid in the short term.

“For the long term the plan has always been clear, because Tudor signed a short contract and in the summer Tottenham want a new manager.

“The two names still very high on the shortlist are Roberto De Zerbi and Mauricio Pochettino.”

MORE TOTTENHAM COVERAGE ON F365…

* ‘Pained’ Postecoglou regret trips ‘desperate’ Tottenham with 16-word mistake reminder

* Doomed Igor Tudor is ‘absolute tool’ but was Kinsky sub the right move?

* Who will be the next Spurs manager? Dyche odds-on favourite but Redknapp is ‘available’

Tottenham are currently just one point above the relegation zone in the Premier League and now face the very real possibility of being in the Championship next season.

Relegation would lead to a mass exodus at Tottenham and players like Cristian Romero could leave regardless of how they finish the season.

Romano has revealed that there is a “serious possibility” that the World Cup winner will leave Tottenham in the summer transfer window.

Romano added: “Another important story at Tottenham is about Cristian Romero.

“There is a serious possibility that Romero could leave Tottenham in the summer transfer window.

“Top clubs in Europe and also abroad are calling and asking about the situation of the Argentine defender.

“So Romero is one to watch in the summer because there is strong interest.”

“The last time I interacted with the fans there was 200,000 on the streets of London,” said Ange Postecoglou, who’s a man in “pain” at seeing Tottenham go from bad to worse since he was dismissed in June.

Successor Thomas Frank was sacked a month ago and replaced by renowned ‘firefighter’ Igor Tudor, who’s doing a marvellous job of torching his own reputation and that of Tottenham Hotspur football club.

He’s lost all three of his Premier League games in charge to leave them just one point above the relegation zone, and led Spurs to a 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash on Tuesday.

Tudor has been roundly criticised for dropping Guglielmo Vicario in favour of Antonin Kinsky, who made two errors leading to goals in 17 minutes before being hooked by the no-nonsense Croat.

But rather than revel in Tottenham’s demise since he was sacked after guiding them to Europa League glory last term, Postecoglou is really upset at having to see some of the 200,000 fans he last saw partying on the streets with him enduring a tough time. It’s more a ‘regret trip’ than a guilt trip, but he’s in “pain” too, guys.

Speaking on TNT Sports, Postecoglou was asked if he was the least surprised person to witness Tottenham’s struggles. He replied: “No, I wouldn’t say that.

“I am still invested in the club because I have an attachment to those players, I worked with them for two years. The last time I interacted with the fans there was 200,000 on the streets of London.

“It pains me to see it. It definitely looks like the players are fairly lost at the moment. There’s obvious pressure there. It’s a real difficult time.

“It all manifested itself with what happened last night. It’s almost the worst-case scenario: you playing a side away from home, Atletico, who never drop below a performance level of two. They’re always at a really strong level. It was a horror start for them.”

Postecoglou insists Tudor must “install some belief into the players” as the Atletico defeat illustrated the “desperation” of his former side.

“There is no way that anyone would say, objectively, these players are performing at the level they are capable of,” Postecoglou added. “You’ve just got to try and ease the pressure on them somehow.

“Even last night, I thought it was a tremendous opportunity for them because they’ve done really well in the Champions League, they’re on the good side of the draw. Atletico away is tough but you’ve still got to take them back to Tottenham but it just felt like the pressure was there.

“I’m sure they would have trained on the pitch the night before but the amount of times they were slipping over, I think that’s still pressure. There’s just a real desperation in everything they do.

“Mentally, you’re desperate and that manifests itself in a physical way. You’re lunging for things, you’re rushing things.

“It’s hard for me to comment from the outside. For me it’s just about instilling some belief into the players. Show them the kind of players that they are, not that they can be.”

Asked if he would consider returning to Tottenham to save them from their current predicament, Postecoglou chuckled and replied: “No comment.”

He sure smiles a lot for a man in “pain”.

Spurs have reportedly decided to stick with Igor Tudor for now and a ‘decisive’ factor will determine whether they sack him.

Tudor was recently appointed to replace Thomas Frank at Spurs, having been tasked with guiding the struggling Premier League to safety.

However, Tudor has arguably made Spurs worse and they are only one point clear of the relegation zone following defeats to Arsenal, Fulham and Crystal Palace.

Their situation worsened on Tuesday night as they were hammered 5-2 by Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie.

There has been a clamour for Spurs to part company with Tudor following this match, but the club have indicated that he will remain in charge for at least one more game, having confirmed that he will have his pre-Liverpool press conference on Friday.

Journalist Nicolo Schira, meanwhile, claims a ‘decisive’ factor will determine Tudor’s future.

READ: Doomed Igor Tudor is ‘absolute tool’ but was Kinsky sub the right move?

Schira said on X: ‘Igor #Tudor’s future at #Tottenham is already in doubt: the games before the international break against Liverpool, Atletico Madrid and Nottingham Forest will be decisive for the Croatian coach, who has the worst start as #Spurs’ manager in #THFC History.’

Tottenham’s players have been given a day off on Wednesday before preparations start for Sunday’s match against Liverpool, though Sky Sports reporter Gary Cotterill has revealed that CEO Vinai Vankatesham was at the training ground on Wednesday morning.

“Things seem very quiet out here. But I think there’s things going on inside [the training ground],” Cotterill said on Sky Sports.

“At about 8.50am today Vinai Venkatesham, who would announce any decision that Igor Tudor is to be relieved of his duties, arrived at the training ground.

“Tudor arrived early this morning in the lodge after returning from Spain, the players got into their cars and went home but the head coach and a couple of his staff stayed.

“He will have already been in the training ground. There probably is something afoot which many pundits, fans, ex-players and potentially current players would be in favour of with the body language we saw in Madrid last night.”

Former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara thinks Tudor has made Spurs “10 times worse”.

“It’s been a disaster all season. The mentality’s not been there, the players haven’t been good enough,” O’Hara said on Sky Sports.

“They underperformed under Thomas Frank, and his style of football was so pragmatic the players weren’t in tune with it.

“But they sacked him and brought in this guy and it’s got 10 times worse. You’re meant to get a bounce, but he comes in all guns blazing, digs out the players, says there’s problems, this and that.

“He hasn’t built any confidence in the squad, you can see it in the players’ body language. It’s one of the worst appointments I’ve seen at Tottenham.”

Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky has reportedly made a transfer decision after Igor Tudor’s ‘disgraceful’ treatment of him.

The 22-year-old joined Spurs from Slavia Prague during the 2025 winter transfer window for around £12.5m.

Kinsky has only been used sparingly over the past year as he has been behind Guglielmo Vicario in the pecking order at Spurs.

He was handed his Champions League debut for Spurs in Tuesday’s Champions League round of 16 first leg against Atletico Madrid, but this quickly proved a disastrous outing.

With Vicario’s performances declining this season, Tudor opted to give Kinsky an opportunity against Atletico Madrid, but this backfired and the inexperienced goalkeeper was hooked after 17 minutes.

Kinsky was at fault for two goals as Atletico were gifted a 3-0 lead inside 15 minutes before ultimately winning the first leg 5-2.

READ: Kinsky ‘storms’ down tunnel and Tudor doomed, but there is some good news for Spurs…

Speaking post-match, Tudor admitted he made the “wrong decision” with Kinsky.

He said: “After seeing what happened, for sure it was the wrong decision.

“But it was, for me, the right decision to do, thinking before, because the team changed competition and it was, in the moment, right to do.

“Unfortunately, what happened happened. I’ve never changed my goalkeeper after 14 minutes. It’s not easy, it happened.”

Now, a report from The Telegraph claims Kinsky ‘will look to rebuild his career with another club’ after the ‘humiliation’ by Tudor.

Tudor did not embrace Kinsky when the goalkeeper exited the pitch on Tuesday, and ‘one former Tottenham employee described Tudor’s reaction as disgraceful’.

It is claimed that the goalkeeper is ‘expected’ to push for a loan move after missing out on an exit in recent windows.

The report explains:

‘Telegraph Sport understands that Kinsky had hoped to leave Spurs on loan in each of the last two transfer windows in search of regular first-team football.

‘The Czech was blocked on both occasions, last summer and in January, but the expectation is Kinsky will seek a loan move again at the end of the season with Spurs unlikely to stand in his way.’

Tudor’s poor treatment of Kinsky and Tottenham’s dire form has him at risk of losing his job, and former Spurs player Jamie O’Hara has named two possible replacements.

“Two names for me – Harry Redknapp, he’s been out of the game but he knows the club, he knows what it is to win and he’s a great man manager who will give the boys confidence,” O’Hara said on Sky Sports.

“Or there is Sean Dyche. I thought he was doing alright at Forest, but they’ve sacked him. He’s been involved in the Premier League this season, he knows the tactics of every team, he’s a man manager, I think he’ll get a tune out of the lads and I think he’ll make them feel good.”

If Antonin Kinsky is looking for inspiration for how to rebuild his Tottenham career, he won’t find it here. These keepers were finished after f**- ups…

As hard as many might have laughed at Spurs in Madrid on Tuesday night, you would have to have a heart of stone to feel no empathy for Kinsky.

The Tottenham keeper was given his Champions League debut by Igor Tudor only to be hooked after a nightmare 17 minutes, replaced by the Spurs stopper already dropped by the interim manager.

Bouncing back from such ignominy will be tough for Kinsky. Not impossible, especially when Spurs bin Tudor, but for some goalkeepers, big errors have been impossible to recover from without a change of scene.

Here are six who paid heavy prices for their mistakes…

Loris Karius

We start with the most obvious one, the OG of condemned keepers…

Liverpool ignored the warning signs that Karius might not be the top-class stopper their ambitions required around 2017/18. The German was signed at the start of the season before, after which he eventually won the battle for the gloves ahead of Simon Mignolet, more as the least-worst option rather than because Jurgen Klopp or anyone else at Liverpool truly believed he would be the No.1 for years to come.

A number of mistakes – some that were costly and others that went unpunished – sent Karius to Kiev for the 2018 Champions League final in less-than-impenetrable mood. Liverpool had already lost their best player at the top end of the field before their goalkeeper gifted Real the opener early in the second half, his roll-out read and intercepted by Karim Benzema.

Liverpool levelled quickly – then Gareth Bale took over. Four Kariuses won’t have stopped the Welshman’s brilliant overhead kick, but a cardboard cut-out of Bruce Grobbelaar might have kept out his second, Real’s third, that killed the game for the Reds.

Upon the final whistle, Karius was in tears, his apologies falling largely on deaf ears. Klopp offered an explanation that his compatriot was actually playing most of the second half concussed but that didn’t stop him from going straight into the market to break the world transfer record for a goalkeeper.

Karius never again played for Liverpool, seeing out the remainder of his contract largely on loan at Besiktas and Union Berlin.

MORE: Reappraising Loris Karius’ 2018 Champions League final catastrof*ck: was it really *that* bad?

Jim Leighton

Many might expect Massimo Taibi to be Manchester United’s representative here, but the Italian was given a chance for atonement after his most famous mistake: letting Matt Le Tissier’s pea-roller trough his legs at Old Trafford. Sir Alex Ferguson fielded Taibi the following week at Chelsea, where he conceded five goals.

Leighton never got another go. Had he been offered it, he might have told Fergie to f*** off anyway.

Their relationship never recovered after Ferguson ruthlessly dropped Leighton for the 1990 FA Cup final replay. The United boss pinned the blame for two of Palace’s three goals in the first final on Leighton, bringing Les Sealey in from nowhere. Ferguson later explained his thinking: “Was he a better keeper than Jim? No, but he thought he was, and that can sometimes be important in a cup final.”

Indeed it was. Sealey was solid while keeping a clean sheet in United’s victory. He became a cult hero and Ferguson was finally off and running at United, but his bridges with Leighton were burned forever.

The Scotland keeper played once more for United, in a League Cup tie at Halifax, and after two years in the doldrums as fourth-choice at Old Trafford, he returned north of the border and rebuilt his career. But the resentment between him and Fergie runs deep. “We’ve never spoken since and never will do again,” said Leighton in 2018.

MORE: Kinsky joins the most humiliating substitutions ever, featuring Mourinho and ‘really angry’ Klopp

Scott Carson and Rob Green

The England keepers are lumped together here because their tales are almost identical.

Carson profited from Paul Robinson’s ropey form to get ahead of the England no.1 at the very end of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. All England had to do was avoid defeat against Croatia at Wembley in November 2007, and Steve McClaren would be taking them to Austria and Switzerland the following summer.

Eight minutes into his second cap – the first came in a friendly the weekend before – Carson let Niko Kranjcar’s speculative 30-yarder through his grasp and he was beaten again six minutes later. England rallied back for 2-2 but then suffered the defeat their performance deserved, costing them a place at the Euros finals and McClaren his job.

Carson never started for England again, his two subsequent caps coming as a sub in friendlies.

Green suffered a similar fate after a similar error against USA at the 2010 World Cup. He was immediately dropped by Fabio Capello and made to wait almost two years for his next and final cap in a friendly before the 2012 European Championships.

MORE: Tudor ‘kills’ another Spurs career besides his own as Kinsky becomes humiliated collateral damage

Jack Bonham

If there is anything to be said for Bonham’s nightmare debut in 2013, without it, we would never have had the ‘Now here come Watford… DEEEEEEEENEEYYYYYY!’ moment from the Championship play-off semi-finals.

The Hornets, though, would doubtless have preferred to swerve the play-offs – they lost the final – and gone straight to the Premier League via automatic promotion, which they had within their grasp on the final day of the season.

Watford were at home to Leeds, before which Bonham was going through his usual third-keeper jobs. Warm up the starter and sub, then shower and slip out of sight. But Manuel Almunia did not make it through the warm-up and was replaced in the XI by Jonathan Bond, meaning Bonham – without a set of long studs or match gloves – was bumped up to the bench.

He was only there for 24 minutes before Bond was injured too. Bonham was on for his senior debut – which could not have gone much worse.

The 19-year-old academy product was at fault for both goals as Watford lost 2-1, blowing the chance to go up automatically. It was Bonham’s only appearance for Watford, who cut the teenager loose at the end of the season.

He joined Brentford and endured a similarly nightmare-ish debut for the Bees too, coming off the bench to blunder in a 4-0 defeat. A loan to Southern League Premier Division club Arlesey Town gave Bonham the chance to reset before he forged a decent career in the Football League, where he currently plays at Bolton.

Cieran Slicker

We must wait to see if Slicker recovers from his nightmare Scotland debut last summer to ever play for the national team again. But the signs don’t look good.

The Manchester City academy graduate wasn’t ready for the one cap he now has; Slicker, by then at Ipswich Town, was yet to make his senior league debut when he first represented his country as an early substitute in a friendly against Iceland.

He was beaten within two minutes and twice more in a 3-1 defeat. Slicker, arguably Scotland’s seventh choice, was culpable to varying degrees in all three goals and was later ironically cheered by the Hampden crowd when he caught one.

“It’s difficult for Cieran, I really feel for him,” Steve Clarke said after the game. “He got thrown into a situation that he wasn’t quite ready for but Craig Gordon’s injured, Liam Kelly’s injured, Zander Clark is injured.

“The only good thing is it came in a friendly match. I’d imagine Angus Gunn won’t play the next game.

“I’ve had young Callan McKenna in the squad so he’ll travel then we’ll have a look and see if we can find another goalkeeper in Scotland who’s not on holiday.”

Slicker has not been in a Scotland squad since but he is making progress at club level, gaining experience in League Two as Barnet’s No.1 while on loan from Ipswich.

No surprise about where the majority of today’s media attention lands, with Spurs going beyond Full Spurs to previously undiscovered new levels under a manager plumbing previously undiscovered new depths.

Annoyingly for Mediawatch, the sheer nightmarish ridiculousness of Spurs’ reality means even some of what on the surface seems absurd coverage is actually, well, kind of fair enough.

But not all of it. Never all of it.

X rated

A rare day indeed when the biggest story of the day really is almost impossible to sensationalise. Pretty much every outlet has a TUDOR MUST GO story, and yet not one of these unequivocal assessments of a four-game managerial reign can possibly be considered hyperbolic or sensationalised.

It’s just… true. The only two possible quibbles are to wonder where this energy was from the press pack when their hero Thomas Frank was getting Spurs into this mess in the first place, and to wonder whether it really might be for the best to keep Tudor on until the annual Anfield humiliation is out of the way at the weekend before giving literally anyone else on earth a clear run at the free-hit second leg against Atleti and the monumental pre-interlull six-pointer against Nottingham Forest.

But yes, astonishing as it might be, the sight of the press pack in unanimous agreement that a manager must be sacked after just four games is neither surprising nor scandalous. It really is that bad. Spurs really are that club.

But the UK tabloid press are still the UK tabloid press, and almost impossible isn’t entirely impossible. Even now, housery must occur when there is clearly no need for it at all.

You’d think, really, that the sight of a team subbing off their goalkeeper for tactical reasons 16 minutes into a Champions League game would be wild enough, wouldn’t you? That this was a story already absurd and ridiculous enough to need no lily-gilding or garnish.

You would, obviously, be wrong.

Because why settle for that when you can suggest it was in fact Cristian Romero’s decision to replace Antonin Kinsky rather than Beleaguered Igor Tudor (to give him his now mandatory full name) calling the shots?

Now the one slightly awkward thing here is that this idea was put to Tudor in the post-match presser, and he dismissed the idea out of hand: “My decision, of course.”

So you can’t really flat out claim that Romero did it in the presence of that quote and absence of compelling evidence to the contrary. So what to do?

If you’re The Sun, simply spend less time than a Kinsky Champions League appearance on X-formerly-Twitter to find some randoms saying it and just make the story ‘Spurs fans claim’ instead.

Tottenham fans claim Cristian Romero ordered Igor Tudor to sub Kinsky off as touchline video surfaces

You’ve got all the usual stuff in here. A grand total of four random X-formerly-Twitter users quoted, three of whom were ‘eagle-eyed’ enough to watch the ‘viral video’ and jump to a reasonable yet unprovable conclusion, and one who said simply ‘WHAT IS THIS CLUB’ which is a valid and entirely unanswerable question.

Does The Sun bother to carry the only quote we have on the subject from one of the two people actually in a position to know the truth?

Like Spurs fans as a game kicks off, you already know the answer.

Storm warning

Crucial point of order for this Daily Express headline. These things matter.

Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky humiliated by Igor Tudor as flop storms down tunnel

That was no storm. That was a trudge if ever we saw one.

Jungle is massive

Let it not be said that it’s all doom and gloom at Spurs. There is always some good news if you’re willing to search hard enough.

Take, for instance, this magnificent sentence from The Sun’s inevitably eclectic round-up of possible Tudor replacements (Mason, Poch, Keane… Amorim) about ‘Arry, clearly the only man for this particular crisis.

The former king of the jungle, 79, is set to appear in the upcoming series of I’m a Celebrity All Stars – but the series was pre-recorded in South Africa last September, meaning he is available.

Surely not until after Cheltenham wraps up on Friday, though?

History boys

The Express’ version of the ubiquitous TUDOR OUT missives this morning is broadly identical to all the other TUDOR OUT missives. There’s stuff about being on the brink. Reasonable assertions that subbing your keeper after 16 minutes and then blanking him might be sub-optimal. Fair observations that while Spurs were bad under Frank they are now somehow even worse.

But also, because it’s the Express and they can’t help themselves, just a really weird line snuck in among it all.

The history Spurs are making right now is the kind schools would be too ashamed to teach the future generations about.

Schools that spend valuable time teaching the history of comically inept football clubs? Sounds like utter woke nonsense to us. Probably on the curriculum at the same definitely real schools that exist where they put out litter trays for the students who identify as cats.

Gunned down

A fun game here based on this Daily Star headline.

Tottenham star makes feelings clear on Arsenal tactics with brutal ‘boring’ dig

How many times does Mathys Tel, for it is he, mention Arsenal in the subsequent quotes?

HINT: it’s the same number as Tottenham wins under Igor Tudor.

Me, Myself & I

Much like with watching Tottenham, Mediawatch often assumes we’ve seen everything the press are capable of, only to frequently find ourselves astonished anew.

Take this new wheeze from the Mirror, for instance.

Arne Slot points the blame at one person after Liverpool’s loss to Galatasaray

Sounds very harsh, doesn’t it? Singling out one person after a collective disappointment? What kind of manager would ever do that, perhaps after, say, 16 minutes of a Champions League game? Certainly not Arne Slot, surely?

No denying it grabs the attention. Who could possibly resist clicking that to see which poor sod is in the manager’s crosshairs. Certainly not Mediawatch, that’s for sure. So who’s he blamed, then, the big meanie?

Tuesday marked the 12th time this season that Slot’s side have lost a game after conceding first and the manager admitted it was up to him to improve in those situations.

Technically correct will always be the best kind of correct for sh*thouse headlines, and this looks sure to become a new staple of the genre – 10/10, no notes.