Igor Tudor’s tenure at Tottenham is a “car crash” that needs to be brought to an end, according to former England defender Gary Neville.
The Croatian’s position is under intense scrutiny after four straight losses and in the aftermath of Tuesday’s debacle against Atletico Madrid, where Tudor selected reserve keeper Antonin Kinsky only to substitute him after 17 minutes with Spurs 3-0 down.
They went on to lose 5-2, all but ending their chances of progressing to the quarter-finals, and, speaking to The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast, Neville said of the treatment of Kinsky: “I thought it was brutal.
“I thought the whole thing of the last few weeks and then that, the whole thing is just a car crash, a shambles.
“The problem I had was Tudor’s interview. I think he’s got to come in there and say, ‘Look, I got this wrong, I should have left (Guglielmo) Vicario in net’, but he didn’t, he doubled down.”
Tudor was only appointed four weeks ago following the sacking of Thomas Frank but Neville believes Tottenham must act again immediately to have any hope of avoiding relegation from the Premier League.
“If you’re going to make another change, that for me needs to be today or tomorrow, because you don’t wait,” he added.
Former Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright agreed that Tudor is not the right man for the role, saying: “You don’t want to see anybody get sacked but, when you see somebody who’s blatantly out of their depth, it’s uncomfortable.
"The players need to look at themselves, they've been an absolute disgrace!" 😡
Strong words as the team react to Spurs’ disastrous season so far. 📣 pic.twitter.com/OFDolbwnhr
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“For him to make that decision, for that poor goalkeeper, for him to go into a game like that at a club like that to start, I don’t know what he’s seen in training. For me, Vicario is the number one, he plays in that game.
“You do that in another game for him because now, look at this guy Kinsky. That’s the biggest nightmare since the Liverpool goalkeeper.”
Wright was referring to Loris Karius’ horror show in the 2018 Champions League final, and Tudor’s treatment of Kinsky drew mixed reviews.
The Croatian did not acknowledge the 22-year-old after hauling him off, but Roy Keane described the outcry as an overreaction, saying: “He’s made a couple of mistakes, huge mistakes.”
Former England striker Wayne Rooney added: “He’s tried to protect him but it looks horrendous. I think the biggest issue was starting him. I’ve no problem with him taking him off.
“Should he hug him? If I got brought off after 20 minutes, I wouldn’t want a hug off my manager. He can speak to him after the game.”
Former Tottenham striker Robbie Keane, who is currently in charge at Hungarian side Ferencvaros, was cited as a possible replacement along with Sean Dyche.
Rooney reserved his strongest criticism for the Spurs squad, saying: “Those players need to look at themselves because I think they’ve been an absolute disgrace. The performances, the attitude, the lack of desire, the lack of fight, lack of anything in them.
“I think they need someone to go in and absolutely batter them. They need some fear put into them.”
