Igor Tudor insisted he saw enough in Tottenham’s defeat to Crystal Palace to increase his belief that they will avoid the drop.
Tottenham are in crisis and facing the real possibility of relegation after they crumbled to a shocking 3-1 defeat at home following Micky van de Ven’s sending off.
Spurs led 1-0 but collapsed after Van de Ven was dismissed, meaning Tudor has lost all three of his games in charge. Spurs – last relegated from the top flight in 1977 – are just one point above the drop zone and face Liverpool at Anfield next in the Premier League
“I understand the fans, they wanted more,” he said after the game. “We also wanted more. The red card changed everything.
“It might sound strange, I believe more after this game than I believed before.
“I saw something. I need to choose the right guys because the boat is going in the direction that I need to go, and who is in the boat can stay, otherwise [they] can leave the boat.
“When the other players come back, I’m sure we’ll have a good team and come back. It’s not easy to accept the moment we are in now.”
Spurs’ odds of relegation now sit at 19/10, equating to an implied probability of 35 per cent they’ll be playing in the Sky Bet Championship next season.
When Tudor was asked whether or not he would be in charge for the next game away at Liverpool, he said: “No comment on that question.”
21 days later: Could Spurs really pull the trigger on Tudor already?
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Tottenham Hotspur head coach Igor Tudor says he believes more in his team after his side’s 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace than ever before
Sky Sports’ Lewis Jones:
“Just 21 days into the reign of Tudor and already a question hovering above the boardroom is one that sounds faintly ridiculous when spoken out loud: can they sack him already?
“Football, though, has never been a place where ridicule stops decisions being made.
“The numbers don’t care about timelines or reputations. The Premier League table simply deals in points, and right now Spurs are collecting far too few of them. Each week the cushion shrinks. The odds are dropping. Each week the conversation shifts from ‘this will turn’ to ‘this needs fixing quickly’ to ‘Lincoln is quite nice at this time of year.’
“And when panic starts to creep into a relegation scrap, clubs reach for the lever they believe can create the quickest jolt – the manager.
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Sky Sports’ Gary Cotterill and Peter Smith dissect Tottenham Hotspur’s loss to Crystal Palace at home to put them in danger of relegation
“It’s the one move a board can make immediately. They can’t sign five players tomorrow morning. They can’t rewind the season. But they can change the voice in the dressing room.
“Sacking a manager after three weeks might be their only rational move. Three weeks can really be a lifetime in football.”
Spurs’ next six fixtures
- Tuesday March 10: Atletico Madrid (A) – Champions League, kick-off 8pm)
- Sunday March 15: Liverpool (A) – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm (live on Sky Sports)
- Wednesday March 18: Atletico Madrid (H) – Champions League, kick-off 8pm
- Sunday March 22: Nottingham Forest (H) – Premier League, kick-off 2.15pm (live onSky Sports)
- Sunday April 12: Sunderland (A) – Premier League, kick-off 2pm (live on Sky Sports)
- Saturday April 18: Brighton (H) – Premier League, kick-off 5.30pm (live on Sky Sports)
