Tottenham relegation threat is real as Spurs hero gives Igor Tudor verdict | Football | Sport

Gus Poyet has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur face the threat of relegation following a “weak” display against Arsenal. Spurs were unable to bounce back as they crashed to a 4-1 thrashing by their bitter rivals on Sunday.

The setback leaves them just four points above the drop zone, with West Ham United and Nottingham Forest pulling the sides above them into a fight for survival. Igor Tudor was appointed as the new interim head coach ahead of the game, but the Croatian was unable to spark an instant response in the North London Derby. Now, Poyet has acknowledged that Spurs find themselves in a perilous position as they enter a crucial stage of the campaign.

Speaking to football.london via Premier League betting odds site BetWright, he said: “I think they are in danger, I think that they need a good result. I think there is also a little bit of confusion inside the team and obviously yesterday’s game didn’t help.

‘It’s going to be a reaction. It’s a new coach, he’s a character, Igor Tudor, so he’s going to bring something to the team’. Even at half time, at 1-1, I was having a bad feeling. I think there is two key things.

“One is getting the injured players into the back as soon as possible, the ones that they can. Then win again. It’s too close, and remember that sentence, ‘They are too good to go down’; it has happened to many. Danger, I think the word now is in danger.”

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With the move to north London, Tudor has taken his first steps into Premier League management following spells across Europe and two seasons in Serie A with Lazio and Juventus. Poyet crossed paths with the 47-year-old during their time managing in Greece.

The Uruguayan believes Tudor possesses the qualities to succeed in England’s top flight, but suggests the current problems lie with the squad itself. He added: “I know him because when I went to Greece in 2015-16, he was the coach of PAOK, I was the coach for AEK, we played one game. I followed his career and I know his character. I know he’s a very strong coach.

“But the problem here is not a system, it’s not how you train, it is how you perform as a team, especially in the Premier League, in the last two years we’ve been performing really badly. Sometimes there is a click that the coach needs to find, whatever it is, it needs to click. It could be a decision, it could be a change of playing style, it could even be luck.

“You play hopeful anyway, the fair half, nothing, and then Declan Rice loses the ball and you are 1-1 without deserving nothing in the game, but you are 1-1. The problem was the start of the second half, so I think they need something and I’m sure the coach will try to find that. I promise that we do, as coaches, don’t stop, we talk, we find, we read, we check and we analyse.

“But in the end, the players play. I thought about when I was a player, I saw the players who needed to play and now I’m a coach, and I’m still thinking the players need to play. We can help, but it’s up to the players.”

He continued: “[Arsenal] felt they were comfortable. I haven’t seen them in the last couple of weeks so comfortable on the pitch [as they were vs Tottenham]. They knew how to do it, they knew how to play and they know how to isolate the players.

“They played one-v-one at the back for many, many minutes, really high on the pitch and Tottenham was not able to deal with that. It was a difference of individuals.

“You know, there is many things in football. But the first thing is that I’m playing against you and I need to beat you, me first. That’s the duel and if you beat me all the time, it’s going to be a little bit worse for my team.

“Yesterday, the duels on the pitch, 90% were won by Arsenal. Apart from the style, the possession, the quality of the players and the bench. But in particular, I don’t think there were too many Tottenham players that they went home yesterday and they say, ‘I dealt with it’. There were moments when Paulinha had done it, and then he came out.

“This is difficult, so that’s the situation. For example, Gabriel, one-v-one, he beat most of the time the striker, in terms of the strength, winning the ball in the air, interception, power and getting fouls, the goal, I don’t think he was responsible for him because Declan Rice lost the ball.

“If you going the other side, the defenders of Tottenham, they didn’t cope with the strikers. So there is things that, in those duels, Tottenham was weak and in a derby? That is not possible.”

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