Only Tottenham could turn a free strike conceded by hapless manager Igor Tudor into one of the most embarrassing nights in the club’s history. It was a particularly incompetent first half in a season that could have seen Spurs eliminated from the Premier League.
The injuries he inflicted on himself were unusual. It was such a humiliating performance that it was impossible to prevent the fact that Tudor’s side had beaten Atletico Madrid into their minds in the last hour or so of the game at the Estadio Metropolitano.
The three-goal defeat against Atlético is hardly the shock of the season. Diego Simeone’s side defeated Real Madrid by the same 5-2 scoreline in September and beat Barcelona by four at this stadium last month. What made it incredible was the way it was done.
Antonin Kinski scored the first goal while skating, and Micky van de Ven did the same for the second. Then the goalkeeper evaded a clearance and scored the goal within 17 minutes. His replacement was unable to hit a fourth within five minutes of his arrival.
A statement from the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust labeled the performance as “absolutely disgraceful”, showing that even for a group of fans who thought they had seen it all, this proved otherwise. Some people returned to Plaza Mayor before the half was over.
Who can blame them? This was really historically bad. According to Opta, there were four mistakes that led to Atlético’s goals in the first half. This is double the number of such errors made by other teams in an entire Champions League game all season.
In fact, the last team to commit four errors leading to a goal in a Champions League match was Belarus’ BATE Borisov, who lost 6-0 to Porto more than a decade ago – and even they were just one point behind when Tottenham were eliminated for the fourth time.
Tudor said he had never seen anything like this in his football career, and that was the only thing he was right about. Indeed, it will no doubt linger for a long time to wish that poor Kinski would just trudged off the lawn and be swallowed whole by the slippery ground.
The rapid outpouring of support for the Czech goalkeeper was in stark contrast to the coach’s apparently cold reception at the time of his departure. Instead, it was left to a few colleagues on the bench to chase the hapless 22-year-old towards the tunnel.
Celebrities including former Spurs and England goalkeepers Paul Robinson and Joe Hart were critical of the handling of the incident. David de Gea expressed his sympathy on social media. The great goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel said Tudor ruined his career.
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. When Kinski was substituted, even the Atlético fans in the stadium seemed unsure of how to react. There was spontaneous applause, some of it a little sarcastic, but others seemed genuinely sympathetic.
Most Spurs supporters would blame Tudor. Had it not been for their ruthless decision to withdraw him, the Croats would have plausibly argued that his mind must have been disturbed by then and that they had spared him further suffering, given that they had made a mistake in choosing him in the first place.
It’s hard to blame Kinski when they reached the knockout stages of the Champions League and were eliminated from the Carabao Cup despite not playing competitively for five months. All of his six Premier League starts came last season, five of which were defeats.
On the surface, he exuded some confidence in the early exchanges, but it was inevitable that it would quickly disappear after seeing the early slippage and the way Van de Ven was ruined right in front of him. It was a big decision for Tudor, but it wasn’t the right one.
He was optimistic about having the defender back and giving him a full week of training. “Maybe this will help us see what kind of problems we have,” he suggested in a press conference the night before the match. It turns out that one of the answers lies in his mirror.
While reaction to the 47-year-old coach’s appointment was initially lukewarm, fans have now reached a boiling point. He became the first Spurs manager to lose his first four games. This is the club’s sixth consecutive loss in official games.
Tudor was supposed to carry the Spurs to safety. On the contrary, they are sinking. A short-term solution that made the situation worse. It was his quick impact record that justified his addition. Without that, he’s just a guy who seems lost on his bench, far out of his comfort zone.
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Sky Sports’ Michael Bridge talks about Tottenham’s ‘heartbreaking defeat’ against Atletico Madrid
After the first goal, he tried to cheer up the players and applauded, but when he saw the second goal he turned to the staff with arms outstretched in disbelief. By the time the third hit the net, Tudor was relying on Guglielmo Vicario, who dropped, to send him out.
When Vicario immediately conceded, he was making a gesture of calm. There was no real sense of control, but it felt darkly funny considering he was not only leading this panic, but also its architect. “Every game something happens. It’s very difficult to explain.”
These were his words afterwards, and also a reminder that Spurs came close to making it 4-2 after Richarlison’s header was saved. Unfortunately, the ball went into their own net seconds later as the team found yet another way to concede.
“We started the game and it was too much for us. At this moment we are vulnerable, we are weak.” The problem is that the same criticism can also be leveled at the coach. That is the fear for Tottenham as they approach the end of this terrifying campaign.
Their European adventure so far has given them a modicum of respectability, even at its most tenuous, after a stellar showing last season. The road will certainly run out in the second leg and thoughts will return to domestic woes.
Sunday’s clash with Vitor Pereira’s Nottingham Forest was preceded by a daunting journey to Anfield to play Liverpool in front of the Sky Sports cameras. They’re one of the few teams below Liverpool, but they’re also one of the many that look like they’re on the upswing.
Spurs can’t rely on anyone else, as Nuno Espirito Santo’s West Ham have also improved significantly. they need to save themselves. But from the inertia in the transfer market to the manager’s recent missteps, do you feel like the club understands what is required of them?
Any hope that Tudor could be part of the solution is now gone. He is just another dimension of the myriad problems facing this Tottenham team. It was an expensive night for the club to bat free, their lowest in this most miserable of seasons.
The photos in this article were taken by OPPO Find X9 Pro. OPPO has been partnering with the UEFA Champions League since 2022 and currently serves as its official smartphone product partner.
