Igor Tudor is tasked with keeping Tottenham in the Premier League, but this is his toughest firefighting mission yet.
The 47-year-old former Hajduk Split, Juventus and Croatia centre-back has agreed to become Spurs’ interim head coach until the end of the season after manager Thomas Frank was sacked at the club, five points above the bottom three.
Spurs are looking to appoint an experienced head coach with a proven track record and Tudor fits the bill perfectly.
He has been appointed in March for the past two seasons at Juventus and Lazio, respectively, and has stabilized his results in a short period of time.
“If you look back at Tudor’s recent career, he’s very happy to take on these short-term roles. I think he sees himself as a bit of a firefighter,” Italian soccer commentator Patrick Kendrick told Sky Sports.
At Juventus, Tudor took over the team from Thiago Motta, which was sitting fifth in Serie A after consecutive defeats that ended a disastrous February that saw the club eliminated from the Champions League and Coppa Italia.
Tudor led Juve to fourth place in Serie A and qualified for the Champions League after losing just one of the 11 games he was in charge of. This earned the Croatian a two-year contract, but poor results led Juventus to release him after just four months.
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Italian football expert Patrick Kendrick has suggested that Tottenham Hotspur interim head coach candidate Igor Tudor would prefer a defensive 3-4-2-1 formation at Spurs.
At Lazio, Tudor replaced manager Marizio Sarri on an 18-month contract in March 2024 after the former Chelsea boss resigned after losing five of six games to ninth-placed Lazio.
Tudor won five of nine games as Lazio manager, losing only one, helping them finish seventh and qualify for the Europa League. He resigned at the end of the season after three months in office.
Tottenham is Tudor’s 10th other club in the last 13 years, having previously managed the likes of Galatasaray, Udinese, Hellas Verona and Marseille, as well as working under Andrea Pirlo at Juventus.
Tudor is synonymous with Serie A and could have been an immediate force at Juve and Lazio, but his first job in England will test his man-management and tactical skills, and Spurs supporters shouldn’t expect free football anytime soon.
“His typical formation is 3-4-2-1,” Kendrick said. “He doesn’t naturally tend to play too wide. It’s very similar to the formation that former Southampton manager Ivan Juric used to have.”
“He had great success with Verona, and that’s probably where he had his greatest success. He had a free-scoring team with two No. 10s playing behind one striker, but back threes are pretty much in vogue in Italy and it’s seen as a way of making sure you’re solid first and foremost.”
For Tudor, the language barrier is not a problem. Tudor has been active in five countries and is also familiar with Spurs’ Randal Kolo Muani and injured Rodrygo Bentancur.
“His English is very good, much better than Antonio Conte, so I don’t think there will be any problems,” Kendrick added.
“He has a strong belief in his abilities. He is a very outspoken person and tends to speak his mind.
“Rather than considering any tactical changes, I think he will focus first and foremost on boosting player morale.”
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European football expert Andy Brassell reviews Igor Tudor’s career
“Mr. Wolf” – How will Tudor manage the Spurs locker room?
James Horncastle, Serie A writer for The Athletic, said of Igor Tudor:
Tudor’s first job was as an interim position. Looking at all 12 of his jobs, he only mentioned the season three times. He came in as a fireman, Mr. Wolf. A person who cleans up messes.
He had interim jobs at Lazio and Juventus and was basically there to stop those teams from falling out of European qualification.
The relevance for Tottenham here is that he started at Udinese, who were on the verge of being eliminated from Serie A for the first time in a quarter of a century. They were on a 10-game losing streak. He came and stopped the corruption and preserved them.
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Italian football expert James Horncastle explains why Igor Tudor could be the perfect short-term appointment for Tottenham Hotspur
He did not officially take up the job, but a year later Udinese took up the same position and he joined. They remained in the standings with only one point left. That’s exactly what Tottenham want him to do: find the team’s potential.
He has worked with several Spurs players in the past. When I was Andrea Pirlo’s assistant at Juventus, I had Dejan Kulusevski. He also had Rodrigo Bentancur. He speaks Italian and the majority of Spurs’ members are signed from Serie A. Guglielmo Vicario and Destiny Udogui came from there.
He wants to be considered as the club’s first choice. But he knows that’s not the case – and he’s okay with that. He tried to get out of that pigeonhole. Early in his career, he was known as an escape artist. He came to rescue the team.
Fabio Paratici, co-sporting director at Tottenham, was one of the people who put together Pirlo’s coaching staff at Juventus. And many thought that even if Tudor’s role was number two, he was better than just a player to keep the team going.
And when he was called up to replace Thiago Motta at Juventus this time last year, he was given the task of getting them into the Champions League, and they got there.
He believes that he is suitable for the big stage. A guy who belongs to a Champions League team. Juventus is a bigger club than Tottenham, and he briefly showed that he could be trusted as Juventus’ manager. Let’s see how he does in this job.
He will want to frame himself in order to obtain a permanent position. If that doesn’t work out, and he does a good enough job to keep Tottenham in the division, he may see this as an opportunity to land another Premier League job, with Crystal Palace set to do so. He feels it’s a win-win situation for him.
Whether you play with a back three or not depends on whether you have a center back who can do it. That’s been an issue for the Spurs due to injuries. He prefers to play in a 3-4-2-1 like Antonio Conte and Gian Piero Gasperini. But he has shown that he can adapt to situations where they are needed and needed. And this is one of them.
As you can see from Tudor’s press conference, he has a very affable personality. When he was a defender, he was rough and ready, sticking his elbows out and not being afraid to be the bad guy. But while he’s very personable and friendly in press conferences, in the locker room and on the sidelines he’s someone you’d expect to see as a disciple. That fierce man will appear.
There is certainly a belief at Tottenham that they need leadership, not only from players like Conor Gallagher and when they tried to sign Andy Robertson, but also from their coach. He believes he has what it takes to be a leader.
He will be in the dressing room sniffing out what a relegation battle is like. When he was at Udinese, there were no players in the dressing room like there were at Spurs. He’ll look at that and feel relatively confident in achieving his bare minimum goal of remaining in the league.
There will be players in that locker room who have played in Serie A and know what coaches expect from players in that league. It will help him start his life at Tottenham. My only concern is the supplies they have. It’s a tough start.
Tottenham’s next 6 games
February 22: Arsenal (h), Premier League – Kick-off 4:30pm, live on Sky Sports
March 1: Fulham (a), Premier League – 2pm kick-off, live on Sky Sports
March 5: Crystal Palace (h), Premier League – 8pm kick-off
15 March: Liverpool (a), Premier League – kick-off 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports
March 17/18: Champions League last 16, first leg (opponents to be determined)
22nd March: Nottom Forest (h), Premier League, 2.15pm kick-off, live on Sky Sports
