Igor Tudor got a harsh first taste of Premier League football as his Tottenham Hotspur side fell to a 4-1 defeat to Arsenal at home.
The Croatian was tasked with steadying the ship at the club after Thomas Frank’s sacking, but judging by how Tottenham fared in their first game under his tutelage, they have a mountain to climb to restore the feel-good factor at the club.
Two goals apiece from Eberechi Eze and Viktor Gyokeres set Arsenal on their way to a commanding win, while Randal Kolo Muani’s first-half strike turned out to be a mere consolation.
To make matters worse, Tudor claimed Tottenham are currently ‘full of problems’ in a damning post-match interview to rub salt into the wounds of the fans.
And now, Chris Sutton has had his say on his comments in what was another grim outing for the North London side.
Sutton questions Tudor’s comments
Speaking to BBC 5 Live after the game, Tudor claimed that thinking about relegation won’t help Tottenham in the slightest as they find themselves just four points above the drop zone.
“Difficult start against a team who is now in this moment,” said the Croatian.
“Now, in this moment, the team is full of problems. The only key is to work on the training day by day and be humble. We need to be more aggressive – we need to be more compact. These are the keys.
“You understand the gap in mental sharpness between one team and the other. This is a thing we need to change. I saw players available to do this, but we need more time to do this.
“Thinking about relegation doesn’t bring you anything to anybody.”
Sutton, in reaction to those comments, claimed he was ‘astonished’ that Tudor actually came out and said this as he laid bare Tottenham’s problems.
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The former Premier League striker also appeared to question the Tottenham manager’s comments from his first press conference, where he confidently claimed they would avoid relegation.
Sutton said via BBC, “Where do you start with that? Absolutely astonishing. If you’re Thomas Frank and listening to that, the interview is damning.
“You can get 11 Tottenham fans out of a pub who have the spirit. This is from a guy who said he is 100% certain that Tottenham would stay up.”
Tottenham well and truly up against it
The gulf in class between the two North London rivals came to the fore once again as Tottenham fell to a 4-1 defeat, much like what was the case in the reverse fixture under Frank.
Tudor’s arrival hasn’t provided the immediate impetus that was expected, but his players will look to learn from their mistakes and correct them for the upcoming clash against Fulham next week.
Micky van de Ven feels Tottenham can learn to press better in the coming weeks as they really struggled to do so cohesively against Arsenal.
However, their brand of football isn’t important in the slightest as they need to get points on the board immediately to avoid the drop, with Nottingham Forest and West Ham United breathing down their neck currently.
