Igor Tudor makes Antonin Kinsky admission after Spurs horror show vs Atleti
A dejected Igor Tudor accepted he had made the ‘wrong decision’ to start Antonin Kinsky following the goalkeeper’s 17-minute horror show in Tottenham’s 5-2 loss to Atletico Madrid.
Spurs endured a nightmarish start to Tuesday’s Champions League round-of-16 first leg as Kinsky’s botched pass out from the back gifted Atleti possession for Marcos Llorente’s sixth-minute opener in the Spanish capital.
Things soon went from bad to worse for the visitors as a calamitous slip from Micky van de Van allowed Antoine Griezmann to hare through on goal and double the hosts’ advantage.
Just moments later, Diego Simeone’s men had a third and Kinsky was once again the man at fault having been selected in place of Guglielmo Vicario for the high-pressure tie.
There was a horrible feeling of deja vu as Kinsky somehow kicked the ball into his standing leg and into the path of Julian Alvarez, who passed into an empty net to pile yet more misery on Tudor’s men.
The Spurs boss wasted little time in sending on Vicario in place of Kinsky, with the latter appearing shellshocked as he made his way off the field at a raucous Metropolitano Stadium.
Pedro Porro and Dominic Solanke both struck to make the scoreline look a little less ugly from Tottenham’s perspective, but Atleti will go into the second leg as the overwhelming favourites to progress to the quarter-finals.
Your football fix
Metro‘s Head of Sport James Goldman delivers punchy analysis, transfer talk and his take on the week’s biggest stories direct to your inbox every week.
Sign up here, it’s an open goal.
The result meant Tudor became the first Tottenham manager in history to lose their first four matches in charge of the club. It is also the first time ever that the north London outfit have lost six games in succession.
Asked if he had made an incorrect call in starting Kinsky, Tudor told TNT Sports: ‘After seeing what happened, for sure it was the wrong decision.
‘But it was, for me, the right decision to do, thinking before, because the team changed competition and it was, in the moment, right to do.
‘Unfortunately, what happened happened. I’ve never changed my goalkeeper after 14 minutes. It’s not easy, it happened.’
Tudor has received widespread criticism for refusing to even acknowledge or putting an arm around Kinsky as the 22-year-old Czech was removed just 17 minutes into the match.
‘No, it’s moments like this we don’t need to comment.It’s not a moment to speak too much,’ Tudor replied when asked about his reaction.
‘Strange game, very strange game. We gave them three goals afterwards we started good.
‘But then problems killed us in three situations. Very, very, very strange so it took our confidence.
‘Then we start, we made opportunities to make it 4-2 and then we conceded the goal for 5-2.’
The Croatian issued an apology to Tottenham’s fans both inside the stadium and those watching on from home, saying ‘it looks like everything is going against’ his side.
‘We apologise to the fans today, also to everyone,’ Tudor went on.
‘It was a difficult moment. Everything looks like going wrong, more mistakes, everything like this. Unbelievable.
‘Even the situation at the end with two players [clashing heads], it looks like everything is going against us.’
Despite shipping a total of 14 goals in his four opening matches, Tudor remains hopeful of turning the situation around domestically – with Spurs hovering just one point above the relegation zone.
Asked if he was still confident about transforming Spurs’ fortunes, he replied: ‘I need to have, I need to keep working.
‘As I said, not speaking too much, stay focussed on things we can do.
‘And I said before, unbelievable, difficult to explain. It’s the first time I see this, all the things, in my career of 15 years.
‘What can I tell you? My focus is on the problems and the players also so we need to stay positive.’
Pressed on whether he expected to be given more time by Spurs bosses, Tudor responded: ‘It’s not about me, it’s not for me to explain too much.
‘We need to stay calm and do less talking.
‘Now is not the moment to give big explanations. We need to stay calm and continue.’
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
MORE: Tottenham next manager odds after Spurs are hammered by Atletico Madrid in Champions League
MORE: Steve McManaman singles out Liverpool star for criticism after Galatasaray defeat
MORE: Arsenal receive triple injury boost ahead of Bayer Leverkusen Champions League tie