Igor Tudor has issued a stirring battle cry to his wounded Tottenham troops about shutting out the ‘bulls**t’ and talk of ‘black magic’ and stand up and fight.
Tudor has lost the first four games of his interim tenure and Spurs have lost six in a row, culminating in Tuesday’s 5-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid when subbed goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky after 17 minutes.
‘It is tough, for sure,’ said Tudor ahead of Sunday’s trip to Liverpool. ‘Not just because of last game, but because of the past period. Not an easy situation, and a big challenge to change things.
‘Like everything in life, you can choose how to see the situation. So, you can stay and cry or you can fight. You can be the victim, or you can say I can change something. This is the message and what I told to the players.
‘Everyone has opinions, and life is always how you see it. The bottle is always half empty or half full. Here there is nothing full, there is a lot of empty things, but difficult moments don’t last forever.
‘It will pass. And I believe the players who will take this as a challenge, as an opportunity will stand up with the courage to change things, after this period they will become better people and better players.
Igor Tudor has told his Spurs stars to shut out the ‘bulls***’ and ‘stand up and fight’
‘In tough moments it’s always about that, always about us. In the last period, I’ve heard a lot of things about the club, and the problems, how no one can do nothing, like victimisation.
‘I said to the players, ‘We are the team and we are the staff, it’s all about us. All the bulls**t, all the other things are bulls**t and sorry to use this word, but it’s on us.’
Tudor said he expected this to be beyond some players but that he was looking for ’15, 18 or 20′ to come with him.
He added: ‘I always like to say to the players, ‘don’t be a victim, don’t think it’s not about me’. That can be the problem more than all these things about Tottenham and club. You know, like magic on the club, like bad black magic, and these other bullsh***.
‘This is the message I want to send to everyone involved with this club.’
Tudor refused to discuss his own future but said he spoke every day to chief executive Vinai Venketasham and director of football Johan Lange to share thoughts and opinions.
“Everyone is disappointed,” Tudor said. “The players care. If you don’t care you don’t struggle. You do not lack confidence if you don’t care. We are trying to help them and provide everything we can. The other point is it is part of the job is to be under stress.”
Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha who clashed heads in the final seconds of the Atletico game have been ruled out of the Liverpool game as they observe concussion protocol.
Yves Bissouma is also out with a muscle injury, Conor Gallagher has a fever but hopes to be ready and Micky van de Ven is suspended. With all the other long-standing injuries, it leaves Tudor with a serious challenge to find a viable defensive unit.
The Croatian said that his players must ignore talk of ‘black magic’ impacting the club
Guglielmo Vicario will return to the starting line up at Liverpool. Kinsky will not start but Tudor has been impressed by his reaction to his humiliation in Madrid and insists he will not hesitate to play him again.
“He will play, for sure,” said the Croatian on Kinsky. “He came back the day after and was very good in training. Positive. Nothing else. So, this situation happened, very rare, probably the first and last time in my life and the life of a lot of people but this can happen.
“And it is the same message. You can go out as a victim. Poor me, and everybody sending a message of help and ‘I am with you’. This is nice also.
“Sometimes this social media life became like it is more important what you say than what you do.
“But this is a mistake that will happen. For sure in his career there will be other mistakes, but he has a strength and quality and in front of him is a very good career.”
