Good news, everybody! Tottenham will be able to field a (mostly) first choice defensive line this Sunday when they travel across town to Craven Cottage to face Fulham. Tottenham’s interim head coach said in his weekly press conference that both Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso have returned to training and are available for selection.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s right [Porro and Danso are available]. No other issues, small problem for Micky with his small toe.* But he’s okay, he will be in [the squad].”
If you
read that and thought “wait I thought Danso was the one with the toe issue, what the hell’s wrong with Micky,” well then you’re in good company because that’s also what I wondered. Thankfully, Alasdair Gold was able to clarify the situation, confirming that the issue is with Micky’s finger, and that the confusion was down to a translation issue. Apparently in Croatian they use the same word for finger and toe, which honestly makes me have SO many more questions, but that’s for another time. Micky’s fine, expect him to start Sunday.
Tudor also admitted that the assignment at Tottenham — save them from relegation while dealing with Champions League and a severely injury-afflicted squad — is one of the toughest short term assignments of his career.
“Yes, very tough, but it’s what I said before, I don’t change my opinion, it is how it is. So, daily work, focus, raising in all things we need to do, physical condition, mental confidence, performance and waiting for the players to come back. So, we need to be focused on us, what we can do, less thinking about others, that’s always good and it will be good.
“Probably yes, probably yes [the job is more difficult than expecTudted]. I agree with you.”
Tottenham will face either Atletico Madrid or Galatasaray in the Champions League Round of 16, with the draw for the final stages of the competition taking place tomorrow morning. When asked, Tudor said that factoring in Champions League is a problem, especially with such a thin squad, but still doesn’t change the job at hand.
“I don’t think too much about the draw. If you ask me whether I expect the draw tomorrow, it won’t change for me nothing. In the moment we are, we can also discuss about what you said, but in other ways, it’s a difficult competition to play, everyone wants to play.
“So, the problem is the lack of numbers of players, the amount of players we have in the team, that is the problem. Because if you need to play every three days with 10, 12, 13 and then you get, you know, that’s the problem. Not that we play in the Champions League or not.
“Also, it’s not about only spending physical energy but also mental energy, every game for us in the league, it’s a final. So, it’s not an ideal situation, but it’s how it is.”
Tudor played in his preferred back three formation against Arsenal and ended up conceding four goals in the process while playing midfielders at right back and central defense. While that’s obviously not ideal, Tudor said he’s looking at all the options available to him, especially with the return of Pedro Porro and Danso.
“I don’t know [about the formation]. I don’t know because we are going to see when they (Porro and Danso) are back, how they are back, what are the other players. So, this is work to recognize what this team can do. You know, because when you start to work, you start, but then it’s a game to show you how is the real situation of the team.
“You know, in a physical condition, because it’s fantastic to go to press up and that’s when I speak about style. That’s also one part of the style, how you want to be without the ball. But then, if you have too much problems (at the) back, you need to think about the style. Is it the right style? Is it the right way, you can call it how you want.
“So, I need to be smart to understand deeper the moment and the way how to take the points. Even not looking to the style now at this moment. The style needs to be in the second moment, because now it’s a question of life and death, if I can say that in that way, sportingly. You can use that term.”
Relegation is the consequence of failure in what remains of the season, but Tudor said he doesn’t, and won’t, use that word in speaking to his team because it distracts from the purpose of what the team needs to do to turn things around.
“No, I never used [the word relegation], but not because it’s something too scary, or it’s a danger word, or we won’t sleep. It’s about that we need to refocus on ourselves. I also see the same way I speak with my players. To be focused on ourselves, on the training. That’s the only thing we can change. So there is nothing to think about. The future, or the points, even. The points come as a consequence of the training and the game. That’s the focus. That’s the main and only focus we need to have.”
In the wake of the Arsenal loss there was a video posted to social media that seemed to imply Micky van de Ven was ignoring Tudor’s tactical instructions during the match. Tudor was asked about it and was aware of the situation, but said the video’s inference was completely wrong and that there are no issues between himself and Micky.
“Yeah, [the press officer] show me now so it’s a video from one fan yeah? So, I usually need to comment on the fan’s video? I saw that, but it was not an instruction to Micky, it was an instruction to the team to go up. It was about the team coming up and what we were speaking before. We want to go up because we want to have this style where we press high, but in this moment it’s too much for them, so that’s why I was a little frustrated on that, but this is part of it.
“If you watch carefully now, you see that I don’t speak with him because after that one advice, I said to him, come closer and he came closer. In that moment, I stood there like this, it was all for the defense to go up. We didn’t even speak about this me and Micky because there was nothing to speak about. He’s a fantastic guy, a very good professional and he would never do these things.”
Tudor and Tottenham will attempt to get off the schnide at Fulham this Sunday. Kickoff is 9 a.m. ET / 2 p.m. GMT at Craven Cottage.
