IGOR TUDOR admitted everything is going against Tottenham as pressure piles on his job following his Champions League embarrassment against Atletico Madrid.
The Croatian tactician took the helm for just his fourth game in the Spurs dugout when his side traveled to face the Spanish giants on Tuesday.
But any hopes for a first win, or indeed a first time avoiding defeat, were quickly dispelled as the hosts smashed FOUR goals past his men inside the opening 25 minutes.
Slips from backup keeper Antonin Kinsky and Micky van de Ven allowed Atletico to waltz into an early lead.
And a shanked pass attempt from Kinsky capped off a nightmare opening 16 minutes as he allowed Julian Alvarez to pass home into an empty net.
The Czech stopper, 22, was unceremoniously hooked a minute later by Tudor.
CRIS CROSS
Tottenham fans claim star ordered Igor Tudor to sub Kinsky off as video surfaces
FESTIVAL FEVER
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But as if to sum up the futility of Spurs’s attempts to right the ship this season, substitute Guglielmo Vicario almost immediately conceded a fourth at the hands of Robin le Normand.
A bemused Tudor could do little but apologise to the travelling fans after the abject display, barely mitigated by two goals from Pedro Porro and Dominic Solanke to give his side just the three goal deficit to take back to North London.
Tudor told TNT Sports: “Strange game. We give them three goals. We restarted good but then the problems kill us. Very, very strange, very unusual. It took our confidence.
“We apologise to the fans who were here today, to everyone. They had a difficult moment.”
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Tudor then conceded that everything had seemed to align against his side on the evening, and considering his record, seemingly the club at large in recent weeks.
Aside from calamitous goals and a seemingly doomed Champions League run, the match also produced more concerns for the club’s Premier League survival scrap.
Captain Cristian Romero and midfield star Joao Palhinha clashed heads in the dying minutes of the game and had to be treated on the pitch.
While those injuries did not appear to be too severe on the night, lingering concerns about potential concussions could see both stars rendered unavailable for the North Londoners’ trip to Anfield on Sunday.
Tudor continued: “Everything looked like it was going wrong, every small mistake we pay, even the situation at the end, two players out. Everything is going against us.”
The run of results since Tudor’s arrival has left Spurs hovering precariously just one point above the relegation zone, and now it seems that situation will no longer be mitigated by their continued presence in the Champions League.
The pressure is quickly piling on Tudor, who does not seem to have the answers for concerned fans, neither on the pitch nor off it.
When asked about his position with the team, Tudor said: “I need to help. I need to keep working, not speaking too much, to stay focused on things we can do.
“It’s difficult to explain, it is the first time I see this in my career of 15 years, so what can I tell you?
“My focus is on the problem, the players also, so we need to stay positive.
“It is not about me. We need to stay calm, and less talking.
“Now is not the moment to try to give a big explanation.”
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