Tottenham defender Djed Spence was spotted giving Igor Tudor a clear message as Spurs were humbled by Atlético Madrid on an astonishing night in the Champions League.
Atlético Madrid blast five past Tottenham as Tudor nightmare continues
Tudor’s Tottenham tenure has been a disaster from the start.
Three Premier League defeats, nine goals conceded, one point above the drop zone. But nothing — nothing — in these wretched opening weeks quite prepared supporters for what unfolded at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano tonight.
Atlético smashed Spurs 5-2, and the scoreline barely tells half of the story.
Tudor made the extraordinary decision to drop Guglielmo Vicario — a goalkeeper who had barely missed a game all season — in favour of Antonin Kinsky, the Czech keeper who had not played since a Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle back in October.
The manager spoke beforehand about picking what was best for the team. Within six minutes, that logic lay in ruins.
Kinsky slipped attempting a clearance, the ball broke to Julian Alvarez, who fed Marcos Llorente to stroke home from the edge of the area. 1-0 in the sixth minute.
Micky van de Ven then lost his footing trying to deal with a routine ball and presented Antoine Griezmann with a tap-in. 2-0.
And then — the moment that really beggared belief — Kinsky was handed a straightforward back-pass, swung his left boot at thin air and watched Alvarez walk the ball into an empty net.
Club desperate to stop title-winning former Bayern Munich boss from joining Tottenham after contact
Spurs have reportedly reached out.
Three goals in fifteen minutes. Three catastrophic individual errors. The goalkeeper was in tears as he trudged down the tunnel, after Tudor made the very controversial decision to take him off.
Vicario rushed to get his gloves on, and a shell-shocked Tottenham dressing room tried to process what had just happened.
It got worse before it got better. Robin Le Normand headed in a fourth from a corner in the 22nd minute, the defending shambolic once again, before Pedro Porro at least pulled one back for a vestige of pride just after the half-hour.
Half-time arrived with Spurs four goals down, five yellow cards accumulated, and the tie as good as over.
Alvarez added a fifth on the hour — his second of a personally devastating night for Tudor’s side — before Dominic Solanke, introduced at the break, netted a second consolation in the 67th to make it 5-2.
Tottenham finished the game with more yellow cards than shots on target, and have now lost six games in a row for the first time in their history.
But it was not the scoreline that had TNT Sports commentator Darren Fletcher reaching for his words, it was a moment caught away from the broadcast cameras he spotted — and one that perhaps paints a picture of a club fractured from within.
Djed Spence sends clear message to Tottenham boss Igor Tudor
As Spence was taken off with just under 10 minutes to go, he was seen approaching Tudor on the touchline — not the other way around — and tapping the manager on the shoulder and offering a handshake.
Fletcher was immediately alert to what he was seeing, pointing out that it was “not something you see” — a player initiating that exchange rather than the manager.
The significance, Fletcher suggested, lay in what had happened earlier in the game when Tudor substituted Kinsky without appearing to acknowledge the stricken goalkeeper as he walked past him, leaving the 22-year-old heading for the tunnel in disarray.
Whether Spence was making a deliberate point, showing solidarity to Kinsky, or simply acting out of character, Fletcher was clear that it was a message that warranted attention.
On a night when Spurs were humiliated on the pitch, the sideshows off it may tell the more damaging story.
Tudor’s Tottenham are a club in freefall, and the evidence is everywhere you look.
The Croatian’s time at Spurs, especially after tonight, may be coming to an end, with previous reports suggesting they were considering a change even before their lacklustre defeat to Crystal Palace.
Tottenham could replace Igor Tudor with title-winning manager wanted by Crystal Palace
There have been suggestions that the Croatian is walking on thin ice.