Tudor can fix midfield injury crisis by unleashing Spurs’ new Eriksen

Tottenham Hotspur face Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, and Igor Tudor only has half a squad.

Four matches (in the league) isn’t a long run for a manager to implement their vision, but Spurs don’t exactly have much time to put things to rights. Micky van de Ven labelled this situation a “Doomsday scenario”.

For many fans, there’s surely something apocalyptic about Tottenham’s staggering, startling collapse, with the Londoners stripped back to the bare bones as they look to stave off the threat of relegation.

The latest Spurs injury news

Tottenham are threadbare as they prepare to take on last year’s champions. Liverpool have hardly been in good nick this season, but the severity of Spurs’ injury crisis has eliminated any hope of securing a result on Merseyside.

Tudor is at risk of being dismissed from his interim post, but the fact that the board are waiting until the weekend has passed says much of the club’s strategy and the acceptance that this storm of fitness concerns needs to be endured.

Van de Ven didn’t help matters when he got himself sent off against Crystal Palace last week. The Dutchman has probably been Tottenham’s star man this season, but his reckless lunge on Ismaila Sarr gave the Eagles a route back into the game, and the malaise deepened.

Complicating things, Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha will sit this one out after clashing heads in the defeat at Atletico Madrid, out due to concussion protocols.

All told, 13 first-team players could miss the trip, and with Yves Bissouma out due to injury and Conor Gallagher down with a fever, and in the absence of midfield options, Tudor could make a tweak and unleash a struggling star in a new role.

Tudor must unleash Spurs forward in new role

Tottenham are going to be up against it at Anfield, but Tudor can help set the seeds for more stable and confident performances over the final few months of the campaign by getting a tune out of Xavi Simons, who has struggled since joining Tottenham from RB Leipzig for around £51m last summer.

Simons, 22, is one of the most talented playmakers in Europe, and the Londoners consider him to be a “potential superstar“, according to journalist Graeme Bailey, but there’s no denying he’s found it tough in north London, with content creator Ronaldo Brown remarking several months ago that he’s been “swallowed in the Prem“, too uncertain on the ball and lacking impetus when part of the attack.

However, context is important, and the enormity of Tottenham’s conundrum has sucked the life from these players, all of whom have more to give.

Even amid his struggles, elements of Simons’ game have shone through, demonstrating why, as an attacking midfielder, he was compared to Christian Eriksen when he arrived.

For an attacking midfielder, he wins his fair share of duels, getting stuck in from a defensive standpoint. Of course, he’s at his best when deployed in an attacking berth, thrust in front of the centre circle, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and this could help remodel Spurs’ depleted midfield while retaining some of the creativity that has proved so elusive throughout the season.

And it’s not like he’s incapable of making things happen himself, with deft feet and a willingness to take on responsibility that has admittedly waned over the months at Tottenham.

While Simons doesn’t have the skillset to replace someone like Palhinha, he could play the box-to-box role against a Liverpool midfield who have left a lot to be desired this season, and maybe it could start a positive trend for the business months of this tricky campaign.

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