How Tudor appointment at Tottenham could work but Spurs stars warned ‘Messi would not play’ | OneFootball

An Italian football expert has revealed some of the qualities that incoming Tottenham interim manager Igor Tudor could bring to Spurs.

Tottenham are yet to confirm his appointment but widespread reports have claimed that former Juventus head coach Tudor will take the job at Spurs until the end of the season.

Italian journalist Matteo Moretto was the first to report Tottenham talks with Tudor before his compatriot Gianluca Di Marzio was one of the first to claim that there is a ‘verbal ageement’ in place to take over.

The Athletic‘s David Ornstein and transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano later confirmed that Tudor is set to take on the role of interim head coach.

And Italian football commentator Patrick Kendrick has revealed what Tottenham fans can expect from the former Croatia international.

Kendrick told Sky Sports: “If you look back over Tudor’s recent career, he’s been quite happy stepping into these short-term roles. I think he sees himself as a bit of a firefighter.

“His typical formation is a 3-4-2-1. He doesn’t tend to play with too much width to begin with. It’s a very similar formation to what Ivan Juric used to have, the former Southampton manager.

“It was very successful with Verona, which was probably where he’s been the biggest success. He had a free-scoring team with two number 10s playing behind a lone striker, but the back three is pretty in vogue in Italy, and it’s looked at as a way of making sure you’re solid first and foremost.”

Tudor, who won a number of trophies with Juventus as a player, has only won the Croatian Cup with Hajduk Split as a manager and Kendrick expects the former centre-back will attempt to increase morale as his first objective.

Kendrick added: “His English is very good, it’s vastly superior to Antonio Conte, so I don’t think there’s going to be any issue with that.

“He’s got a lot of belief in his ability. He’s a very forthright character. He tends to speak his mind.

“Rather than looking at any sort of tactical revolution, I think he’s first and foremost going to be focusing on trying to get the players’ morale up.”

Tudor did quite well in France with Marseille, finishing third in his only season in 2022/23 behind Paris Saint-Germain and Lens, with hard work a big part of his philosophy.

When asked about Tudor, Marseille-based football journalist George Boxall told BBC Sport: “His style is intense.

“The players do a hell of a lot of running. There’s lots of intensity, lots of pressing.

“He is a really strong personality and he could be a good appointment for Tottenham if they feel they need an electroshock.”

L’Equipe journalist Pierre-Etienne Minonzio added: “He asks his players to run a lot. In a previous interview he said ‘If you don’t run, you don’t play.

“In his one season in Marseille it was always the same way of playing – 3-5-2 – and it was great to watch.

“It was not easy because Marseille’s best player was Dimitri Payet, a very gifted player but not well-known for running, and he didn’t play.

“It was a joke in L’Equipe – if Igor Tudor had Lionel Messi in his squad, Messi would not play!”

Minonzio continued: “He did pretty well in Ligue 1. What I liked is that he doesn’t try to be liked. He is very direct, says what he thinks and doesn’t try to be attractive. There is no seduction.

“It is the same with the players. He keeps his distance and his obsession is to make training intense with a lot of running so they can be physically fit for the game.”