‘I Don’t Think So’ – Richard Keys Blasts Igor Tudor’s Tottenham Criticism | OneFootball

Richard Keys has rubbished Igor Tudor’s claim that the Tottenham Hotspur squad he has inherited are not fit enough.

With Thomas Frank shown the door, Tottenham decided to gamble on Tudor, who has never managed in the Premier League before, to keep them up.

Two games into his stint as the boss of the Lilywhites, Tudor has already started finding the faults in the team, picking areas where he feels they have to improve.

With teams around them in the table picking up points, the pressure is growing on Spurs and Tudor.

Keys believes Tudor made a mistake in criticising his team in public, amid one journalist claiming the Croatian’s body language suggests he thinks the dressing room ‘absolutely stinks’.

For Keys, one particular criticism is wide of the mark as he simply cannot agree that Frank left an unfit team for Tudor.

Assessing Tudor’s response to the 2-1 loss to Fulham at the weekend, Keys wrote on his blog: “After their defeat at Fulham, Tudor announced, ‘when we attack, we are lacking quality to score. We are lacking in the midfield to run. And we are lacking behind to stay there and suffer’.

“Genius. We know.

“I wonder how his players react when they see that? He’s supposed to be there to protect them, not expose them.

“And It is, of course Tudor’s job to sort these things out.

“He had the squad out for dinner in his first few days in charge before proceeding to run the bollocks off them in training, suggesting his new charges ‘aren’t fit enough’.

“This is the sanctuary every limited coach turns to when he/she takes over a new club. ‘They’re not fit enough’ you’ll hear them say. Really?

“A Thomas Frank team not fit enough ten games from the end of the season? I don’t think so.”

Keys has been against the belief that Tottenham could be relegated, but now he is changing that view and thinks they could drop.

“Spurs are poor. I said last week I hadn’t really considered they could go down until that defeat at home to Arsenal.

“It’s 10 now since they won – their worst run since Ossie Ardiles was in charge. They stayed up that year by the skin of their teeth, but it was scary.

“It’ll be the same if they stay this time round and there are no guarantees. They’re toe to toe now with Forest.”

Tottenham face a crucial clash in the Premier League tonight against Crystal Palace – match preview here.