It is officially confirmed- Tottenham Hotspur interim manager Igor Tudor will conduct his weekly press conference on Friday. So that means, despite all the speculation that he would get sacked, he remains in his position. He will be in charge for the next match, at Liverpool, and then we’ll just have to see from there.
So there is just so much going on with Spurs right now, the Tudor sacking watch, the clashing of heads with Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha (which likely means concussion protocol for both), and of course, the Antonin Kinsky horror show last night.
Liverpool FC vs Tottenham Hotspur FYIs
Sunday, March 15, 4:30pm, Anfield, Liverpool, UK
Team News: Liverpool Tottenham
Premier League Standing: Liverpool 6th, 48 pts Tottenham 16th 29 pts
Google Result Probability: Tottenham 12% Draw 16% Liverpool 72%
Spurs Team News
Tottenham will be without the services of at least nine players when they come to Anfield on Sunday, and that number could even rise as high as 11.
“It is incredible,” Tudor said last night of his side’s injury/selection crisis. “We finished the game (with only nine guys), and we see the two players (Romero and Palhinha exit after a collission of heads), and there is Micky (Van de Ven), who is out with a red card.
“I don’t know (if they’ll be available for the next match), we will see.”
You can consider Romero and Palhinha doubts, at the very least, for the next match. Regarding Kinsky, Tudor made an extremely rare decision with him on Monday, hooking him before the first half ended. Kinsky, making his first ever UEFA Champions League start gave up three goals in the first 14 minutes at Atletico Madrid, and Tudor subbed him after only 17 minutes.
The usual starter, Guglielmo Vicario, came in and gave up two more goals, and Spurs lost 5-2. Tudor may have destroyed Kinsky’s career, and the way that he handled all this just provided more grounds for his dismissal. Given how dreadful Spurs form has been under his watch, there was plenty enough grounds already.
Elsewhere Micky van de Ven is suspended here after drawing a red card against Crystal Palace last week.
Meanwhile Dejan Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur, James Maddison, Ben Davies, Lucas Bergvall, Wilson Odobert and Mohammed Kudus all remain sidelined as longer-term injury absentees. The only good news, if there is any, concerns right-back Destiny Udogie.
He’s working his way back from a hamstring injury, which he suffered back at the start of February, and his timeline puts him in contention to make the matchday squad here.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.