Tottenham’s new interim head coach Igor Tudor has said there is “no time to find excuses” as he bids to halt the club’s Premier League slide.
The 47-year-old former Juventus boss, brought in last week as the sacked Thomas Frank’s replacement until the end of the season, believes instilling the players with confidence is his most important task.
“First priority is to give everything the team needs in these moments. The team need, I believe, first of all, to get some confidence, to get some courage, but also, in same way, the concrete things in the pitch,” Tudor told club media.
“Of course, I’m coming here knowing that situation is not easy. There is no time to find excuses. What I said from the first day here, each of us, need to give something something more, something extra.”
Frank was sacked last Wednesday after eight months in charge following a 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle United, which extended the north London club’s winless top-flight run to eight matches.
The club have slumped to 16th place, five points above the relegation zone, and Tudor faces a tough mission in his first game in charge, against title-chasing Arsenal at home on Sunday.
“The position of the club in this moment is one that nobody can accept,” Tudor said. “Every Tottenham fan cannot accept the situation. We are aware of that. But it’s not enough to just be aware of that.
“The situation is not easy because we have a lot of injured players, so we need first to find the best system to suit the players that are available in this moment.
“Maybe this can sound strange, but I believe that the thing that we need to be focused on is the training. So the training from today, that’s the key.
“The coach needs to show the path, where is the way we want to go, how we want to go, and the players need to accept this.”
Tudor, sacked by Juventus in October last year after an eight-game winless run, stressed he was aware of the club’s culture and the fans’ demand for a stylish brand of winning football.
“I believe in the style. The style is more important than the system, of course. So every club has its particularity. That is first as a culture of the club, which kind of football they like,” he said.
“So it’s always important to think about that, but in the same way, not forget who I am, what I want, what the team can achieve.
“So I need to be, with my staff, very intelligent to find the best possible way in a very short time.”-PA
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