5th defeat in a row
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Has Igor Tudor already failed as Tottenham Hotspur coach? The 1:3 in the London city duel against Crystal Palace, which had also recently been in crisis, on Thursday evening was the third defeat in the third game for the Croatian, who was only hired as Thomas Frank’s successor in mid-February. Across all coaches, the Spurs have even lost five games in a row and if it weren’t for the Champions League, in which they won against Dortmund and Frankfurt, they would have gone twelve games in a row without a win. The view of the table is dramatic and the audience turns further and further away.
The question has long been asked in the English media and among fans on social networks whether Tudor should be replaced early on so that they can stay in the league. “After this game I believe in it even more than before,” said Tudor combatively after the game. He saw something there. And he gave the crew another message: “I have to choose the right people, because the boat is going in the direction that I want and have to go. Whoever is in the boat can stay. Otherwise, as the saying goes, they can leave the boat.” However, the table is 16th. Tottenham are only one point above the relegation zone after matchday 29. 18th-placed West Ham United won 1-0 at Fulham and 17th-placed Nottingham Forest drew 2-2 at Man City. Results that give significantly more reason for hope than the meager performance of the Tudor team.
This was acknowledged with whistles, while the Palace fans sang smugly that their counterparts could compete with Millwall FC, also from London, in the Championship next year. Three points from the last ten league games mean Tottenham are in seventh place among the weakest teams in the international form table, level with 1. FC Heidenheim. At 876.5 million euros, the English team’s squad value is 13 times as high as that of the bottom team in the Bundesliga. The Spurs currently have to do without players worth a total of 296 million euros due to injury.
Tottenham’s squad value will drop significantly on Monday
After transfers, Tottenham has the sixth most expensive squad in the world at €865.4 million and the ninth highest squad value before the Premier League market value update next Monday. This will naturally fall significantly there. Well over ten devaluations are to be expected there, including for players like Xavi Simons, who was bought at a high price in the summer and came from Leipzig for 65 million euros.
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Against Palace, the Dutchman, like Conor Gallagher, who was signed for 40 million euros in the winter, initially sat on the bench. He had to watch as his teammates initially took the lead through Dominic Solanke (34th), but conceded three goals before the break: Ismaïla Sarr scored in the 40th minute with a self-imposed penalty and again in the seventh minute of stoppage time. In between, Palace’s winter signing Jørgen Strand Larsen (45th+1) took the lead.
In the next three games, Tottenham can lose the last anchor for a somewhat satisfactory season: the Champions League round of 16 will be against Atlético Madrid on March 10th and 18th. In between, Liverpool FC is waiting at Anfield and before the international break there is the extremely important duel with Nottingham at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (to Tottenham’s schedule).
