Keep Tudor? Go for De Zerbi, Mason or Redknapp? Where do Spurs go next?
Tudor's failure to rescue a season spiralling into crisis was brought into even sharper focus by the damaging 3-0 home defeat by fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest on Sunday, leaving Spurs one point and one place above the Premier League's relegation zone. The pressure is now on CEO Vinai Venkatesham - previously at Arsenal - sporting director Johan Lange, and the Lewis family, who are over-seeing affairs, as the gamble of Tudor's appointment continues to backfire. Venkatesham, who comes under special scrutiny from fans given his Arsenal links, must get this next move right after Tudor's chaotic reign has brought only one win in seven matches so far.
If those in charge at Spurs get it wrong, the price could be arguably the most-embarrassing relegation in Premier League history and a place in the Championship. Tudor, after four successive defeats, actually inspired improvement from Spurs in a deserved draw at Liverpool before beating Atletico Madrid – albeit in a losing Champions League cause – but normal service was resumed with the humiliating loss to Forest. The Croat deserves sympathy, not least as he comes to terms with the death of his father, but also because he walked into a toxic atmosphere which built up under sacked predecessor Thomas Frank.
He has inherited a squad decimated by injuries and stripped of all confidence. Spurs have problems not of Tudor's making, but he has failed to establish any connection with supporters – or seemingly his players – and there has been very little language of support, at least in the football context, from the club. Tudor inherited a host of problems from sacked predecessor Thomas Frank.
Tudor's brusque style has inspired no more out of the Spurs squad than Frank's more empathetic approach, while a series of tactical shifts have suggested he is not sure how to navigate the best route out of the current crisis. The low point came in the Champions League last 16 first leg away to Atletico Madrid. Tudor gambled on Antonin Kinsky in goal ahead of first-choice Guglielmo Vicario, only to remove the Czech after just 17 minutes following his two catastrophic errors that left Spurs 3-0 down in an eventual 5-2 defeat.
Do those in charge of Spurs really believe Tudor has the ability to pull them out of the mire – or do they acknowledge they made a serious error and it is time for another change? This is the biggest dilemma Venkatesham and his fellow power brokers face as they work on a strategy before their next Premier League game, away to Sunderland on 12 April. It might be one thing to decide Tudor has to go, should they chose to make that change, but who can realistically step in for what is now a firefighting job?