Why Igor Tudor got told off on his Tottenham debut and where Dejan Kulusevski was

On Sunday night, rather than his sixth consecutive debut win, he instead became the first Tottenham manager to lose their first Premier League game for almost 14 years. The last was Andre Villas-Boas, with the nine men between the Portuguese and Croatian, including interims and caretakers, having managed six wins and three draws between them.

The chasm between Spurs and their north London rivals was on full show in the second half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and in truth Arteta’s men did not really need to get out of second gear.

The hosts had 11 players out and among them, Cristian Romero’s red card looks more and more irresponsible with every passing game of his four-match suspension. Spurs needed their captain desperately and instead he was sat on the sidelines watching on, alongside goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky and the injured Swedish duo Lucas Bergvall and Dejan Kulusevski.

Romero was absolutely right in what he implied about what Tottenham have allowed to happen to their squad but the Argentine is culpable in a small way himself for what happens during these four matches when his team-mates need him among them. They are in a tough spot without their toughest man and their one true constant winner.

That’s certainly not to excuse sporting director Johan Lange and his former wing man Fabio Paratici for failing to come up with even one short-term signing that might have helped the club until the end of the season from their huge combined bank of contacts.

While Tudor has arrived in N17 from his last job in Italy so Spurs’ staff appear to have headed in the opposite direction with Paratici at Fiorentina and former chief football officer Scott Munn having now started work at Parma.

If the unthinkable were to happen this season then responsibility will fall as equally on Lange and Paratici’s inability to add to a beleaguered and battered squad as it will on Thomas Frank and the players’ performances.

When sitting down with journalists on Friday, Lange portrayed it in a lengthy answer as the smart choice in the window when in truth it was a gamble with Tottenham’s Premier League status.

Two months have ostensibly been written off in the season because Spurs do not have the players to compete.

Not a single Premier League victory so far in 2026 for a club that shouted loudly that it wanted to be one that competed on all fronts yet did not build a squad to do any such thing.

There’s no doubting that the winter window is the tougher of the two windows by a distance yet among the moves made by other clubs Bournemouth found a star in Rayan, Manchester City brought in Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, Wolves loaned Angel Gomes and West Ham made five signings in a bid to try to get away from the drop zone.

Even Crystal Palace signed a player who was top scorer last season at his former club. Oh wait…. Don’t even mention Ademola Lookman, who has got four goals and two assists in six games since moving to Atletico Madrid.

Much is made of the two transfer windows when Spurs did not bring in a single player in 2018/19 and it was indeed a huge sliding doors moment in the club’s recent history as they failed to push on when a refresh was desperately needed.

If Tottenham end this season in disaster the past two windows will be seen similarly for the failures contained within them. Saying you tried is not good enough in any workplace let alone in the Premier League.

Right now Spurs are exactly where they deserve to be. It’s where they were last season in desperately hoping players will come back soon from the treatment room and the pressure will be on them to perform instantly with everyone praying they simply do not replace new injured players.

Tudor told football.london that Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso could both be back next week. Lucas Bergvall’s rehabilitation from his ankle injury is believed to be going well but the crux will be when he fully returns to the grass and how his foot reacts.

For now Tudor must work with what he has got and the Croatian soon saw just how lacking in confidence the remaining players are when things go against them and also their inability to win second balls time and time again.

“Even with the ball, a lack of confidence is very evident in the team. So we wanted and prepared to do the things but there is an opponent, there is a reality today,” he said.

“So I’m very sad and very angry and everything but in one way it is also good to understand where is our goal. What is the goal of this club? What is the goal of this team? What is this goal of this coach, these players, this staff? To become serious.

“Serious, not just a group of 20 players, and the medicine is you look in the mirror. Each of us look in the mirror and really try, really start to change the habits. Working hard is the only way.”

Spurs kept themselves in it in the first half. Eberechi Eze’s goal with all the time in the world only took 123 seconds to cancel out as Randal Kolo Muani, starting in place of a run down, ill Dominic Solanke, robbed Declan Rice of the ball and finished well past David Raya.

The hosts went in at the break at 1-1 and with the crowd very much behind them, the noisiest the Tottenham faithful have been all season.

Dele’s appearance only boosted the emotions as he told the fans: “It’s been a while and I hope you guys have missed me as much as I’ve missed you. I think a lot has happened in both of our journeys since I left but we’re back together now and I think that you guys will be my family for the rest of my life.”

Yet the air was let out of the occasion just two minutes into the second half when Viktor Gyokeres found himself with acres of space to hit a curling effort from outside the area and into the net.

A key moment in the encounter came not long after when Kolo Muani had the ball in the net only for it to be ruled out for a push on Gabriel that had far less intent or power than Hugo Ekitike did with Romero when he scored for Liverpool.

It was the type of moment where had the referee Peter Bankes given the goal rather than the foul, VAR would have been unlikely to suggest otherwise.

That would have brought Spurs level again and the nerves might have kicked in for the Gunners but instead they made it 3-1just after the hour mark when the home defence looked to have dealt with Saka in the box only for the ball to strike Joao Palhinha’s heel and bounced perfectly for Eze to fire home.

Again there was a moment for Spurs to grab a foothold back in the game with Richarlison’s flick clawed off the line by Raya.

Instead Arsenal took advantage once again and made it 4-1 in added time as Gyokeres ran into the box without anyone stopping him and curled an effort past Vicario in front of an ever-emptying stadium.

Vicario and Kolo Muani were the only players to emerge from the game with any credit and Yves Bissouma for periods of it.

Vicario saved a couple of one-vs-one situations with Saka while Kolo Muani deserved his goal for his efforts throughout. Bissouma showed the required enthusiasm of a midfielder looking to impress yet another manager he hasn’t managed to disappoint yet.

Elsewhere other big players were poor. Xavi Simons lacked strength and quality, running into too many congested areas while Micky van de Ven never really found the rhythm of the game as Saka got between him and Spence constantly.

On the other side Joao Palhinha and Archie Gray, complete with a bloody nose after a first half elbow to it, had a tough time trying to be defenders against the league leaders and both need to move back into midfield when Danso and Porro are fully fit to return.

In the centre of defence, Radu Dragusin was Spurs’ best defender in the first half but a loose header that led to Eze’s second goal marked the rapid downturn of his performance.

Pape Matar Sarr was weak and anonymous and aside from the deflected cross for Kolo Muani’s ruled out effort, Conor Gallagher brought little quality to the party in the tight, congested midfield spaces.

Having won his first game in charge at those five previous clubs, Tudor was asked whether this result showed the scale of the challenge he faces or the quality of Arsenal?

“Both things. Both things. Big gap in this specific moment between the two teams. It was too much Arsenal for us in this moment with the problems we have,” he said.

“Also it’s nice to understand where we are because you prepare in the best possible way then there is the game to show you reality. So it’s nice from one point of view so each of us understand and come, as I said the players, stay quiet they come on Tuesday and restart after these three or four training sessions to start to work harder than we did until now.

“To change our habits, to change the state of mind which is now as a team. It is the only way to work.”

With 11 games to go in the Premier League, Tudor still maintains he has more than enough time to get his ideas across.

“Of course, there is enough time. As I said, this was not a perfect team to play the first game after three or four sessions, but in one way we need to see something good,” he said. “If I can say this, you know, something good to see where we need to be.

“You know, where is the goal? What is the level? So today, totally different worlds. I need to be honest. Two totally different worlds. Psychological and physical worlds, levels.”

He’s not wrong and at times when he spoke after Sunday’s derby defeat he sounded like his good friend from his Juventus days, Antonio Conte. The Italian soon found that the perception of what Spurs should be did not meet the reality and he let everyone know about it.

As they constantly message each other, it’s highly likely that Tudor would have spoken to Conte about the club he was joining and now the Croatian has quickly been able to confirm that this is not the Tottenham team that some within the club think it is, even when everyone is available.

Danny Blanchflower once famously said: “The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”

There is no style nor flourish to this current iteration of Tottenham and glory appears more distant than it has in years despite finally winning something just nine months ago. It is unfathomable that this has been allowed to happen.

Igor Tudor has a huge task on his hands but at least he has found out quickly what is required and it’s a touch of fortune mixed with a lot of hard work.

Thomas Frank once compared the club to a slow super tanker that needed turning. Unfortunately the Tottenham Hotspur ship is in no shape to do that. Tudor needs to get the goggles on, get welding and patch it up quickly himself before it sinks without a trace.

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