Tottenham interim boss Igor Tudor hopes to quickly discover the “soldiers” in his squad who are up for the fight to stay in the Premier League.
Spurs travel to Fulham on Sunday without a league win in 2026 and sitting perilously close to the relegation zone after a horror run of domestic form.
Tudor’s debut fixture at Tottenham ended in a 4-1 home loss to Arsenal but the Croatian saw some positive signs from a team who need to quickly embrace the realistic prospect of the club losing their top-flight status for the first time since in 49 years.
Asked if he had enough soldiers in his squad, Tudor insisted: “I hope so. I believe, yes.
“After the first game I said, if you play against the best team in the world at this moment, for us, I need to be honest, it’s not a realistic game to show we are soldiers or we are not soldiers.
“That’s the truth, but they show they can be in some parts of the game. For long periods in the game we had problems, in defence especially. It’s not easy against them. Let’s see in the next games.”
Spurs’ plight has not been helped — for a second straight season — by a hefty list of absentees, which included up to 12 players for last Sunday’s north London derby.
Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso will return at Craven Cottage, but Tudor is likely to be without at least 10 players for this latest London battle.#
It has put extra onus on younger players like 19-year-old Archie Gray and Xavi Simons, who is only 22 and in his debut campaign in England, but Tudor admitted a situation like this can turn boys into men.
Tudor added: “It is both things, physical and mental. There is some pressure here in this club of course.
“Some players are still young. They were brought here to help and now maybe they are in a moment where they need to resolve the problems.
“So, if you have too many of these [young] players, because of the amount of injuries, who are playing together in the squad, it does create some problems, but it is also an opportunity and a challenge to grow fast to become a man.
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“To grow fast and say, ‘come on, I’m the guy, give me the ball, I will score’ instead of just, ‘what can I do, I’m just here you know?’.
“This is the challenge for each of them. Why not? To say, ‘come on, I will be the [hero], give me the ball, I will not cry, I will take the ball, I will defend my box.’
“It’s always how you see the situation. You can always see it both ways or, ‘I’m not, I’m just here and we had 15 players and I was always left out and now we have 10 players out, so I play.’
“How do you really see that situation? If you are the right guy and positive, there is opportunity.”