Igor Tudor delivers stark warning to underperforming Tottenham stars in his first public message after diving into relegation battle

Igor Tudor has told his new Tottenham stars to do away with excuses as he prepares to haul the underperforming north Londoners away from the relegation battle.  

The no-nonsense Croatian, 47, has taken over from Thomas Frank on an interim basis for the remainder of the season and has been tasked with staving off the threat of the drop – with the club just five points clear of 18th-placed West Ham. 

Tudor inherits a disheartened – and heavily depleted – squad and wants an immediate reaction as the season hurtles towards the final straight. 

‘The first priority is to give everything the team needs in these moments… first of all, to get some confidence, to get some courage, but also in the same way, the concrete things in the pitch,’ he told the club’s website.

‘There is no time to find excuses. What I said from the first day here, each of us, each of the players need to give something, something more, something extra, because the position of the club in this moment is not that anybody can accept.’

‘The situation is not easy because, as you know better than me, we have a lot of injured players, so, we need first to find the best system that suits the players that are available at this moment.’ 

The Croatian has been tasked with staving off the threat of relegation from the top flight

Setting out his philosophy, Tudor has promised attacking football – with fans long-starved of entertainment amid Frank’s conservative approach. 

‘I like to play offensive football,’ he said. ‘That’s my first goal. I like to score goals, but in the same way, for sure, you need to give organisation in defence.

‘I believe in style—style is more important than the system, of course.

‘Sunday and the game is a consequence of the training. So, that needs to be focused.’

‘I believe that in football, in 2026, it’s changed a lot… If you can run 115 kilometres as a team, it’s better than 105… but that without quality—you can do nothing.

‘Offensive football, yes, but smart. So, that’s the key.’

Tudor is already familiar with Spurs stars Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur, from their time together at Juventus, although the pair are unavailable due to injury.

His first game in charge will be the north London derby next weekend. 

‘This derby is a fantastic game to play. We want to play this game in a way that our fans will like,’ he added.

‘I’m going to give everything what we have, in the right way, brave, but in the same way intelligent and smart, to achieve what we want, and that’s the victory.