Igor Tudor reveals tough love message to sorry Tottenham players amid rift reports

Igor Tudor issued a strong message to his Tottenham players ahead of a critical run of games — starting with Sunday’s trip to Liverpool.

The interim head coach has lost all four of his matches in charge including Tuesday’s catastrophic 5-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid in midweek.

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His appointment last month is yet to yield the reaction club chiefs had hoped for with Spurs now deep in a relegation battle.

talkSPORT understands Tudor is unlikely to survive beyond the international break having already made himself unpopular among the squad.

Nevertheless, his side turn their attention back to domestic duties this weekend with a trip to Anfield on Sunday.

Spurs could even find themselves in the bottom three by the time they kick off on Sunday afternoon, depending on West Ham and Nottingham Forest‘s results.

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the club and reports of a rift inside the camp, Tudor remains upbeat on his side’s chances of avoiding the drop.

Furthermore, the Croatian has called on the players to stand up and show courage in the upcoming games.

Face the music

Ahead of Sunday’s clash, Tudor was asked how tough the week had been for him and his players to which he replied: “Tough. For sure. Not just because of the last game but because of the period.

He continued: “Not easy situation, not easy moment. Big challenge to change things. Like everything in life, you can choose how to see the situation.

“You can cry or you can fight. You can be the victim or you can change something. This is the message I communicated to the players. The bottle is either half empty or half full.

“Those who stand up with the courage to change these things will become better people and players afterwards. I said it’s about all of us. Not about all this bull****.”

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Huge list of absentees

Tottenham, who have lost their last five matches in the league, head to Merseyside without their first-choice centre-back pairing.

Tudor confirmed that captain Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha are unavailable after the pair clashed heads in the closing stages against Atletico Madrid.

Therefore, both players are following concussion protocols in what is a huge blow to the interim head coach.

The Argentine will miss his fifth straight Premier League game after completing a four-match suspension for a second straight red card this season in the 2-0 loss at Manchester United in February.

Micky van de Ven will miss the trip through suspension following his sending off in the 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.

That will likely see Kevin Danso and Radu Dragusin deputise at in the heart of the defence at Anfield.

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Spurs will be without long-term absentee Ben Davies while James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert remain sidelined.

Tudor will also be without the services of Mohammed Kudus, Rodrigo Bentancur and Destiny Udogie.

The ex-Juventus boss confirmed that Yves Bissouma will miss the game with a muscle injury while January signing Conor Gallagher has been suffering with a fever.

“This is how it is in this club,” Tudor added. “This happens all the time. We start to build something and then something happens, a red card or three or four injuries.

“This is very rare it happens. In my career I never see this situation like every game missing two players and the next game, then a red card.

“Very rare and very unusual but we need to accept it and try to change the things you can change. On these things you can do nothing.”