Tottenham told one key wrong decision has directly led to unprecedented Premier League relegation battle

May 15, 2026 - 09:00
Tottenham told one key wrong decision has directly led to unprecedented Premier League relegation battle

Tottenham’s decision to appoint Igor Tudor as manager was one that has put them in their current nightmare situation.

That’s according to talkSPORT’s Abi Summers, who believes Spurs would not be in a relegation battle if he weren’t appointed.

Igor Tudor, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur reacts during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Nottingham Forest
Tudor’s appointment was key to Spurs’ struggles, according to Summers
Getty

Tudor was named interim manager in February, replacing Thomas Frank after he was sacked just eight months into his tenure.

The Croatian’s remit was to help turn things around in North London, with Tottenham having a woeful season under Frank.

However, things somehow managed to go from bad to much worse as he lost all of his first four games in the dugout.

Then, after just seven games, of which he won one, Tudor was dismissed, making way for a third manager of the campaign.

And it opened the door for Roberto De Zerbi, who has managed to bring some positivity to the club in the last two months.

Spurs’ dire situation still remains, but if it wasn’t for an upturn in form, then relegation may have already been confirmed.

That’s something that has bugged Summers and the Inside Spurs panel, who believe the decision to appoint Tudor was one that caused the major mess they find themselves in.

A wistful Summers began: “If we had never bothered with that stupid Igor Tudor decision…

“We all know that Thomas Frank should have been sacked months prior, but the Tudor decision was so massive.

“I do believe that that will be the main catalyst as to why we’ve ended up in this situation and if we do go down.

Summers thinks Spurs wouldn’t be in the relegation battle if a different manager had come in to replace Frank

“If we hadn’t done that and brought in De Zerbi, or I still stand by that if we’d have brought in a [Harry] Redknapp, a [Tim] Sherwood, anyone else other than Tudor, we would never be in this situation.”

She continued: “Igor Tudor came into this football club with absolutely no idea what was going on…he actually outright said he didn’t realise how bad it was.

“He played players out of position, told them all that they were crap…which they know that, we know that, they can all see that, they didn’t need to have that.”

‘Why didn’t we do this earlier?’

The difference between pre- and post-De Zerbi becomes more alarming when you delve into the stats.

In 2026, Tottenham played 13 games with Frank and Tudor on the touchline and collected just five points altogether.

That poor run included no wins, eight losses and five draws.

Roberto De Zerbi
De Zerbi has made an impact, but a lot of damage was already done
Getty

But since De Zerbi has taken over, he’s already earned eight points in just five matches, including two victories.

Things have taken a turn at both ends of the pitch too, with Spurs only scoring 13 goals in 13 games under Frank and Tudor in 2026.

They also conceded 27 goals in that run of fixtures.

Under their Italian boss, they’ve already scored six in five and have only conceded five goals in total.

After running through the numbers, Summers then simply summarised: “It begs the question, doesn’t it…

“Why didn’t we do this earlier?”

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