What should Tottenham expect from Igor Tudor - and can Serie A's tried-and-trusted substitute teacher save Spurs from relegation?

Just under a year ago, Juventus were in trouble. Not quite as much trouble as Tottenham, admittedly. But in trouble nonetheless.

In the four weeks that preceded the March 2025 international break, the Bianconeri had been dumped out of the Champions League by PSV, humiliated by Empoli in the Coppa Italia, and slipped to fifth in Serie A. It was the very real fear of failing to finish in the top four that most concerned a club still beset by financial problems, so Juve decided to abandon its ambitious Thiago Motta project and turn to Tudor to salvage their season.

Even at the time, it looked like the smart play. Tudor had a proven track record of steadying the ship at struggling Serie A sides.

He wasn't particularly fond of his reputation as a 'ferryman' (the Italian equivalent of English football's 'firefighter'), but he had twice saved Udinese from relegation, in 2018 and 2019, taken winless Verona from 19th to ninth between September 2021 and May 2022, and helped Lazio sneak into a Europa League spot in 2024 after the shock departure of Maurizio Sarri with just over two months of the campaign remaining.

Therefore, it didn't come as that much of a surprise to see Tudor get Juve back into the Champions League by taking 18 points from his nine games in charge before the end of the 2024-25 season. 

Tudor didn't do anything particularly revolutionary after taking over in Turin. He increased the intensity of Juve's game, while also adding much-needed verticality to their game, but the main difference to Motta had simply been listening to the players and putting them in their preferred positions.

As Fabio Capello wrote in the Gazzetta dello Sport, "Igor didn't invent a magic formula, but he has demonstrated that he has the key skills to coach a big team: Common sense and practicality.

The former AC Milan coach added, "He's given much greater freedom to individuals. It's like the Croatian has rung the school bell: Books under desks and everyone in the playground having fun."

However, the perception now is that Italian football's favourite substitute teacher is incapable of doing the job on a full-time basis.

Juventus certainly had their doubts about keeping Tudor on beyond the end of the season. He was Bianconero through and through, having spent nine years in Turin as a player, and he had also activated the automatic extension clause in his contract by achieving a top-four finish.

However, the Old Lady still had the right to terminate the agreement for just €1 million, so the idea was to leave Tudor in charge for last summer's Club World Cup while continuing the search for a coach with more honours than a sole Croatian Cup from 2013.

Tudor was unsurprisingly miffed by Juve's indecision and effectively issued his employers a public ultimatum after securing Champions League football: make a decision one way or another before - and not after - the Club World Cup. To do otherwise, he argued after the crucial final-day win over Venezia, would not be a "serious option for the club or the coach".

Juve general manager Damian Comolli agreed, and the 2025-26 campaign began with Tudor talking optimistically about a title challenge: "Juventus never start a season just to qualify for the Champions League."

Juve certainly looked like Scudetto challengers after beating Inter 4-3 on matchday three to maintain their 100 percent start to the season. However, it would be Tudor's last victory as Bianconeri boss, with the 47-year-old sacked on October 27 after going eight games without a win in all competitions - the club's worst winless run since May 2009.

Tudor had previously blamed Juve's poor form on refereeing mistakes and a congested calendar, but he should have known better than anyone that such complaints were going to fall on deaf ears at a club where winning is the only thing that counts. The former centre-back had also reportedly upset his employers by drawing an unfavourable contrast between his position at Juve and that of Cesc Fabregas at Como, whom Tudor claimed had secured all of the summer signings he'd requested, with the obvious implication being that he had not.

Given his familiarity with the Bianconeri's mantra, it was also jarring for him to argue that it would be wrong to judge his team solely on results, while his claim that "the tactical system rarely counts for much these days" even provoked a reaction out of the usually mind-mannered Alessandro Del Piero.

"I’m not sure it’s right to say all you need is heart or mentality," the Juve legend told Sky Sport Italia. "You need to be organised, have tactical ideas and keep everything to the max, including the fire Tudor talks about. And it's not just about the players."

Juve's improvement since sacking Tudor would certainly support that point, as Luciano Spalletti hasn't just taken the team from eighth to fifth, he's also got them scoring freely again after failing to find the back of the net once during his predecessor's final four games.

Tudor would no doubt argue that Juve wouldn't have had any issues in front of goal had they kept Randal Kolo Muani, who scored 10 times during last season's loan spell in Turin, and the France striker will likely be the biggest beneficiary of the ex-Croatia international's arrival at Tottenham.

One can also easily envisage offensively-minded full-backs Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro doing all sorts of damage under Tudor if he employs his preferred 3-4-2-1 formation, as he always wants as much pace and width in his starting line-up as possible. The problem, of course, is that both Udogie and Porro are presently sidelined with hamstring problems, with only the Spaniard in with a chance of being fit for Sunday's north London derby with Arsenal - a match that captain Cristian Romero will miss through suspension.

It doesn't help either that Mohammed Kudus will be out for at least another month, while there's real uncertainty over when exactly Dejan Kulusevski will return to action. When one considers that Rodrigo Bentancur and James Maddison are long-term absentees, it's fair to say that Tudor is taking over a team short on numbers and quality.

Tudor, though, is adamant that there is still sufficient ability within the Tottenham team to stave off the threat of relegation and says that it is now his job "to organise it, energise it and improve our results quickly." It's unquestionably a role he will relish, because it's one that he's come to specialise in. 

History has shown us that this is not a man who needs a full pre-season to whip a side into shape. "It's difficult to change a lot of things in a month, but when the team prepares in the way I like it, they can achieve anything, regardless of the opponent, strong or not," he acknowledged during Juve's revival last year. "In modern football, physicality cancels out quality so much. Quality is always important, of course, but without physicality, it doesn't exist."

The first thing Tudor will do, then, is figure out which players he can count on to run through walls for him because he has a Bill -esque view of football. "When the game starts," he said ahead of Juve's crucial clash with Venezia last year, "it's a matter of life or death - everything else is irrelevant."

Getting the Spurs squad to buy into that ethos will obviously determine the success - and length - of his stay in north London. But Tudor certainly won't be intimidated by the challenge. He's taken over weaker teams than Tottenham. 

He also won't be in the least bit perturbed by the negativity surrounding his appointment. He's walked into more hostile arenas, such as the Stade Velodrome, and his belief in his own ability hasn't been remotely shaken by his sacking at Juve. "If you ask me whether I feel inferior to anybody," he said last October, "I say no, not to anyone."

We already know, though, that there is no more fearless or effective firefighter in football. The real challenge for Tudor at Tottenham after 11 head coaching roles in 13 years is convincing the club - and indeed everyone else - that Serie A's tried-and-trusted substitute teacher is worth employing beyond the summer.