Johan Lange reveals why Igor Tudor is perfect for Tottenham but shuts down Pochettino talk
Johan Lange has explained what qualities of Igor Tudor convinced Tottenham that he is the right man to get the club out of the mess they find themselves in.
The new Tottenham interim boss cut a determined figure in his first press conference on Friday, and he was very bullish about the quality at the club.
In fact, Tudor confidently asserted that Spurs will not get relegated, even though the Lilywhites have been in freefall over recent weeks and are just five points off the dropzone.
Some pundits have blasted Tottenham for appointing Tudor, suggesting that he may be in for a rude shock, given his lack of experience in the Premier League.
Johan Lange reveals Tottenham interviewed several candidates before appointing Igor Tudor
The Spurs sporting director is confident that the club have bought in the right man, revealing that they spoke to several managers about the vacancy.
Lange pointed to Tudor’s record of making an immediate impact at big clubs as one of the reasons why he is the right fit for the North Londoners.
When asked about the decision to appoint the Croat, the Dane said (via Football.London): “When you make the decision around Thomas, it’s very important to go into a shorter process than if you are changing a head coach over the summer. We interviewed a few candidates. Igor impressed us very, very much in the interview.
“We also managed to take references of him, and he comes in with very big experience at the highest level in football and as a player, playing for a very, very big club, one of the biggest clubs in the world in Juve, he was part of this very good generation of the Croatian national team in the late 90s.
“He has shown the capabilities of coming into clubs around this time, February, March, and also big clubs, and made an immediate performance impact. That was a very big reason. There is a big difference, if you are a coach for example, who has only started a new job on July 1. You have six or seven weeks to prepare to get to know the club. I’m not saying that necessarily it’s easy, but that’s a different challenge.
“If you come in here on the Monday and you are playing at the weekend, you need to build relationships with the players immediately and assess the style of the club immediately. He has shown that with great success, not only once but a few times, to come into that. That is one of the reasons why we believe he is the best candidate here now but also with his reputation and what he’s done in his career, of course, if things go well, he could be here for a long time.”
Lange refuses to comment on Mauricio Pochettino to Spurs
Thomas Frank’s style of football failed to resonate with Tottenham fans, who were not happy to see their side regularly defending deep and playing on the counter-attack.
Lange insisted that delivering possession-based, attacking football is a key criterion for the club moving forward as they get set to decide on their next permanent manager.
When asked if the next coach will bring the right style of play to the club, he responded: “It is definitely something high up on the list. We are very ambitious to create a team that can play dominant football and control matches with the ball for a few reasons. If you look across almost every league in the world, that is how the top teams normally are successful – able to dominate possession, create chances, be aggressive without the ball and that is of course the football.
“Then we are also a club with a rich history of having some of the best offensive players in the world and having a very particular style of play that resonates with the history, resonates with the fans and that combined with having a possession-dominant, aggressive style of play, those two things go hand in hand. Of course, that is something that is important for us here at the club.”
However, when pressed for comment on the Tottenham fans singing for Mauricio Pochettino, Johan Lange only said: “Igor has been here for five days. That is our focus and I am not going to comment on any names that have been linked to the job.”
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