Igor Tudor to Spurs: The Emergency Reaction | Paratici’s Last Act? Relegation Fight & A Lunch Date With Mourinho

19:37Jack:So we've got a few questions come in, Tommy, from listeners. So we'll see what... We've got a good one here from Kidiaba Ponytail, who says, does he trust academy players? I have a feeling he might need to in the next few weeks.

19:54Tommy Milanese:I would say so. Yes, I would say so. One of the famous case history here is the game I mentioned earlier when he won against Inter 4-3. Obviously, Juventus and Inter is the biggest rivalry. It's a bit like Liverpool United. And he managed to win 4-3 with a goal from Adzic, who is one of the youth. He hasn't quite made it into the team, Spalletti. Spalletti doesn't trust him so much, but Tudor was happy to send him in in the last 10 minutes ahead of other choices like Openda, who last season scored like 20 goals in Ligue 1 or whatever. He prioritized Adzic to come in, and Adzic ended up scoring a goal from like 20 yards away.

20:37Tommy Milanese:So that is the first example that comes to mind. So I would say, yeah, I think so. So I think it would be pretty good with that.

20:46Jack:There's one here that says, from Samora, that says, could be alpha enough for the likes of Romero? He's a Colo Mawani whisperer. He's a high-energy football that utilizes number eights and allows the likes of Xavi relative freedom. A good man manager? Could we? He says, could we? You know, what's that? Stop not get relegated? win a Champions League? I don't know. Yeah.

21:15Tommy Milanese:Yeah, Spurs is such in a weird position. Everyone, all my journalist colleagues always come to me like, what's going on at Spurs? How are they so low in the table? And then they are like in the top eight in the Champions League and done so well. I'm like, I don't know, man. That is a pretty Spurs thing, isn't it? Well, last season was the same, no? Like winning Europa League and again being in the bottom five. You know, good point raised about Colomani. Like, he really likes the guy. I know he hasn't done well at Spurs. he hasn't really been in the first choices. And I feel like he's one of the players that you said when you were saying lack of discipline and all that.

21:50Tommy Milanese:I feel like he's, correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like he's one of the targets, isn't it? But Tudor really likes him. When he came on last season, he scored four goals in the first two or three games. And he really carried that team to the first place. And then all through the summer, he tried to sign him for them, you know, to kind of build the project around him. He did not like Vlaovic, which is kind of more like a number nine, as we think. Maybe in all the days, like more physical or less. He's a bit more Harry Kane-ish, isn't he?

22:19Jack:Yeah.

22:21Tommy Milanese:But you know what I mean? A similar mould, you know, that type of player. Yeah. But yeah, he's that kind of player. Well, Colombo, you know, he's a bit more fast, he's a bit more rapid, counter-attacks. But yeah, I guess that kind of matches Tudor's game. If he's a little bit more defensive, like to play vertically on the rebound, that Kormuani is a good player for him. So yeah, he did very well for him. He really tried to sign him in the summer. So I feel like he will probably be one of the players that will see more of the pitch. Yeah, probably more him than Solanke, which maybe is kind of that category of Lovic, Kane and all that.

22:55Tommy Milanese:That's quite interesting. Does that answer the question?

22:57Jack:Yeah, because I mean, you can see with Mouani as well, the thing that's been most disappointing is that he hasn't really been that energised. You can tell he's not been that invested in his time at Spurs. And, you know, people say you can't really blame him. He's only a lone player. And I guess with the stories coming out around Thomas Frank, you wonder if, you know, he's come into a situation that hasn't been particularly inspiring. But what I would say of Mouane, which is really frustrating, is you can tell there's a very talented player there. You just need to, you need to get him on side. And I guess if Igor Tudor can do that this time, that is a, that's a huge positive.

23:34because Mouane is probably one of the most talented players

23:37Jack:in Tottenham squads at the moment, but we haven't seen that really, other than in little flashes, I reckon.

23:44Tommy Milanese:Yeah, yeah, I agree, I agree. He will definitely see more play and I agree he's very talented. I'm not sure he wants to be there either. That's obviously something we can't know, but he had a bit of a summer. He was owned by PSG, Juventus wanted him and the news initially was that he wanted to come back because he had a good relationship with the manager and all that. And then kind of last minute, he went to Spurs. Yeah, a bit left alone maybe. So it didn't start very well for him. And obviously the team not doing very well. For a player like that, you need to have good players around you. And Spurs does.

24:18Tommy Milanese:Like I was saying before, Tudor usually plays with a 3-4-2-1. So that's what I would expect to be a Spurs. So maybe behind him could be the likes of Xavi Simon. And maybe, I don't know, someone a bit more tactical like Kudus. He really likes Conceição in Juventus, who's a shorter player, really high-skilled, loads of dribbling, loads of runs. So maybe Kudus can be that for him. So I see maybe Kudus then, Colin Warnie being the two players there, they will see the pitch a bit more. Definitely Colin Warnie, Kudus I don't know about. I see him as a bit more than Conceição.

24:52Jack:It would be nice because there's been some talk today that Kudus could be, he's been seeing one of his old Ajax doctors to get fit again. And he might be back around March time, which is really good to hear. Because Kudus is another player with so much ability that I don't think Thomas Frank ever properly utilised. It always seemed to be a tactic of just kick the ball to Kudus and hope he can do something. You know, as opposed to building an actual philosophy around him. Yeah.

25:25Tommy Milanese:I do think Tudor could be, yeah, actually I would definitely be a better manager for Kudus. So once he's back, I expect him to start a lot and hopefully link up a bit more with Kul Mohani or Swaranki or whoever will decide to start up front.

25:44Jack:Houston Reveaux asks, and you sort of touched on formation stuff before, Tommy, but based on the players available to him, do you think he will go 3-4-1-2 against Arsenal?

26:00Tommy Milanese:I think three at the back is his thing so let's start from that, I expect maybe Miki to be probably on the left side Romero in the middle and I don't know, Dragosin maybe on the right I think like Ben Davis, if he wasn't injured it would have been a player that would have seen a lot of play with two of the ball obviously, it's not available so this is the back three I'm expecting I think. Like I said earlier, he really utilizes on the midfield the fifth, which in this case will be the fourth. So I don't really know who will start there. What do you think? Maybe... Like a Pelinia, someone like that?

26:44Tommy Milanese:I think he will like him. Pelinia in the middle, for sure. Pelinia in the middle, for sure. One bit more defensive together with Bergvot, maybe. Spence and Porro. Spence and Porro. Yeah, Spence being a bit more defensive. Porro maybe a bit more up front and then um yeah xavi odobar and well you gotta start solanke right he's since he's been back it's been great so

27:11Jack:odobar's just done his acl so

27:16Jack:honestly another one like there's been so many injuries this year as bears we're losing count of them but yeah i think we've got like 11 maybe 11 first team 11 first team fit players which is

27:27Tommy Milanese:uh pretty that's what that's what romero romero said a few few weeks ago wasn't it it's like 11 players that's crazy so yeah i'm not sure who started that up front then uh behind behind the striker but yeah definitely xavi and who's fit nowadays then kudos is out all the betters out Kluzeski is out yeah not sure but yeah the 3-4 1-2 or 2-1 is this formation more likely 2-1 than 1-2 usually but that's what it usually does I'm not sure what it will do obviously like you said with only 11 players there's only so much you can do

28:03Jack:It's funny it's like you said we've got it's not so much a question just a comment here from Biscardo Biscuit that says Don Paratici from beyond the grave like you said you know He never leaves the club, does he? Never leaves the club. Never leaves the club. He's still there. He's still in there. Love it. MJB Hotspur says, will we start to see play through the middle? Because obviously Thomas Frank, it was all about wing play, kicking the balls down the wing. But I guess, does Tudor at all prioritise any more, I don't know, say a technical form of football that has a bit more variety to it? Forward passes, as opposed to just hoping that somebody can get across and get on the end of it?

28:52Tommy Milanese:I would say he does use the wings as well. The wings, whether they're wings or the fourth on the midfield. He does use the external players. I don't know if that's the right term. Apologies for that. But he does use them a lot. Like I was saying earlier with Cambiazo and Ilditz. So I'm not expecting to see too much play down the middle. but he also likes to play vertically a lot so doing the defence part very well and then really start with long passes and all that so I'm not expecting too much down the middle, I'm expecting more on the sides but in a different way than Frank was doing, in a different way so yeah, against Arsenal especially, I'm expecting to be really a free on the back but on paper above five in reality and kind of like try to defend as much as you can and and kind of start again with long passes he also plays with a lot of high pressure like kind of man-to-man so if you can't make that work that could be quite effective but yeah with Arsenal obviously I'm expecting to be a bit more like cautious and and that kind of style um Fred I mean obviously we

30:03Jack:we can't read the guy's mind but still it's interesting to speculate Fred Gruff asks uh How do you think he's feeling knowing that he is just a guy? I mean, he's used quite crude terminology here, but he's just a guy getting Pochettino warmed up, if you like. How do you sell that to a manager, do you think? And from what you know of his personality, do you think he'll be okay with that? I think he will be okay with that.

30:33Tommy Milanese:Like we were saying earlier, there's Catering who's a manager and he's probably that kind of category, but for him, it's a great chance. At the beginning of the podcast, I said that me and my fellow colleagues were expecting him to take a mid-table kind of club, like a Fiorentina or, you know what I mean, that kind of, those kind of clubs. Or Lazio, obviously, has already been there, but maybe mid to high table in Serie A. So for him to go to Spurs is a massive opportunity. I'm not expecting him to be there next season, like I said, and have a project built around it, but if he can do well in this three or four months, and I think he will because like we said earlier, that's what he's good at that is a great opportunity for him next year he could secure a job in the Prem, obviously not one of the big teams but he could get like a West Ham, he could get a Fulham he could get a team that probably would not invest on him now as a season manager, so I think he's okay with that, he's got hard skin I don't think he's going to be intimidated by that he's going to be motivated to do as good as he can to just get a good job with the summer really and hopefully for him staying in the Prem, you know, being in the Prem is everyone's goal he's seen everywhere around the world he has the place to be once you're in the Prem you made it so it's a great entry point for him you know, I mean, things can't really go much more wrong than this, I mean, I guess they can you can get relegated but no one actually believes this person's going to get relegated, right so he doesn't have much to lose in my opinion, so it's not too bad position for him to be, I don't know.

32:08Tommy Milanese:It is.

32:09Jack:I'm glad you have the conviction that Spurs aren't going to get relegated because it is starting to look quite hairy, isn't it?

32:19Tommy Milanese:When West Ham was ahead of United and there was like three points and Forrest was still to play, yeah, it was a bit scary. But I mean, you never know if it will, but I don't think so. I think he'll do all right. I think Spurs will finish probably mid to the table. around the 13, 14 spot probably.

32:39Jack:I guess I'd just be interested to know from you, Tommy, how do you feel about this appointment? Do you think he will be fine to do this job or do you have reservations about it? When you want your spring break to feel like and your kid's pool day to feel like and your hotel bed to feel like Ooh, and room service to feel like. Because at Hilton, hospitality feels like. Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels? It matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton, for this day. This episode is brought to you by Nespresso. Introducing Virtuo.Up, the latest in a long line of innovation from Nespresso.

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34:21Tommy Milanese:I have a bit of reservation about him as a manager, as a person, you know, to kind of have that relationship with the club. But as you were saying, this is what he's there for, isn't it? I don't think anyone believes he's going to be the next Spurs manager. So for what it is, I think it's probably a good appointment. Probably as good as it gets now. I mean, I don't know who else is available and will actually agree to do the job. The only downside is something you said when you opened the show is he never managed in the prime. that could be a problem it takes adjusting it's a completely different football from Serie A but he did manage in Ligue 1 and in other difficult leagues like you were saying in Greece and all that so he might be right adapting I think overall there's not much better you could have got for this for having three months where you have to kind of like be safe not get relegated kind of try to get a little bit of momentum for the fans to start next season.

35:28Tommy Milanese:Yeah. If you ask me as a full-time manager for the season, I would be really negative. If you tell me for what it is, the situation right now, I think he's probably one of the best, considering who's available.

35:40Jack:I'd also, I guess, be interested to know your opinion because Enzo Maresca has linked a lot to potentially be Tottenham's permanent manager. You know, I think a lot of people right now are saying it's almost given that it's going to be Pochettino. I'm not so sure. You know, there's some talk about dessert. I mean, it's quite an Italian theme, really. Some talk about De Zerbi, some talk about Enzo Maresca. Do you sort of have a feeling either way on either of those guys? I think there is also some talk as well that Poratishi wants De Zerbi at Fiorentina and he's tempted by the weather. That's what I've seen.

36:13Tommy Milanese:Well, between Poch, Maresca and De Zerbi, who would I get? That's actually an interesting question. They're really different managers, aren't they? the derby is it will be probably the most risky I would say out of the three obviously he's proved himself in the prep with Brighton it was amazing but it's doing a Brighton and doing a Spurs is different isn't it the pressure, the expectations

36:39Tommy Milanese:the expectations really and also to be fair

36:42Jack:Brighton are probably more organised than Tottenham so that's a different angle too

36:47Tommy Milanese:yeah that's right I'm a big fan of the Derby I really really like him Poch has got the sentimental side I'm a sucker for Poch he could come any day and be there for the rest of his life I really really like him obviously I've got all the memories that we all have like you said I briefly worked at the club I saw his last few months it was really sad to see him like that so I think from if my brain has to decide I would probably go for I feel like I go for the Derby also because I like a bit of a gamble but if you ask my heart I'll probably say Poch what about you? Which one would you like under the three?

37:27Jack:I mean Pochettino is always going to be sort of like you say the sentimental option for me and I also feel that a lot of what gets lost in the conversation is that Pochettino is still a good manager you know I think he did a much better job with Chelsea than people give him credit for Chelsea's very very different you know we talk about the pressure at Tottenham that's it's again it's another level at somewhere like Chelsea the the standards they have there the the organizational structure at Chelsea will go through managers probably you know I would say quicker than Tottenham but it's probably about the same really but still they uh you know they they hire and fire a lot it'll be interesting to see you know there's a there's there's there's a part of me that wonders there's a couple of there's a couple of downsides to bring in potch back one of them for me is does this allow the tottenham ownership off the hook do they get to use the emotions of the fans to not really take proper stock of the things that have gone wrong this season what has led to tottenham having the 17th place finish and maybe another one this year You know, what decisions could they have taken to avoid that type of thing, to actually see Tottenham?

38:46Jack:You know, we're talking about, you know, despite what Ange Postacoglu said the other day or, you know, what they said on the overlap about Tottenham not being a big club. Tottenham is a huge club and I really I really I stand against that sort of characterization of the club from people who are you know part of the media pack from Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal those type of teams are always going to say that Tottenham aren't a big team because when they were playing football they were so much better than Spurs but I don't think they give enough credit to the fact that Spurs have undergone such a transformation in the past few years that to now see these past couple of years it it's it's really really crazy to me and you know I don't want them to get off the hook I don't want them to continue to make the same mistakes over and over and over again um and just hope that by having Pochettino in there none of us will complain about it um I guess on a certain level as well you always have to worry about you know not going back but that's just an arbitrary thing that people say it doesn't really mean anything does it so we don't know but um Mariska I was really skeptical of when he uh when he took over at Chelsea but you know he sort of came you know I didn't really know much about him he was doing okay at Leicester and I thought wow this is a huge job to get the Chelsea job from you know from Leicester but he uh he he did really well at Chelsea I'm not I'm not entirely sure what went wrong if he just it's it's sort of came out the blue him leaving the club um I'm assuming it was just things behind the scenes but i'd probably prefer my my worry with deserve is deserve is football is great it's lovely i just worry about we know what tottenham's like we know that tottenham is a is a stressful environment and that to me is almost like if deserve is the dynamite tottenham's the match you know and it's kind of it it might not be that's a good point that's a way um but but but yeah i don't know i don't know it's good it's going to be interesting tommy i guess one thing i would just say before before we go um for anyone that didn't know tommy did actually used to work for spurs he was one of uh spurs's main like content guys you you see you were responsible for like the matt doherty signing video right when he came from arsenal you know i can't pay the credit is it was a team effort yeah of course but you were that area yeah This was your era when Spurs actually were doing the fun, good announcement videos.

41:23Jack:That's when you were there. I guess, is there a part of you that looks on from the outside? No, I mean, especially the Europa League season that just thinks, oh, I wish I'd been still at the club behind the scenes when these things were happening.

41:38Tommy Milanese:Yeah, for sure. Well, I've got to say those years I did three seasons with Spurs and from the football side it was some of the worst. but from a personal point of view they were grey and crazy I was there for the last few months Pochettino, then Mourinho came that day that Mourinho came, I will never forget that day, everyone at the club was like, what's happening? Pochettino's been there for so long, so most of the people that were working in my team has only known Pochettino, so the media attention and the pressure I got loads of stories with Mourinho even with us staff and then it went as it went and then Ryan Mason came in, and then Conte, and then Nuna Espirito Santos, which wasn't a great bit, that one.

42:24Tommy Milanese:But yeah, from a personal point of view, it was really, really good fun. And seeing last season what happened, I mean, I know all the guys that still work there, and they're great. I feel like Spurs is one of the best in social media, even now, still now. So I really enjoyed their content, and yeah, I definitely did wish I was still there.

42:43Jack:can you give us any interesting stories about Mourinho or Conte tell me anything that won't get you or the club in trouble

42:52Tommy Milanese:I've got one story Mourinho that I cannot say I probably get sued but he's really funny I'll tell you, I probably told you already but I'll tell you offline what I can say is on his first day I remember we went to eat and we used to eat in the same area as the players I don't know if it's still like that but it was you know there's two mess one is for the academy one for the first team and we used to eat in the first team so we kind of went in didn't know what to do like you know one of one of our guys was really funny was like right guys we go with our head held eye we you know we we take our spot as usual and pretend like nothing happened like we just um eat as normal like so yeah we went we just got our table in the corner obviously away from everybody um and then yeah he walks in and I was kind of like looking at him like oh geez there he is you know um and he actually comes to our table and he sits next to next in our table next to one of the guys like is this he taken and i was like yeah sure for sure yeah come in and he actually sat with us and he had lunch with us and he was really friendly he was like asking everyone's like name what they do you know he was telling us about his wife his holidays dogs and all that and that really set up like we came back in the office was like, this guy is really safe.

44:08Tommy Milanese:You know what I mean? And that's why everyone really liked him. The day he left, I remember everyone, the players as well, but all the staff was, everyone was really sad when he left because he was really good, you know, from a human point of view for like giving you this connection with him. That's why in Inter, at Chelsea, the players were dying for him on the pitch. I can really see it now because I would have done the same man if I was a player for sure.

44:33Jack:that's so that's so surreal just sat there having your lunch and Jose one of the most whatever love him or hate him one of the most iconic figures of modern football is just there sat talking to you about his dog you know it was great it was literally like couldn't have been anyone you must have been like what type of mushrooms are in this pasta you know what I mean literally

44:52Tommy Milanese:yeah literally but yeah that was a fun story that I always like

44:57Jack:to tell about him that's really cool Tommy mate I won't take much more of your time I appreciate you jumping on on a Friday evening. What a pleasure, man. Where can people watch your content now?

45:10Tommy Milanese:Well, I do mainly stuff for Gazzetta dello Sport. I mean, if you speak Italian, then you're more than welcome to subscribe to us. We're actually doing a crazy show tomorrow. We're like 11 people watching the Derby d 'Italia, which is Inter Juventus. So, yeah, well, on Gazzetta dello Sport, you'll probably see me here and there. But again, you probably need a subtitle option on YouTube. or actually they do voiceovers now, do they? On automatic voiceover. Do they? What, AI and stuff? Yeah, like on YouTube, you can do like voiceovers, but it's so bad. It's so bad.

45:41Jack:I'm going to tune in and listen to the voice they've given you in AI, Tommy. I've listened to it. It's really normal. It's just a robot like,

45:50Tommy Milanese:I think Juventus is doing great. Much love, Tommy. And we'll speak soon. Thank you very much for having me, man. Come on, yousperse.

46:08Jack:Find the biggest voices in sports on the Sports Social Podcast Network. Like the Late Breaking F1 Podcast hosted by Ben Hocking, Harry Eade and Sam Sage. We cover every race, all the biggest topics in between. It's unfiltered F1 chat with the genuine insight you only get from three long-time best friends. Search Late Breaking F1 Podcast and listen wherever you get your podcasts.