Tottenham Hotspur interim head coach Igor Tudor has insisted that the decision to substitute Antonin Kinsky after just 17 minutes of the 5-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid was made to protect the goalkeeper. The 22-year-old, handed only his second start of the season in place of Guglielmo Vicario, made two costly errors that presented Atletico with the opening and third goals.
Kinsky slipped for the first goal, allowing Atletico to take the ball inside his own area, and then kicked the ball against his own leg, leaving Julián Alvarez with an open goal for the third. Team-mates Connor Gallagher, Dominic Solanke and João Palhinha followed him up the tunnel to offer their support. Cristian Romero appeared to be suggesting the change, but Tudor said it was "my decision, of course".
"What happened is very rare," Tudor said. "I've been coaching for 15 years, I've never done this. It was necessary to preserve the guy, preserve the team. Incredible situation, nothing to comment." Spurs have now lost six consecutive matches for the first time in their history and sit one point above the Premier League relegation zone.
Tudor explained the decision to start Kinsky given the domestic situation, saying: "It was, before the game, the right choice to do in the moment like we are, with the pressure on Vicario, another competition. Tony is a very good goalkeeper. It was for me the right decision." He added that he had spoken to Kinsky after the match: "He understands the moment, he understands why he goes out. As I said, he's a very good goalkeeper. We are with him, we are all together."
"It was too much for us in this moment when we are fragile, when we are weak," he said. "I recognise what we are and which problems we have. When these things happen, in the moment where we are now, unfortunately, it's like that. Even these slippery things happen, it explains the moment [we are in]." Asked whether João Palhinha and Romero would be available for Sunday's match against Liverpool after clashing heads, Tudor said: "I don't know, we are going to see. It is also an example of the moment. It's incredible."
