Tottenham Hotspur interim coach Igor Tudor has been criticised for his treatment of goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky after substituting him after 17 minutes of his side's 5-2 loss at Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Tudor sprung a surprise by dropping regular keeper Guglielmo Vicario for the last-16 first leg tie and handing Czech Kinsky his first start since October.
But the move backfired in spectacular fashion as Tottenham conceded three goals in the opening 15 minutes – two of them resulting from glaring errors by the young keeper.
Tudor immediately sent on Vicario, the Croat standing stony-faced as a stunned Kinsky headed for the sanctuary of the dressing room.
"He's (Tudor) made decisions that he maybe thinks is going to one, keep him in a job, or two, keep Tottenham in the Premier League and performances are going to turn around," former Leeds United, Tottenham and England keeper Paul Robinson told the BBC. "It was a very selfish decision (to substitute him) as a manager.
"I think he brought Kinsky in tonight thinking that if he does well I have got an excuse to keep him in now until the end of the season. He reverted on that decision very, very early on in the game.
"It's quite blatantly for self preservation by the manager because it was a decision that he thought was best for him and his team at the time, without consideration for the young goalkeeper."
Joe Hart said he was shocked by Tudor's treatment of Kinsky.
"The whole stadium is feeling sorry for him. He walks past Igor Tudor – and he doesn't even acknowledge him. If that's man-management, I am flabbergasted," the former England keeper, who also had a spell at Tottenham, said.
"He's had a bad moment, a slip, and then another bad moment. But the fact he (Tudor) has taken him off, at 22, to just rip him off, how is that good for him?"
Atletico coach Diego Simeone said he had never seen anything like it before and there was even sympathy from Atletico's fans and players. "Mentally, it must be very tough for the goalkeeper. It wasn't the best solution," French striker Antoine Griezmann said.
Support also came from former Manchester United keeper David de Gea. "No one who hasn't been a goalkeeper can understand how difficult it is to play in this position. Keep your head up and you will go again," the Spaniard said on X.
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The defeat set an unwanted record for Tottenham who suffered a sixth successive loss for the first time in the club's history. It also raised serious questions about whether Tudor will remain in his post.
He replaced Thomas Frank last month with a reputation for helping turn around clubs in trouble but he has lost all four of his games in charge and if anything relegated-threatened Tottenham's performances have deteriorated.
"I need to apologise to the fans, to everyone. It's incredibly difficult to explain, at least for the first 20 minutes, I've never seen in my life, things like this. It's very strange to explain," Tudor said.