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The former Marseille, Lazio and Juventus manager is set to take over as interim manager of Tottenham until the end of the season

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The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week. Become a Member in Seconds Unlock instant access to exclusive member features. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? Fantastic football content straight to your inbox! From the latest transfer news, quizzes, videos, features and interviews with the biggest names in the game, plus lots more. Sign up to our FREE live football newsletter, tracking all of the biggest games available to watch on the device of your choice. Never miss a kick-off! Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards. Igor Tudor looks set to take over as interim Tottenham Hotspur head coach until the end of the season. The former Croatian international is reported to have agreed a deal with Tottenham to come in on a temporary basis following Thomas Frank's dismissal on Wednesday. Tudor will take over a club still competing in the Champions League and yet growing increasingly nervous about their proximity to the relegation zone after the gap was cut to just five points over the midweek fixtures - but what do we know about the new interim gaffer?

A former centre-back for Hajduk Split (twice) and Juventus as well as a 55-cap international career with Croatia, Tudor moved into management with his hometown club Hajduk in 2013. Less than a month after taking charge, he earned his first - and so far only - silverware in the form of the Croatian Cup, with Hajduk having already qualified for the final before his appointment.

From there Tudor has had an itinerant managerial career that has taken in spells in Greece with PAOK; Turkey with Karakbuskpor and Galatasaray; in Italy with two spells at Udinese and a term each at Hellas Verona, Lazio and Juventus; and in between times, another go-around at Hajduk Split and a year in charge of French side Marseille. Most of Tudor's managerial appointments have come mid-season and have tended not to be lengthy: he has not lasted a full year in any of his jobs since his first spell in charge at Hajduk. The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week. As often as not, that has been Tudor's decision: he cut short his first spell at Udinese, his second term at Hajduk, and his time at Hellas Verona and Marseille. That might be more of a concern for Spurs if they were looking for a long-term successor to Frank, but it would appear that Tudor is only being brought in as a short-term measure.

So the question, really, is whether or not Tudor is likely to have an instant impact on Tottenham's fortunes. That means it is most instructive to look at how the 47 year old has fared after going into jobs mid-season and whether he has achieved the objectives that were put in front of him. The good news for Tottenham is that for the most part, he has, particularly when he has gone in at struggling sides. He has earned a bit of a reputation as a firefighter manager as a result, particularly in Italy. Tudor successfully helped Udinese to beat the drop with solid ends to the season twice over; took over a Hellas Verona towards the beginning of the 2021/22 season with no points from their first three games and led them to finishing an impressive 9th; and inspired both Lazio and Juventus out of lulls to ensure they achieved the European places they wanted in the past two seasons. Tudor likes his sides to be aggressive and entertaining in attack, and when he is given a longer spell in charge his sides tend to have a good goalscoring record alongside a pretty regular defensive record. In the shorter term, though, Tudor has a positive record for improving things at both ends of the pitch. Tudor's second spell at Udinese saw him take over a side that had scored less than a goal per game (0. 89), but under his guidance they finished the season scoring 1. 36 goals per game - all while improving their defensive record from 1. 48 goals conceded per game to just 1. 18. His time at Verona was even more dramatic than that, albeit over a much longer spell. His challenge at Lazio and Juventus was about pushing for European qualification rather than keeping a side out of trouble, and that left less room for improving the attacking record: both sides had done alright on that score up that that point in the season. Instead, Tudor appears to have focused his efforts in those jobs on shoring up the defence. Both sides conceded less than a goal per game in his end-of-season spells in charge, and Lazio were particularly improved: they went from conceding 1. 14 goals per game to an extremely mean 0. 67.

Tudor has generally preferred to line up in a 3-4-2-1 in recent years - that was his preferred shape at Verona, Marseille, Lazio and Juventus - but has previously deployed other variants on a 3-5-2 or a 4-2-3-1. Frank had experimented with a 3-4-2-1 this season, but to generally poor results that meant he kept reverting to a four at the back soon after trying it out. Spurs played that way to disastrous effect in a 4-1 defeat Arsenal in November, in a disappointing 2-2 draw with Burnley in January, and in the first half at home to Manchester City earlier this month, when they found themselves 2-0 down at the break only to come back to draw 2-2 after a change of shape at the break. However, there is a strong argument to be made that Tottenham's big problem was less to do with shape than it was to do with Frank's strategy within that formation.

Tottenham were absurdly negative against Arsenal, in particular, and kept hitting aimless long balls forward to be gobbled up by a Gunners defence that was happy to deal with it all day long. There is clearly a feeling at Spurs that the 3-4-2-1 has promise if it is used properly, and it's easy to see why on paper: they are not replete with traditional full-backs or centre-forwards. But they do have personnel who can operate just off a lone striker, centre-backs who are happy to step out with the ball and wide players who should be at home at wing-back. As with any shape, it's all about how you use it - and Spurs are banking on Tudor's track record for improving a side he has inherited without the ability to bring in new signings.

Tudor does not have much history of managing clubs over the long term, which is not helped by having managed in some infamously sack-happy countries. But they do not need to be unduly concerned about that with Tudor only arriving on an interim basis. .. which, in turn, raises the question of who they might want longer-term. The obvious candidate, of course, would be a returning Mauricio Pochettino, who is not available until after he has led the United States into a World Cup on their own turf. Oliver Glasner will be leaving Crystal Palace this summer, too. It could be that Tudor's appointment in an interim capacity is less a trial run than an intentional short-term measure. Steven Chicken has been working as a football writer since 2009, taking in stints with Football365 and the Huddersfield Examiner. Steven still covers Huddersfield Town home and away for his own publication,  We Are Terriers. com. Steven is a two-time nominee for Regional Journalist of the Year at the prestigious British Sports Journalism Awards, making the shortlist in 2020 and 2023. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.

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