Tudor could solve midfield injury crisis by releasing Spurs’ new signing Eriksen

Tottenham Hotspur face Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, but Igor Tudor will only be half the squad.

Four games is not a long time (in the league) for a manager to realize his vision, but Spurs don’t have much time to get things right. Mickey van de Ven called this situation the “doomsday scenario.”

For many fans, there is certainly something apocalyptic about Tottenham’s stunning and stunning collapse as the Londoners stripped back to avoid relegation.

Latest Spurs injury news

Tottenham are exhausted as they prepare to face last year’s champions. Liverpool have been largely out of form this season, but the severity of Spurs’ injury crisis has ended any hope of securing a result on Merseyside.

Tudor is at risk of being removed from his interim post, but the fact that the board is waiting until after the weekend speaks volumes about the club’s strategy and recognition that it will have to withstand this storm of fitness concerns.

Van de Ven’s red card in last week’s game against Crystal Palace did not help matters. The Dutchman was arguably Tottenham’s star man this season, but his reckless lunge on Ismaila Sarr gave the Eagles a way back into the game, deepening fears.

Complicating matters, Cristian Romero and Joao Parinha are both sidelined with concussions after clashing heads in the defeat to Atlético Madrid.

In all, with 13 first-team players potentially missing the trip, with Yves Bissouma out injured and Conor Gallagher down with a fever, Tudor could make adjustments in the absence of midfield options and unleash struggling stars in new roles.

Tudor needs to move Spurs forward in new role

Tottenham will face this side at Anfield, but Tudor could help sow the seeds for more consistent and confident performances in the final months of the season by coaxing form from Xavi Simmons, who has struggled since joining Tottenham from RB Leipzig for around £51m last summer.

Journalist Graham Bailey said the 22-year-old is one of Europe’s most talented playmakers and Londoners consider him to be a “potential superstar”, but there is no denying that he is finding it tough in north London, with content creator Ronaldo Brown saying a few months ago that he was “swallowed up in the play”, too uncertain on the ball and lacking momentum in some parts of his attack.

But context is important, and the enormity of Tottenham’s challenge is sucking the life out of these players, all of whom have more to give.

Even through his struggles, elements of Simmons’ game shine through, proving why he was compared to Christian Eriksen as an attacking midfielder upon his arrival.

As an attacking midfielder, he is still able to win a fair amount of duels, even though he is stuck from a defensive standpoint. Of course, he performs best when deployed in the attack and pushed forward to the center circle, but desperate situations call for last-minute measures, and this could help rebuild Spurs’ depleted midfield while retaining some of the creativity that has proved so elusive all season.

And it’s not like he can’t get things done himself, with a deft foot and a willingness to take on responsibilities that has clearly waned in recent months at Tottenham.

Simmons doesn’t have the skillset to replace a player like Parinha, but he could fill a box-to-box role against a Liverpool midfield that has left much promise this season, and could potentially set a positive tone for the business months of this difficult campaign.