{"id":43612,"date":"2026-02-22T17:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T22:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/good-player-with-bad-habits-igor-tudor-criticizes-tottenham-players-after-north-london-derby-defeat\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T17:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T22:18:16","slug":"good-player-with-bad-habits-igor-tudor-criticizes-tottenham-players-after-north-london-derby-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/good-player-with-bad-habits-igor-tudor-criticizes-tottenham-players-after-north-london-derby-defeat\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Good player with bad habits&#8217; \u2013 Igor Tudor criticizes Tottenham players after North London derby defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_74 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/good-player-with-bad-habits-igor-tudor-criticizes-tottenham-players-after-north-london-derby-defeat\/#Manager_Igor_Tudor_says_Tottenham_have_good_players_with_bad_habits\" >Manager Igor Tudor says Tottenham have good players with bad habits<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/02\/22\/good-player-with-bad-habits-igor-tudor-criticizes-tottenham-players-after-north-london-derby-defeat\/#Tottenham_are_in_serious_danger_of_relegation\" >Tottenham are in serious danger of relegation<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tottenham Hotspur&#8217;s new manager Igor Tudor pulled no punches in his post-match assessment following his team&#8217;s 4-1 defeat at Arsenal.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In his first match in charge at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Croatian tactician witnessed a performance that appeared to be marred by deep-rooted &#8220;bad habits&#8221; within the team.<\/p>\n<p>Despite Spurs languishing in 16th place after a crushing defeat, Tudor remains defiant about the team&#8217;s chances of survival, despite his scathing diagnosis of the current dressing room culture.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Manager_Igor_Tudor_says_Tottenham_have_good_players_with_bad_habits\"><\/span>Manager Igor Tudor says Tottenham have good players with bad habits<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 612px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(Photo by John Walton\/PA Images via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>After the final whistle, Tudor was asked by the media if he still remained confident Tottenham could avoid a devastating relegation.<\/p>\n<p>His reaction was a mixture of faith in the team&#8217;s raw talent and dissatisfaction with their application.<\/p>\n<p>Tudor said that although the physical quality was there, the &#8220;mental&#8221; burden from the previous regime and a lack of concentration in key moments, such as conceding a goal in the second half just 23 seconds into the game, were what currently separated them from the elite.<\/p>\n<p>He said (via BBC Sport):<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Of course I&#8217;m confident, because I believe they are good players with bad habits. They are good players. No one can say they don&#8217;t have quality. But to be in the game from the first minute to the second minute, you have to flip the mental switch and keep this mental sharpness.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Tottenham_are_in_serious_danger_of_relegation\"><\/span>Tottenham are in serious danger of relegation<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Tudor talks of a &#8220;mental switch,&#8221; but the standings tell a far more urgent story. The 4-1 defeat, boosted by braces from Ebelesi Eze and Victor Gokeres, means Spurs are without a win in the Premier League throughout 2026 so far.<\/p>\n<p>With 11 games left, Tottenham sit four points above the relegation zone.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;state of emergency&#8221; that Tudor described when he took over has only intensified, with footage showing key players such as Micky van de Ven ignoring Tudor&#8217;s instructions, making it extremely difficult to break these &#8220;bad habits&#8221; before stepping down.<\/p>\n<p>Tottenham must find their sharpness quickly in next Sunday&#8217;s crucial game or face unimaginable prospects in Championship football.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tottenham Hotspur&#8217;s new manager Igor Tudor pulled no punches in his post-match assessment following his team&#8217;s 4-1 defeat at Arsenal. In his first match in charge at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Croatian tactician witnessed a performance that appeared to be marred by deep-rooted &#8220;bad habits&#8221; within the team. Despite Spurs languishing in 16th place [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[40],"class_list":{"0":"post-43612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}