Igor Tudor defends 17th-minute Antonin Kinsky substitution

Tottenham interim boss Igor Tudor has stood by his decision to replace Antonin Kinsky just before the 20-minute mark during a chaotic defeat to Atletico Madrid. The 23-year-old goalkeeper made a series of errors that allowed Atletico to lead 3-0 inside the opening quarter of an hour, and Tudor hauled him off for Guglielmo Vicario.

The refusal to acknowledge a tearful Kinsky as he left the pitch provoked strong reactions, with Joe Hart left "flabbergasted" by the perceived lack of man-management. Tudor defended the substitution as a choice made to limit damage. "When you make this decision to change, you always lose.

When you do that substitution after 15 minutes, the coach loses in both cases. First case, because you put him in so everyone says 'why are you doing this? You killed the guy'. If you don’t, you are taking risk to concede one or two more goals, so I took the decision after thinking and if I needed to, I would do the same again.

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