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Here's every single word the Tottenham Hotspur interim head coach said after the draw at Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday
Igor Tudor was a happy man after taking his first Premier League point as a manager following Tottenham's 1-1 draw at Liverpool on Sunday.
Spurs had started brightly with teenager Souza, playing as a right winger, forcing Alisson Becker into a save but found themselves behind in the 18th minute when Dominik Szoboszlai put Liverpool ahead with a free-kick that Guglielmo Vicario should have done better with, getting only a hand to it and helping it on its way in.
The visitors did not crumble. Instead Richarlison had a couple of big headed chances at the end of the first half, Alisson saving one well and the Liverpool keeper remained busy in the second period even if Spurs looked vulnerable at the back.
It was the busy Richarlison who finally found a leveller for the north London outfit in the 90th minute. A long Vicario kick ended up at the feet of substitute Randal Kolo Muani and he knocked it to the Brazilian in the box to scuff an effort low into the left-hand corner of the net.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to the Croatian after the draw. Here's the full transcript from Tudor's press conference at Anfield.
How does it feel to get your first Premier League point?
Nice! Nice, some fresh air, some good things for the confidence of the players, everyone again around the club and especially the fans. Good team spirit, seeing the circumstances the team was in today, coming here at Anfield with 12 [outfield] players, what we already know.
So this is something big. We stayed in the game, we believed, I felt that we could score the goal, the players also felt it, so, ok, it's nice.
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Sometimes when a team is on a downward spiral, you need that one moment that just kicks you back up again, could Richarlison's goal be the moment?
Yeah, yeah, we hope, you know. It's a long way to our goal, which is to stay in the Premier League, still a lot of games to play, but today was important to show what they showed, independently of the result. When you are honest, you need to be honest, give everything, then the football will give you back.
That was my words before the game, so this happened today. As I said, it was not easy, and now we need to see now what to do in these two games, in front of us, to see who is able to play, who is not able to play, who is injured, who is not injured, so it's not easy. We continue to have problems from that point of view, the numbers, but that's why this result is even more important.
You've spoken about needing a small team mentality in recent weeks, do you think they showed that today?
Yeah, today with that. With the ball, as I said, simple things, our possession with the ball, simple things, second balls, fight, because it's like a moment like that deserves to do simple things, so starting with good team spirit, good defence, and fight, and they showed this, it's a good start, let's say.
You changed your system today with four at the back and Souza on the right?
We were preparing one training session with Conor [Gallagher] in the middle, and other solutions, but we needed to change today, so it was a system, it was a team putting in without training, let's say, two, three positions were changed, because it totally happened like this, you know, you prepare two trainings, then in the morning the team you didn't prepare, because someone is out, so this, again, to repeat, is even more value of this victory to the guys. Congratulations to the guys, they were happy there also, you know, team spirit, that was the key of this point.
There have been a lot of questions about your management since you've been here, does this game show that the players are fighting for you and listening to what you're saying?
When you make analysis of any kind of coach, you need to see what were the games, so when I watched last two games, and I'm here, it was four games, let's see, first two games, and then other two games, when you watch the games, I think there is nothing to comment from the football point of view, when I watch our two games, and I need to have comment of the coach, I cannot say nothing, so there is nothing to comment when you get red card, you have 1-0, and what happened last game, so all those who are speaking and comment, what you can say, if you are honest with you, make analysis of the coach, think after these two games, what can I say, there is nothing to comment, there is nothing about football, there is nothing about football, you know.
So, job is of coach, you know how it is, I am coaching 15 years, never was thinking one second about my future, one second even, I never think about my future, my past, I always think about training tomorrow, how to help the players, don't read nothing, don't watch nothing, future is just imagination, future don't exist, it's a constant thing, of today, of tomorrow, training, so you, I don't know, just losing energy, thinking what will happen, don't give you nothing, never, this job in football, in life, nothing, just focus on now, here, that's the key, for the players even, you can get away from the fever in this way, what is thinking, what will happen, bring you in a state of mind, which is not, give you nothing, so stay now, be focused, what you can change, that's what every coach is doing.
What did you make of Sarr and Gray’s performance as a young midfield pairing again?
I like them very much in the Atletico game as well, in the middle. They have both things, good energy, running, even quality.
I would like to have this consistency with the team, you know, like other coaches. Today, seeing the bench of Liverpool, it's like, makes you feel different. So, without having a complete squad at the time, you can't work on a daily base, everything is almost impossible. So the job is hard to do, sometimes maybe you cannot even imagine, because you are outside, how difficult is the job to do here, and in the end, it is always about results.
So if there are no results, you know, it's always like someone who is charged, he's not probably, he's not working good, he's not good enough, but... okay.
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