Igor Tudor tells Tottenham players: "You can cry or you can fight"

Igor Tudor has issued a blunt message to his Tottenham players, telling them they can either 'cry or fight'.

Tudor's time in charge has seen him oversee three Premier League losses before a European thrashing in midweek, but the nature of the 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid, in which he subbed off Antonin Kinsky after his side went 3-0 down in 15 minutes, with the Czech stopper at fault for two of them, has come under particular scrutiny.

The stand-in keeper was given the nod over number one Guglielmo Vicario, and cut an emotional figure as he trudged off the field, leading to widespread criticism of the Croatian coach's handling of the situation.

Tottenham have now been dragged into a relegation dogfight, and it's not impossible that interim boss Tudor is replaced before the end of the season.

Speaking ahead of his side's trip to Liverpool on Sunday, Tudor said: "It's been tough, for sure. Not just because of the last game but also the period. It's not an easy situation or moment. It's a big challenge to change things.

"Like everything in life, you can choose how you see the situation. You can cry or you can fight. You can be the victim or you can change something.

"This is the message I want to communicate to the players. The bottle is either half full or half empty. Here there is nothing full. There are a lot of empty things, but difficult moments don't last.

"It will pass and I believe the players will take this as a challenge and an opportunity. We stand up with the courage to change things and after this period they will become better people and better players."

Tudor's job hasn't been made any easier by Tottenham's ongoing injury crisis, with the Croatian becoming the latest Spurs boss to express his exasperation at the situation.

“Cuti Romero and Palhinha are out. Micky van de Ven is out. [Yves] Bissouma has a problem and Conor [Gallagher] has a fever but we hope he will be okay," Tudor added.

"Always something happen. Very rare and I've never seen this in my career."