Spurs are holding talks to recruit their new version of Conte

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Spurs are holding talks to recruit their new version of Conte

Life isn't too bad if you're a Tottenham Hotspur fan right now.

While Spurs earned a piece of pride by beating Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie, they came back down to earth on Sunday afternoon.

Their clash with Nottingham Forest was one of great importance. It was more important than their two-legged tie with Atletico.

They lost to Vitor Pereira's team and will be on a good run to avoid relegation from the Premier League. Lose them and they would be absorbed even more into the mud. Not only did they lose, but they lost well, losing 3-0 and being put to the sword by none other than Morgan Gibbs-White.

Like Eberchi Eze, the attacking midfielder almost signed for the Lilywhites last summer and came back to haunt them this time around, scoring the second goal of the game.

For the decision-makers at Spurs, they must now decide whether to stick with or move away from Igor Tudor.

Who can replace Igor Tudor at Tottenham

The main name on everyone's lips at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium right now is Mauricio Pochettino. Every fan is dreaming of his return but if he is to return to north London, they will have to wait until the summer.

The Argentine player is currently in charge of the USA and is expected to lead them to the World Cup this summer. He will not be released from his duties until that campaign is over and quiet.

As a result, several interim managers have been appointed. Although highly unlikely, both Harry Redknapp and Tim Sherwood have admitted they would love the job, while sensible solutions could be found in the form of Ryan Mason or Robbie Keane.

Elsewhere, a new name has emerged. According to reports in the Telegraph newspaper, the former manager of Monaco, Adi Hutter, has now been selected to take over at Tudor after losing to Forest.

Earlier reports last week revealed that they were already holding talks with Hutter about becoming the new manager in the summer. However, now they could not accelerate their interest and bring him to England immediately.

The Austrian has been out of work since being sacked by Monaco earlier this season so there will be no need to pay compensation, something that will no doubt please the officials at Spurs.

Why Hutter would be a good time to be appointed

Who is Hutter, we hear you ask. After all, he is 56 years old, yet to manage one of the biggest boys in European football like Tudor at Juventus, but he has the experience of coaching a club with the same ambitions as Spurs; ambitions to enter Europe and one day compete for major trophies.

Indeed, after working for one year with Red Bull Salzburg in 2014/15, winning the league and the Austrian cup, he went to Young Boys in Switzerland, where he enjoyed three years and won the league again. From there, he headed to Germany, where he coached Eintracht Frankfurt and Borussia Monchengladbach.

While he was sacked from his latest position at Monaco, Hutter's work in the Bundesliga has to be commended, especially in Frankfurt.

He won Germany's top flight manager for the 2018/19 and 2020/21 seasons, finishing seventh and fifth respectively in those campaigns.

Adi Hutter League Ends
The season	The club	Finish it
2014/15	RB Salzburg	1 st
2015/16	Little Boys	Second time
2016/17	Little Boys	Second time
2017/18	Little Boys	1 st
2018/19	Frankfurt	In the 7th
2019/20	Frankfurt	9 of
2020/21	Frankfurt	5 of
2021/22	Monchengladbach	10
2023/24	Monaco	Second time
2024/25	Monaco	3rd

So, what are you on about? Well, it could be argued that Hutter is similar to Antonio Conte. Indeed, the official website of the Bundesliga wrote in 2021 that he 'took a leaf out of the playbook of Italian expert Antonio Conte on German soil' by using a three-man backline.

While he favored a high tempo 4-4-2 in Salzburg, Germany, he showed a tactical flexibility that was not seen during Thomas Frank's reign at Spurs. It is interesting that he used the right and left foot on their sides rather than having inverted wings.

Although he hasn't used the same tactics since, at Monaco he often switched between a three-man and four-man defensive line, showing great flexibility depending on the fixture.

That's something Tudor tried to test during his time at Spurs but so far it's gone badly. However, for Hutter, there is a real chance he can fire back at Tottenham, combining Conte's tactics with something from Ange Postecoglou's playbook.

Of course, while Spurs can work with three full-backs, they will also be expected to play energetically and quickly with high pressing, which is the basis of Hutter's philosophy in Germany, as well as in Monaco.

That ticks many of the boxes Tottenham's managers would have been looking for. They want good football but they also want tactical flexibility so that the manager and the team can move around. If you can't do that in the Premier League, you're just screwed. Ruben Amorim is a prime example of that.