Klinsmann refuses to rule himself out of Spurs job

Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Jürgen Klinsmann refused to rule himself out of taking on the managerial role at his former club as pressure continues to mount on Igor Tudor.

The Croatian has only been at Spurs since Feb. 13 but after four consecutive defeats and the north London club just a point above the relegation zone, he seems destined to follow the fate of predecessor Thomas Frank and face the sack.

With only nine matches left of the season though, who Spurs bring in next could effectively decide whether they are in the Premier League or not next season, with a massive relegation six-pointer against Nottingham Forest on March 22.

Klinsmann has not been officially spoken to by Tottenham regarding his potential availability, with Sean Dyche the favourite to take over at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium should Tudor be sacked.

The German icon, who played 68 matches for Spurs, scoring 38 goals in his two spells at the club, said however that anybody would want the job when asked if he would take it, but insisted whoever was instilled as the next manager needed to connect "emotionally" with everyone.

He said on ESPN FC: "Who wouldn't want the job, it is Tottenham.

"Whoever you choose, you need a person who can connect to everyone emotionally, that knows the club, that feels the club, that feels the people.

"Because, to get out of this mess, they need to develop a fighting spirit, a really nasty, ugly, fighting spirit and that goes only over the emotions.

"So you don't need to have to bring in the mastermind of tactical stuff or whatever, you need to have somebody who gets everybody onboard and go and get these games done in a positive way and get everybody behind the fact that they are in danger of going down to the Championship.

"So no matter who you put in charge now, it goes only over the emotions, the willingness to suffer and fight and maybe take the ball away from some ballboys on the sidelines."

Klinsmann was referencing the action of Chelsea winger Pedro Neto, who pushed over a ballboy in their 5-2 defeat to reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain.

The big talking point of Spurs' own 5-2 Champions League defeat, which came at the helm of Atlético Madrid on Tuesday night, was goalkeeper Antonín Kinsky being replaced after just 17 minutes.

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Tudor has received significant backlash for both his decision to start Kinsky in such a massive game and then to replace him after his two major errors effectively knocked Spurs out of the Champions League.

Former Germany and USMNT manager Klinsmann sympathised with Kinsky, with his own son being a goalkeeper, and the German saying "it is the worst thing" a keeper can go through.

He added: "I think if you ask him [Tudor] today and he reflects about the decision making before the game to play him and then during the game, obviously to sub him out after 17 minutes, he would re-think their whole situation.

"Obviously, it is a killer for the kid, it is the worst thing a goalkeeper can go through, I feel for the kid because my own son is a goalkeeper and I hope he never gets a moment like that.

"He will obviously make mistakes and he will make similar mistakes like Kinsky did there but obviously to then get pulled off after 17 minutes in a game in front of a sold-out crowd in Madrid, because you have these two blackouts is simply brutal.

"So I think we all felt for the boy and obviously you are on the ground, you get back up and you get going but this is a massive shocker for a young player like him."

Aside from the sympathy for Kinsky, Klinsmann felt that throwing the Czech keeper in at the deep end, only to replace him after 17 minutes was "a huge punishment."

"He threw him in the cold water and in that moment, the water was too cold," the German said.

"He made those two huge mistakes and then the other story to discuss certainly is how do you react to it, just drag it out until half-time.

"Maybe then you can talk to him and then you explain to him that you will sub him off and bring back Vicario in that moment.

"He decided to do it after 17 minutes and that is a huge punishment for a young kid like him."