Joe Hart took aim at Igor Tudor after Antonin Kinsky’s 17-minute horror show in Tottenham’s 5-2 defeat Atletico Madrid, questioning the decision to play the rookie goalkeeper in such a high-pressure match.
Eyebrows were raised ahead of tonight’s Champions League last-16 first leg as Spurs’ established number one Guglielmo Vicario was dropped from Tudor’s starting XI in favour of Kinsky.
Kinsky had previously made only two appearances for the club this season and the surprise selection backfired spectacularly, with the 22-year-old Czech at fault for two of Atleti’s goals in an astonishing first-half capitulation from the visitors at the Metropolitano Stadium.
Marcos Llorente put Atleti in front after just six minutes and it was a shocking slip and mis-kick from Kinsky that gifted the hosts possession in the build-up.
Eight minutes later, another calamitous slip, this time from central defender Micky van de Ven, allowed Antoine Griezmann to race through and double the lead, piling yet more misery on Tudor’s side.
There was a horrible feeling of deja vu as Kinsky produced his second blunder of the night just moments later to put the ball on a plate from Julian Alvarez, who made no mistake from close range for Atleti’s third.
And with Kinsky looking like he wanted the ground to swallow him up, Tudor made the call to take the youngster out of the firing line before the breathless first half drew to a close.
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‘I’ve been trying to make sense of it and my overall feeling is that my heart is absolutely broken for the lad,’ the ex-England and Manchester City goalkeeper Hart said on TNT Sports’ commentary of the match.
‘Look, I know it’s a tough sport, it’s the Champions League, it’s such an important game.
‘I said it before the game, he [Tudor] had an opportunity to give us the reason why he put him in goal and he didn’t say.
‘Was he getting an opportunity tonight? Was he just filling the the gloves for one game? Who knows? And I’m sure that felt like the message given to him [Kinsky] on such a special night.’
Hart was almost lost for words as he attempted to analyse what he had witnessed after Kinsky’s display, which brought back memories of Loris Karius’ disastrous showing for Liverpool in the 2018 Champions League final.
‘I’m not making excuses for the lad, he’s had a horrible 17 minutes,’ he went on.
‘A slip and that third goal was just everything that he didn’t want to happen.
‘I don’t even know what to say, I’ve seen the lot, the same as you [TNT Sports’ commentary team of Darren Fletcher and Ally McCoist]. I know you’re racking your brains from what you’ve seen in football.
‘I’m just heartbroken from the lad, absolutely heartbroken. This Tottenham team is all over the shop at the moment.’
Giving his thoughts while on co-commentary duty for TNT Sports, Ally McCoist suggested Kinsky’s Tottenham career could be ‘finished’ after his nightmarish performance.
‘Finished. It’ll finish him,’ the ex-Rangers and Scotland striker said.
‘There’s no way back. Absolutely [that’s on the manager]. You can make an argument he’s got to do it as well, though, because you cannot make mistakes like that.
‘They’re schoolboy errors. It’s proved he’s made a mistake in changing the goalkeeper. That’s an absolutely remarkable 14 minutes.
‘The thing is, Atletico Madrid haven’t even been asked to work for their goals. They’ve not been cut open, not played great football, played through them; they’ve been handed them on a plate.’
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