Tottenham appoint Igor Tudor-aide Ivan Javorcic as Assistant Manager
Tottenham Hotspur have appointed Ivan Javorcic as assistant coach under interim head coach Igor Tudor. This comes after John Heitinga left his position at the club after the sacking of Thomas Frank. Heitinga himself was at the club for a mere 33 days. [h/t Alasdair Gold]
Javorcic, 47, is a Croatian coach who has worked closely with Tudor in the past, most recently during Tudor’s seven-month spell at Juventus. Prior to that, he assisted Tudor at Lazio as well.
Stints as manager at clubs like Venezia, Sudtirol and Pro Patria predate his three-month stint at Lazio with his boss. Javorcic has 2 league titles, 17/18 Serie D/B with Patria and 21/22 Serie C/A with Sudtirol.
Ivan Javorcic’s professional career
As a player, he has featured in all tiers of Italian football, making 44 of his 111 senior appearances in Serie B. As a coach, Javorcic has built a reputation for being tactically detailed and intense on the training pitch.
During his own managerial stints in Italy and Croatia, he favoured organised defensive structures with aggressive pressing triggers and quick vertical transitions
At Juventus, Javorcic was heavily involved in defensive organisation and shape work, areas Spurs have struggled with this season. Tottenham have conceded cheap goals, lost structure in key moments and lacked coordination between the lines.
Bringing in a coach who specialises in tightening defensive distances and drilling positional discipline should most likely help Spurs. With Heitinga and other members of Frank’s staff departing, Tudor is reshaping the backroom team in his own image.
Javorcic is part of that reset. Set-piece coach Andreas Georgson and individual development coach Cameron Campbell remain, but the core voice next to Tudor in the dugout will now be Javorcic. Essentially, Tudor and Co. have to provide whatever it takes for the club to steer far from the troubles they’re in now. And that is why, this seems like a functional set of appointments, which can only take us as far as the end of season and nothing beyond that.