Sami Mokbel
BBC Sport Senior football correspondent
Igor TudorGetty Images
This is the question Tottenham’s board will be asking themselves after Igor Tudor’s latest aberration: are the players responding to the manager’s methods?
The answer appears clear. Four games, four losses. Fourteen goals conceded.
Results aside, sources have indicated to BBC Sport in recent days that members of the Tottenham squad are still to be convinced that Tudor has the tools to guide this struggling team away from the sorry predicament in which they find themselves.
So, with that in mind, the club’s hierarchy clearly have a big decision to make.
Before their latest loss at the Metropolitano Stadium, internal concerns over Tudor’s position had already started to generate.
This result will only serve to sharpen the focus on Tudor’s job security in the coming days.
Before the clash in Spain, there was a sense that a positive performance in Madrid could be used as a building block for Tudor ahead of a crucial game at Liverpool in the Premier League this weekend.
You wonder if the manner of this loss - and the sub-plots that unravelled on a tortuous night for Spurs - has altered the direction of travel.
Tudor was appointed because of his track record in sparking immediate improvements at other clubs, namely at Juventus and Lazio.
The Croatian’s arrival has heralded the opposite effect. That, coupled with what some have described as a “disconnect” between players and the manager, leaves Tudor under increased scrutiny.
A decision to sack Tudor so soon after his appointment would provide a clear admission of error from the Tottenham hierarchy. The club’s ownership, you’d imagine, will be demanding answers.
But keeping Tudor may prove an even bigger mistake with Tottenham’s top-flight status on the line.