It can’t get worse, can it? In the iconic words of Mick McCarthy – it can. Of course it can, this is Tottenham after all. “It’s the history of the Tottenham,” was how Giorgio Chiellini put it in March 2018. The history Spurs are making right now is the kind schools would be too ashamed to teach the future generations about. Their ability to self-destruct is borderline impressive at this point. You thought Crystal Palace last Thursday was bad? That was nothing.

At least they still had a two-legged Champions League tie, not so much to look forward to, but to briefly distract them from their Premier League misery. But after this you can forgive any Spurs fan with a ticket who opts not to attend the second leg. They will not overturn a three-goal lead. Igor Tudor’s just lucky this match wasn’t at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. By the half-hour mark, it would have resembled a game behind closed doors.

Fourteen minutes and 59 seconds is the earliest a team has ever led by three goals in a Champions League knockout stage match. It’s also the first time ever that Atleti have scored four goals in one half of a Champions League. Twelve seconds after Richarlison should have made it 4-2 in the 54th minute, Atletico led 5-1 after a lightning-quick counter-attack. Shoot themselves in the foot? Spurs routinely put a double-barreled shotgun to theirs and blow the whole thing off. Then they aim at the other foot just for good measure.

Atletico have some brilliant players, sure, but they’re also a team that had lost 10 times in their previous 43 games this season. They were beaten by both Liverpool and Arsenal in the league phase, albeit both away. They didn’t even have their top goalscorer on the pitch here until the 69th minute. Yet Spurs made them feel like worldbeaters.

Atletico’s lead was almost entirely from Spurs’ mistakes. Just as the defeat to Crystal Palace at the weekend was. The Tottenham hierarchy have no choice now. They could have sacked Tudor after the defeat at Palace, even though it would have seen him in the job fewer than three weeks. Now, after just 24 days, it’s time to admit the gamble has backfired. They got it wrong.

In four games, Tudor’s Spurs have conceded 14 goals. They’ve leaked three goals or more in three of those games. At this point is there any argument whatsoever for keeping him? Other than, of course, that it is brutally cruel to dismiss a manager after just four games. Just 360 minutes of football.

Perhaps there’s an argument to say the next manager won’t get much more out of this Spurs side. There’s only so much you can do with a group of players who see a big red button that says ‘self-destruct’ on it and press it at every opportunity. They don’t learn from their mistakes. They’re a football team of Dories from Finding Nemo. Their lack of leadership is astonishing.

But clearly this group do not respond to this manager, regardless of whatever they say in front of a TV camera. They were bad under Thomas Frank. Under Tudor they’re embarrassingly bad. Their confidence is nonexistent. Antonin Kinsky was substituted on 16 minutes but you could have taken off most of the team. The defending for the second goal was unbelievable. The third saw Ally McCoist react on commentary simply: “Oh my god! I can’t believe I’m watching this.”

Guglielmo Vicario has not exactly been undroppable. But he also had the most clean sheets of any goalkeeper in the Champions League before tonight, with six in eight games. Kinsky should never have started this match. Tudor didn’t even acknowledge Kinsky on his way off the pitch as the Czech made his way straight down the tunnel. Three of his team-mates – Conor Gallagher, Joao Palhinha and Dominic Solanke – soon followed as they tried to console the keeper.

“That’s man management at its very, very worst,” was Steve McManaman’s half-time reaction to Tudor’s cold shoulder. Perhaps it’s an insight into why it’s going so badly for the Croatian. If he was dreaming of landing a Premier League job in the future after this interim spell, he can forget about it. Not happening.

In hindsight, it is hilarious that pre-match, Diego Simeone had played down the idea that Atletico were favourites. He also said: “We know their strengths and weaknesses.” Well there’s plenty of weaknesses but what on earth are Spurs’ strengths? Only giving it a go once they’ve conceded a few goals? There aren’t many others.

This tie is inarguably done. The atmosphere for the second leg will be one of pure apathy. The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be just as flat in every remaining Premier League match if the board don’t act and make a managerial change. The Tudor period is over. Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez have just gleefully hammered the nails into the coffin.

EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page