Alan Shearer has said that Tottenham are in a ‘mess’ – with or without Igor Tudor – as the club faces a decision over the interim manager’s future.

Tudor joined Spurs on a deal until the end of the season in February. But the team have failed to win any of his five Premier League games in charge and have crashed out of the Champions League.

A draw against Liverpool and a win on the night in the second leg of their Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid raised hope that Spurs were starting to turn things around.

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But that was dashed on Sunday when they fell to a 3-0 home defeat against relegation rivals Nottingham Forest. The result leaves Tottenham just one point clear of the bottom three.

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It has also raised the heat on Tudor, with reports suggesting he could face the sack. Tottenham will be cautious of making a hasty decision with the managerdealing with the death of his father over the weekend.

Shearer has refused to blame Tudor for the ‘mess’ that Spurs find themselves in. He also highlighted the big improvement needed if the team are to beat off relegation at the end of the season.

Speaking to Betfair, the former striker said: “It was really poor at the weekend again for Spurs. I watched the whole game and the alarming thing for Spurs is being beaten 3-0 by a team who you're scrapping with yourselves, particularly at home.

“And again, where was the response? Forest scored late on in the first half, and you're thinking, OK, what have you got?

“Give us something in reply, and the second half was even worse. You can feel the edginess, and I get that. I understand that. But defensively, they're just all over the place, and that's more important than anything, particularly at any level of football.

“You can't defend like that, like they did. The lack of energy or drive to stop balls coming into the box is one thing, and then the lack of fighting and scraping when people are in and around the box. There wasn’t anyone anywhere near Morgan Gibbs-White before his goal. The alarming thing for Spurs is how are they going to keep a clean sheet? They're just a mess defensively."

Shearer made clear: “It's not Igor Tudor’s fault, but obviously, he's picked up one point from five games, but the club was a mess before he got there.

“You're not going to be put in his situation without the club being in a mess. As tough as it is, he hasn't been able to have an impact on the squad and on the Football Club. Now, clearly, he's going through a terrible, horrible time off the pitch in terms of the death of his father. It's an impossible time for him and Spurs are in a deep mess.”

The international break and the FA Cup quarter-finals mean that there will be a bit of time before Tottenham are back in action. They will look to kick-start their fight for survival when they travel to take on Sunderland on Sunday, April 12 (2pm kick-off).