Antonin Kinsky suffered the ultimate humiliation on Tuesday night as the Tottenham goalkeeper was hooked off 15 minutes into the 5-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid and was snubbed by his manager
Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky has taken Igor Tudor’s brutal substitution ‘very badly’ after his Champions League debut nightmare.
The 22-year-old Czech international was selected for the first time since October but lasted just 15 minutes after he made two horrible errors either side of his defence deserting him for Atletico Madrid’s second goal as Spurs’ torture continued to see them fall 3-0 down in a quarter of an hour in Madrid.
Kinsky’s night was finished soon after as Tudor immediately backtracked on his decision to throw the inexperienced keeper into the firing line after dropping Guglielmo Vicario. The Italian was sent off after 15 minutes as Kinsky headed down the tunnel with no acknowledgement or support from his manager.
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Speaking to OLBG, body language expert Darren Stanton gave his analysis of Kinsky’s reaction and Tudor’s snub after the young shot-stopper endured a nightmare Champions League debut having been thrown into the firing line by his manager.
Stanton warned that Kinsky could struggle to recover from his embarrassing night and treatment, saying that his Tottenham team-mates treated him like a child when he was hooked off.
“Speaking as an analyst, this is a fantastic situation for how much material it gives us to talk about,“ Stanton said. “What we see in the moments where Antonin Kinsky let in the goals are some normal reactions for goalkeepers but it is worth noting that putting your head in your hands is still the ultimate pacifying, self-soothing gesture.
“He obviously wants the ground to swallow him up in those moments but his body language in response to these errors is submissive. It is telling us he realises these are his failings and he is taking ownership for them. However, as he leaves the pitch you can see the shift into anger at his manager. We aren’t talking about microexpressions here. It is on full display.
“But he knows what he’s done, and you can see the other players and people on the sidelines give him the sort of gesture a parent might when their child has messed up but he’s not having any of it.”
Captain Cristian Romero appeared to confer with Igor Tudor that Kinsky should be replaced after the two were seen in conversation on the touchline, something that Stanton called out.
“It does look like it was a bit of a stitch up the way we see Cristian Romero going to Igor Tudor, and Tudor’s immediate reaction to what has been said,” continued Stanton.
“When we see Kinsky walk off the pitch, Tudor turns his body away to the right and more or less blanks him as has been suggested by others.
“Kinsky also shifts his own body posture away from Tudor which is a matching behaviour to mirror the non-verbal communication his manager is transmitting to him, and we see a flash of absolute anger across the goalkeeper’s face just before he disappears down the tunnel.
“There’s furrow lines on his forehead. His eyes are brought together, narrowed and his mouth is pierced. It is a classic expression of intense anger. It is fair to say he is deeply cheesed off by what has happened to him, and the decision that has been made. He is also very upset, as you would expect, but he is walking off with a sense of purpose
“From Kinsky’s body language and reactions, I think this episode could have a detrimental effect on him,” concluded Stanton.
“He has of course been penalised for his mistakes and obviously people can make errors and misjudge situations but I don’t think his responses were proportionate. It could be difficult for him to bounce back from this.
“On the evidence of what happened, I think he has taken this very badly so it’ll be quite interesting to see what develops because I think it will have impacted him significantly.”