A Tottenham Hotspur manager’s lot is so rarely a happy one. In short order, Thomas Frank is running through the gamut of his predecessors, from hope to disappointment to what now resembles hopelessness. Demolition by Arsenal had already created a sticky wicket. A decent midweek showing in Paris, though another defeat, had barely increased the credit rating. Losing to Fulham, a team with a previous away record as miserable as Spurs’ home form, intensified the pressure. That Frank was appointed by the departed stewardship of Daniel Levy is to be noted; fresh ownership regimes tend to be trigger-happy with inherited managers.
Should such a decision be made, and it still seems a premature outcome considering Frank made slow starts at his previous clubs, Marco Silva, linked previously on a couple of occasions, would be a live contender. By six minutes in, Silva was cavorting on the sidelines with his Fulham staff. His team were 2-0 up and the home fans were baying for blood. By the final whistle, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium emptied, the mood was even lower, Frank’s outlook even bleaker.
The damage was done early on. Following neat skills from Samuel Chukwueze, Pedro Porro and Archie Gray tied in knots, Kenny Tete was given space and grace to score, via a deflection off Destiny Udogie. Two minutes later Guglielmo Vicario’s mis-kick from way outside his own area, the Italian heading out on a wholly unscheduled safari, had been diverted to Harry Wilson by Josh King. Wilson guided his lob beautifully, the keeper stranded. “I saw the keeper was in a sticky situation,” said Wilson.
“That gave us the confidence and the boost we needed,” said Silva, celebrating Fulham’s first win at Tottenham since Martin Jol pulled off a revenger’s win in 2013. “I am not here to analyse them, it’s not for me. Football is about risk and we took it.”
Vicario’s next attempts to clear his lines were jeered. “They can’t be true Tottenham fans because everyone supports each other when you’re on the pitch,” said Frank, veering into the territory of lighting the blue touch paper.
Fulham’s previous haul from six away games had been the single point collected on the opening day at Brighton. For Tottenham, their attacking style was kryptonite, rather like most visiting teams’. Spurs’ last home victory came that same opening weekend; only Manchester United, Southampton and Burnley have lost there in the Premier League in 2025.
As Frank raged impotently on the sidelines, Chukwueze, making an impressive first league start, hit a post; where Tottenham were disastrous, Fulham were devastating. “Chukwu-magic – that’s his nickname in the training field,” said Alex Iwobi of his fellow Nigerian.
The Parisian promise of a partnership between Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani was far less encouraging in London. Silva had been watching on Wednesday. “I think we controlled that situation well,” he said. Spurs players departed at half-time with boos rattling the rafters and returned to a half-empty stadium, fans paying high prices favouring warmth over misery. Those of an xG persuasion would have noted a flatlining score of 0.07 for the first half.
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There were initial signs of life from Spurs, those in the giant stand behind the goal offering tacit encouragement. Fulham, perhaps mindful of their previous travel sickness, began to retreat and Mohammed Kudus’s goal, smashed with his right foot, Bernd Leno’s response unconvincing, set up 30 minutes for Spurs to save the match, and possibly Frank’s job.
On came Wilson Odobert, Xavi Simons and Rodrigo Bentancur, and chances at last piled up, Raúl Jiménez clearing off the line from Lucas Bergvall’s flicked header. Fulham, meanwhile, ran down the clock to take the sting from opposition whose renewed strength of purpose was curbed by a lack of coherency.
Nobody could find sufficient inspiration for a revival mission that eventually flagged in tandem with the spirits of Tottenham fans. “We are in a tough spell right now and for my players it is about being as calm as possible and doing everything we can to work through it,” said Frank. The inspirational figure he cut at Brentford has found little constituency at Tottenham.
