Frank fights back against fans as potentially defining Brentford visit approaches

Tottenham Hotspur (0) 1 v Fulham (2

Talking Points

By Kaz Mochlinski at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Thomas Frank finally fought back against the fans turning the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium toxic for the team, after the deteriorating atmosphere again appeared to affect the players in a disappointing defeat by Fulham.

“They can’t be true Tottenham fans” was the Spurs head coach’s most forthright comment about the recurrent booing that marked the Saturday night London derby, as Fulham won in N17 for the first time in 12 years.

It was the 10th time that Tottenham have lost at home in the Premier League in 2025, winning just three matches, making this their worst calendar year in that respect for more than two decades.

In fact, it is now only three wins in Spurs’ last 21 home league games. And the growing discontent among some sections of the supporter base has been especially exacerbated by the latest sorry sequence this season.

Tottenham have notoriously not managed to record a victory in the Premier League on their own ground since the opening weekend in August, subsequently suffering six winless matches, with four losses and two draws.

Spurs are one of the clubs who still print the league table in their official match programme with separate columns for home and away statistics - at present helping to clearly delineate the deep disparity between the two in their case.

Only the bottom side, Wolverhampton Wanderers, have a worse home record this season, and even woeful Wolves have come away from visiting Tottenham with a positive result, back in September gaining one of their two points to date.

This is a Wolves team which is on course for the Premier League’s lowest ever Christmas points total. And yet the pain of that result for the North Londoners pales in comparison with other, even bigger blows this autumn.

The end of Spurs’ unbeaten start to the season in away league games occurring last week with grim inevitability at Arsenal. Drawing at home to Manchester United, against 10 men, when conceding from a stoppage time set-piece.

Losing London derbies at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to Chelsea (yet again) and now Fulham. This latest one with a new form of embarrassment in falling two goals behind inside six minutes of the kick-off.

Those in the crowd who primarily blamed the Spurs goalkeeper, Guglielmo Vicario, and vociferously jeered him, had somehow forgotten his frequent flawless performances since he joined the club two years ago.

There was playing on with a broken ankle and still keeping a clean sheet to beat Manchester City. Plus an even more famous occasion without letting in a goal in this year’s Europa League final success against Manchester United.

Then not least his heroics at the beginning of the month to single-handedly prevent another Chelsea thrashing, as Vicario stood almost alone in limiting the damage to just a one-goal margin of defeat.

No wonder that Frank felt the need to step in and publicly take the side of his keeper against the boo boys. But the Tottenham boss also used the episode to seek a change more generally in the support for Spurs at Premier League home games.

“A mistake from Vicario. It happens. I didn’t like how some fans reacted to that. They booed at him straight after, and also three or four times when he was on the ball. For me that is unacceptable.

“They can’t be true Tottenham fans. Booing after - fair. No problem. But, when we are playing, we need to be together. If we turn it around, we need to do it together. That is hugely important for me.”

It was a theme that Frank kept trying to reinforce on persistent press questioning. “After Vic, that I didn’t like. That is unacceptable. You can’t be after one player” he insisted, before explaining further:

“I think that is very important, because, if you want anyone to perform, you need to be behind them. In my opinion that’s what you do to get people to perform in the best possible way.”

And he acknowledged: “I understand completely the frustration when it’s not working. I think we all was a little bit ‘ok, everything goes against us’, and, you know, it’s frustrating in many ways. So, that I understand, no problem.”

Frank’s passion was very evident as he stated: “The players / I / everyone want to get the win here. Nothing we want more. And I hope the fans can see that they were running out there today, giving everything.

“But football is so beautiful and complex. It’s 11 players that need to be in sync and play and run at the same time. And there are small setbacks during games. You need to get through it and stick to the plan, stick to the bits.

“And sometimes it’s just more tough. And sometimes you’re in a spell where it’s difficult, which it is right now. But there’s only one way, it’s going forward, and do everything you can to get out of it together.

“So there’s only one thing, we keep going, and do everything we can to win the next home game.”

The trouble for Frank is that the upcoming visitors will be Brentford, the club he left during the summer in favour of Spurs. Plenty of Bees’ players and coaching staff know him very well and will be exceedingly keen to emerge on top in the reunion.

Like Fulham, Brentford have struggled in away matches in contrast to their superior home form - which is of course the far more usual order of things. Like Fulham, Brentford will view visiting Tottenham as a great chance to improve on the road.

And the Bees have been better than their riverside rivals. Any disunity inside the Spurs stadium between the supporters and the side sent out by Frank could tip the balance against his team, as has happened previously.

There is an unignorably obvious difference between the backing given to Tottenham on their travels and at home. Furthermore, it is also very evident at their own ground when comparing Premier League and Champions League contests.

Far fewer fans attended the Villarreal and København games, neither of which came close to being sold-out, but those present got behind their players, unequivocally and much more loudly than for domestic league matches at home.

The Spurs side responded with winning performances, extending their excellent recent record in European encounters at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. And the feeling has grown that it is no coincidence, just as they play away with greater resilience.

Could it be that, rather than being a weak team who are badly coached, they have become inhibited by the negativity they frequently face from the regulars at Premier League fixtures in N17?

Additional evidence comes from the swathes of supporters in the home sections who always leave long before the end of games, including at all three league matches in November, against Chelsea, Manchester United and Fulham.

On each occasion, entering the closing stages there was only one goal between the two sides, with any result possible. But, every time, the stands emptied and the long-awaited victory continued to elude Spurs.

Even now that Daniel Levy has departed from the club, the shadow of the former executive chairman still lingers. It was his policy of high admission prices which makes many fans resentful of not getting value for money.

And his reported refusal to contribute £8 million as part of a Transport for London project to create a new Tube station in the vicinity of the stadium means that it is undeniably hard to travel to and from, particularly after games.

However, one home league win might change the Tottenham mood completely. Even if it was freakish or fortuitous. For Frank, it is the exact opposite of his approach at Brentford: the result and not the performance matters at the moment.