A penny for Thomas Frank’s thoughts. Pressure is growing on the Spurs manager after a Guglielmo Vicario disasterclass gifted Fulham a much needed 2-1 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday (November 29).
Marco Silva’s side were ahead after just four minutes when Kenny Tete’s strike took a heavy deflection, guiding it just beyond Vicario who couldn’t do much more. He could have certainly done better for their second, though.
Vicario rushed off his line to intercept a pass aimed at Fulham striker Raul Jimenez, he then uncomfortably dribbled further from his goal before his botched cross came to the feet of Harry Wilson, who passed the ball into an open net.
Mohammed Kudus got one back for Spurs with a love left-footed finish that beat Bernd Leno at his near post, but it wasn’t enough and Spurs suffered yet another home defeat. Here are three things we learned.
It’s not all doom and gloom, Lucas Bergvall is great
Not many Spurs players can hold their heads up high so far this season, but Bergvall deserves a lot of praise. The 19-year-old is really coming into his own under Frank, and he was once again their best player.
The young Swede ended the game as the most accurate passer to play 45 minutes or more on the pitch with a 97% success rate, provided a lovely quick pass over the Fulham defence to provide the assist for Kudus’ goal.
His work rate was top notch too. Bergvall completed six recoveries, made two tackles, and won 3/5 of his duels, playing as a left midfielder in a 4-4-2. Frank is in need of a feel-good story at the moment, Bergvall’s emergence may well earn him some credit.
Home woes continue for conservative Tottenham
It’s hard not to feel for match going Spurs fans at the moment, they’ve just had to endure a record equalling 10th home defeat in 2025, which is now their joint-most home league defeats in a single calendar year in club history (also 10 in 1994 and 2003).
Last season, under Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham were all over the place defensively, and were arguably the easiest side to play against, but they did entertain. Now, with Frank in charge, they’re still losing, but they’re struggling to create chances.
Spurs had 63% possession in this one but generated an xG of 0.86 from their 14 shots, only two of which were on target. Perhaps just as worrying, Frank’s side had an open play xG of 0.56.
Their creative troubles primarily come from their midfield. Frank has usually played Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur in the centre, but neither is capable of getting the ball up the pitch quick enough, and opposition defenders are able to get into position with relative ease when they should be scrambling to repel a counter.
Of course, that’s not the only problem, but Frank needs to start taking more risks, especially when they face a side like Fulham at home.
Fulham will be fine
It’s been a somewhat worrying start to the season for the West Londoners, before this game they were only three points about the relegation zone, but two consecutive wins as now seen them climb up to 15th, just one point off Spurs.
Silva has been vocal about Fulham’s lack of business in the summer and urged the club to make amends in January ahead of their trip to Tottenham. Unfortunately for him, with any real threat of relegation looking unlikely, we would be surprised if they splashed any major cash.
So, we predict Fulham will be totally fine some the end of the season, despite a few naysayers early in the campaign. Beyond that, with Silva’s contract set to expire next summer, who knows.