Tottenham Hotspur head into this November international break on less positive terms than they did last month following their 2-1, Mathys Tel fueled win over Leeds United. Because while Tel again was good in front of goal with a lovely strike to give Spurs hope against Manchester United this past Saturday and fellow young forward Wilson Odobert seemingly helped the team on to a win, Spurs simply collapsed in the waning moments to drop more points in a game they should have won.
That's been the story of the 2025/26 season so far for Spurs, and while they are clearly in a better spot this year under Thomas Frank than they were in the 2024/25 Premier League season under Ange Postecoglou, there's still a lot of work to be done.
There are three players, in particular, who need to step up more as we take stock of the entire Tottenham squad heading into this natural break point at the November international fixtures. And all three of them were unsurprisingly horrid in the 2-2 draw with Man United.
The worst of those players this season has been Brennan Johnson. Tottenham were forced to start the right winger against Manchester United with Mohammed Kudus injured, and, once again, Johnson proved to be only a fraction of the winger that the Ghanaian international is.
Brennan Johnson is on the verge of being booted out
His clutch goal in Bilbao against the Red Devils will forever live in Tottenham hearts, but this most recent performance against Man United was, unfortunately, more reflective of the player. Johnson has not blossomed under Frank as many had hoped, but, rather, he's been even more exposed as a one dimensional player who will likely rapidly play himself out of Tottenham entirely once Dejan Kulusevski is back from his injury to more adequately back Kudus up.
Richarlison has been just as poor and perhaps even more disappointing overall, given what we have seen from the Brazilian in the past. Like Johnson, Richarlison came to Tottenham with a high price tag, and while he does have his moments, his four goals and two assists this season have been more down to fluke than skill, as evidenced by his deflected goal against Manchester United.
The 28-year-old has not been strong all-around for Tottenham, and the sooner Thomas Frank discards him entirely from the Tottenham forward rotation, the better off this team will be in so many ways.
Behind him on Saturday against Man United, Djed Spence was equally poor, and he's been as bad as any fullback in the Premier League this season. He's not a left back at all, which is obvious, but you'd still expect more from any starter in the Premier League than what Spence is offering going forward. His defending isn't as good as he'd like people to think either, and Spurs have to seriously consider if he's even a good option to back Pedro Porro on the left either.