The last week has been far from ideal for Tottenham Hotspur, with Thomas Frank seeing his team lose in the League Cup and the London derby against Chelsea.
That defeat against Chelsea, in particular, has caused much concern among the Tottenham fanbase, who were frustrated with yet another poor showing at home.
Add to that the growing injury worries at Spurs, with Mohamed Kudus, Djed Spence, and Lucas Bergvall added to the list of absentees, and Thomas Frank has quite the headache ahead of facing FC Copenhagen in the Champions League.
However, the biggest concern at the club right now is with the leadership group, as Guglielmo Vicario piles on the pressure by lashing out at the supporters.
Guglielmo Vicario criticism of Tottenham fans is wrong
After the final whistle on Saturday evening, Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence snubbed Frank for a handshake and stormed down the tunnel at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Now, Vicario has seemingly blamed the supporters in the stadium for not getting behind the team and contributing to a difficult atmosphere for the defeat against Chelsea.
Vicario said: “We have spoken. We need cooler heads [during the games]. If we had a bit more help during some situations from the stands, maybe we could do a bit better. But we can’t do anything about that. It was a big, painful situation. They can express their pain.”
Close to 60,000 Spurs fans spent their Saturday night watching the team lose to Chelsea yet again. In fact, Tottenham have only won two of their last ten home league clashes with the Blues. Surely, then, voicing their discontent from the stands is more than warranted on this occasion, especially given the nature of the game, in which the Lilywhites generated an xG of just 0.10 from a total of three shots.
Coming for the fans is never a good idea, unless in extreme circumstances, of course. Right now, the only extreme issue is the entertainment value of this Tottenham team, and Vicario’s comments are going to alienate the supporters even more at the worst possible time.
Thomas Frank needs a serious conversation with his leadership group
There’s no denying Tottenham are struggling right now. Results have been fairly inconsistent, but performances have failed to ignite a spark under Thomas Frank.
The more glaring issue, though, is the behaviour of Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence. Internally, it’s said Spurs are ‘satisfied’ that a resolution was found with regards to the incident on Saturday, but whatever the reason for their actions, those two players showed a total lack of respect for their manager in public view.
Van de Ven has captained the team on multiple occasions this season and should act with more composure and responsibility.
With James Maddison out injured, Vicario criticising the fans, and van de Ven acting out against the manager, it’s not a good look for Spurs and their leadership group. You’d hope Thomas Frank can get a hold of the situation quickly behind the scenes and they can all clear the air, or bigger problems may start to arise down the line.