Hotspur HQ

Tottenham Hotspur striker Dominic Solanke has appeared in just three games during the 2025/26 season thus far, all of them off the bench. Spurs have not featured the English forward in a single game since he got 12 minutes on Aug. 23 against Manchester City.

In late September, Tottenham told everyone that Solanke had underwent a minor surgery on his ankle, and because it was termed as a minor, clean up procedure by head coach Thomas Frank, Spurs supporters were assuming Solanke would be back any time now.

Well, it's been two months later, and Solanke seems no closer to returning than he was back then. Sometimes, we hear updates from Frank about how Solanke is a week or two away, about how he is close, about how he is training. And because Spurs fans know better than to believe anything and have seen how injuries have ravaged the squad to the point where minor absences become lengthy spells on the sidelines, they knew to expect the worst with Solanke.

Dominic Solanke is gone with the wind

But it's getting ridiculous at this point. Solanke has played a grand total of 31 Premier League minutes this season - none since the end of August. He is missing in action, and with Richarlison pretty much the same - except, you know, he's actually on the pitch - Spurs are entirely reliant on Randal Kolo Muani, who finally recovered from the deadest of legs, to carry the striker position.

Spurs spent a record 65 million pounds on Solanke two summers ago. He was critical in the Europa League win, yes, but aside from that, Spurs have very little to show for their investment in the all around forward.

Tottenham fans are pushing for answers now from the club as to what is really going on with Solanke. If he's supposedly been close to a return weeks ago and if the procedure was only a minor one, why, then is he still out? Why has he only been able to play 31 minutes? Why was he able to return in August to start the season after last season's injury, only to get knocked out again in September?

Solanke should be an important part of a Tottenham squad that is very, very thin at the forward positions, including the No. 9. He is nowhere to be found, and Spurs are going to have to address this soon; fans are starting to wonder what is really going on here and if they will ever see Solanke out there again this season.

There's no room for respite for Thomas Frank's slumping Tottenham, with a tough Premier League away day on the horizon.

The current situation is bleak and only darkening, with a trip to Tyneside hardly what this Spurs team needs right now. But hey, at least St. James' Park is a long, long way away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

We've already been beaten at Newcastle's imposing ground this season, with the Magpies prevailing in a Carabao Cup tie back in October. We can only hope for an alternate result in midweek, because three points would be absolutely huge for Frank, given the current situation.

The manager's team selection is continuing to come under scrutiny, and here's what he could opt for on Tuesday night.

Predicted Tottenham lineup vs. Newcastle

Guglielmo Vicario (GK) – Despite his egregious error at the weekend, there hasn't been much talk of Antonín Kinsky coming into the team. The Czech goalkeeper had a bit of a nightmare on Tyneside in the cup tie.

Djed Spence (RB) – Pedro Porro certainly didn't endear himself to supporters at the weekend, but that's not the reason why Frank is likely to take him out of the side. The Spaniard has been ever so disappointing in recent weeks.

Cristian Romero (CB) – Romero was poor in Paris, but his absence is always hard-felt, and that was the case again on Saturday.

Micky van de Ven (CB) – The Dutchman was pretty powerless to stop Fulham more misery upon the Lilywhites on Saturday, and he'll have his usual partner back for Tuesday's game.

Destiny Udogie (LB) – Isolated down the left on Saturday, we can only hope that there's a reversion to the left-sided dynamics that brought success against Leeds United back in October.

Pape Matar Sarr (CM) – João Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur have emerged as net negatives, so if I'm Frank, I'm trusting the energetic and more fearless youth.

Lucas Bergvall (CM) – Bergvall can be the great unifier in such murky times. The Swede has had a stop-start season so far, partly because of a concussion, but we've continued to enjoy glimpses of his talent.

Mohammed Kudus (RW) – It'd be great to see more of Kudus in shooting zones, with the Ghanaian shunted out wide and tasked with crossing the ball into the box. His strike on Saturday proved that he has more to offer as a goalscorer.

Xavi Simons (AM) – Xavi performed pretty well at St. James' in the cup, and Frank simply has to bring him back into the side on Tuesday. This team cannot merely rely on second balls, set-pieces and Kudus.

Wilson Odobert (LW) – Frank hasn't given the "connections" he once banged on about time to grow. Odobert was blossoming nicely with Xavi and Udogie down the left, but we've barely seen them together in recent weeks.

Thomas Frank may have shown more attacking verve with his tactical plan against PSG in the Champions League mid week, but the overall response from Tottenham Hotspur after their loss to Arsenal last weekend was nothing short of shameful.

Spurs lost 2-1 to Fulham on Saturday night, getting off to the wrong start by falling behind 2-0 within 10 minutes. At no point in the subsequent 80 did Spurs look like turning it around, and both the lineup selection and overall tactical game plan from Frank were horrid.

As the boos rained down on Frank, nothing was done to adjust the proceedings. And after the game, all Frank could do was get all high and mighty about who is and who isn't a "true" Tottenham fan. Frank seems to vastly underestimate just how many Spurs supporters are turning against them, and the rumor mill continues to swirl with indications that the players are beginning to turn on him, too.

Thomas Frank is losing the plot

It's no wonder why, too. Frank just doesn't get it, and every time he opens his mouth, it sounds more and more like he still thinks he's at Brentford where being in the mid table and drawing teams is good enough for Tottenham. Well, it's not.

After the loss to Fulham, Frank made inane remarks again, almost celebrating the fact that his team could have drawn the inferior side, via Last Word on Spurs, ”I think we was more cool, created more, scored a good goal, created opportunities and we could have got a 2-2 draw.”

Although this may seem like a small thing to pick on that Thomas Frank said after the game, it's not as much of a throw away line as it seems. Frank is basically saying that he thought Tottenham played better, that the level they showed was acceptable, and that potentially getting a draw out of this game would have been good enough for him.

That's atrocious. Every single time Spurs play poorly and lose or draw a team that is worse than them, Frank acts as if everything is OK and Spurs were just unlucky. But you can't be unlucky if you are getting outplayed and not winning almost every single time you are out there.

When Tottenham Hotspur signed Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig in the last transfer window, it was considered a real coup. Simons is only 22, but he also already has experience playing for Paris Saint-Germain, PSV Eindhoven, and the Netherlands.

Simons was also linked with all the top clubs, including Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Chelsea, before heading to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. However, he has not lived up to expectations at his new home.

The Dutchman has so far played in 17 games for Spurs, without scoring and making just two assists. It is unfair to judge him on these stats, as he has only completed a full 90 minutes once for Thomas Frank's side. That came in a 2-0 defeat to Newcastle United at St. James' Park in the EFL Cup.

Many of Simons' appearances have been as a substitute. This included a 30-minute cameo in Tottenham's 2-1 loss to Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday night.

What has Thomas Frank had to say about Xavi Simons?

Frank has been quoted on The Spurs Web saying, "There is a reason why we have Xavi here. I think he is a very good player. He has trained very well. It is not the first time a player has stepped into the Premier League and needs a bit of adaptation."

This is a fair point, as many players have shone in the Bundesliga but have struggled in the Premier League. Florian Wirtz, who Liverpool bought for £116 million from Bayer Leverkusen, is another example of this.

The difference between Wirtz and Simons is that the Liverpool player is still being given a chance to impress. Spurs did pay less than half of what the Reds paid for their recruit from the Bundesliga, £51.8m for Simons.

Simons' only goal involvements this year for Spurs came in a 4-0 win against Copenhagen and a 3-0 victory over West Ham United. The Danish side is not the most challenging of Champions League opposition, whilst the Hammers are in a relegation battle this campaign.

Tottenham Hotspur are sinking further and further into the abyss of incompetence. After losing 4-1 to Arsenal in a North London Derby that can never be repeated again and will be discussed with derision and laughs by the Gunners ofr years to come, Spurs followed that up with a 2-1 defeat that cemented home Thomas Frank's complete lack of progress or a tangible response in the Premier League.

At mid week at least, Frank did make some changes, and one of the most important was giving center midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur a Kane-like (yes exactly, the OTHER famous Kane) Big Boot to the face out of the starting lineup. Instead, Spurs have been rolling with Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall. And as literally any semi knowledgable Spurs fan would have told you and predicted correctly, Spurs look ten times better with the young midfielders in the lineup.

Now, Bentancur did get a good 30 minutes to run around at the end of the Tottenham loss to Fulham in order to try to make something happen. And, spoiler alert, Bentancur did not, in fact, make anything happen for Spurs on Saturday night.

Rodrigo Bentancur is not offering anything

If anything, he somehow buried himself further on the roster and made every single Spurs supporter in the crowd wonder just why in the heck upper management rewarded him with a new contract just weeks into a season that was already going poorly. And now, Bentancur is somehow even worse, yet Spurs are on the hook to keep paying him.

While Bentancur did create a couple of chances, the rest of his game was a reminder of why he is untenable in the starting lineup these days. He was completely overrun by the Fulham midfielders and defended like a man made out of plastic straws. Bentancur folds and flies away with the slightest breeze, he literally ducks out of shots, and he cannot control games because he is not present enough off the ball or incisive enough on it to do so.

As a progressor with the ball at his feet? Forget about it. Bentancur does not have the athleticism or verve to take and beat defenders to the next level; he's certainly not half the player that Gray and Bergvall already are in this regard.

It was only 30 minutes, but it was 30 minutes too long and more than enough time for Tottenham fans to double down on their opinion that Bentancur, when he is on the pitch, is one of the biggest things wrong about the club in the Frank era.

Losers of three straight, Tottenham Hotspur followed up their historically poor showing in the North London Derby last weekend with another listless performance against their local rivals, falling 2-1 to Fulham. Thomas Frank's early tenure as Tottenham boss is already at a crisis point, as fans are turning on the horrid product they are force to consume every time the Lilywhites stain the field.

There are, however, a few players distinguishing as bright spots who deserve to don the prestigious white kit and who are showing much more fight amidst adversity than the rest of their colleagues. One of those players is Randal Kolo Muani, who isn't even a permanent member of the Tottenham roster.

On loan from PSG after a fine few months at Juventus, Tottenham and Fabio Paratici swooped in at the last second on transfer deadline day to bag the French veteran striker. And boy are they glad they did, because Kolo Muani makes Richarlison look like a cardboard caricature of a striker by comparison whlie Spurs are still missing Europa League hero Dominic Solanke.

Randal Kolo Muani is the answer

Not only did Kolo Muani cement himself as the answer at striker with all three goal contributions in a 5-3 loss to PSG at mid week in the Champions League, but he also played well against Fulham on Saturday night in the return to the Premier League when just about everyone else on the team hopelessly stunk.

Kolo Muani had his usual nifty touches and smart passes on the ball, and he was the only player looking to actually get shots off and do some incisive damage to the defense. More importantly, he was the one guy showing real fight out there and using his brains and brawn to try to turn the tide of the game.

It's so important for Tottenham to find and value players who are willing to put in the work and show some grit for the badge. They have a lot of players like Pedro Porro and Guglielmo Vicario who are passing the buck and blaming teammates while showing no real effort, and then they have players like Rodrigo Bentancur who look like straight up cowards out there.

This past summer transfer window, Tottenham Hotspur tried to sell off Yves Bissouma but were unsuccessful. He suffered a rough knee injury in August and was then stretchered off in October in international duty with another serious appearing knee injury, too.

But even before the injuries precluded a transfer, Spurs struggled to sell Bissouma because he was so underwhelming last season that no clubs were falling over themselves to take him on - and take on his wages. Aside from some lukewarm interest from clubs in the Turkish Super Lig, Bissouma had no real suitors.

That's an important thing to keep in mind. Bissouma is bured on the Tottenham roster, even when healthy, for good reason. He isn't good enough, and even the club have acknowledged that Bissouma is the kind of player Spurs are better off without.

Tottenham are not better off without Yves Bissouma

But here's the thing, and this is where Tottenham have to be brutally honest with themselves. If last season's version of Bissouma, which played a key role in them winning the Europa League, were to start next weekend in the place of Rodrigo Bentancur or Joao Palhinha, would Spurs be worse off? Would Spurs have a worse record now if Bissouma were starting every week in midfield in the place of literally any other midfielder in the squad?

The answer is no. And it's not no because Bissouma is better than any of the midfielders Spurs currently have, though you could argue that Rodrigo Bentancur, who earned an extension whereas Bissouma is getting the boot, is just as bad.

But even though Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Joao Palhinha, and Pape Matar Sarr are all better football players than Yves Bissouma in the year 2025, Tottenham would not be a worse team functionally or in the table with Bissouma in the starting lineup.

That right there should be taken as an indictment of how poorly Thomas Frank has done as a manager. He has a midfield filled with young talent that he either does not use at all or uses improperly. Or in the case of Xavi Simons, he vacillates between both options.

Bissouma is a baseline replacement level Premier League midfielder. Tottenham has turned some of the league's best players into replacement level producing players over the past couple of months. That there has been no upgrade from the caliber of player of a Bissouma on the pitch even though the actual players themselves are better is further evidence that Frank is not nearly doing well enough for Spurs.

Tottenham Hotspur’s triumph in the Europa League last season made them one of the least impressive Champions League teams in recent memory. However, qualifying for Europe’s Big Dance allowed them to retool (or heck, buy out a whole section of their local hardware store) in the summer transfer market.

The transition has not been the smoothest. New coach Thomas Frank has occasionally looked overmatched, and Spurs are currently sitting 10th in the Premier League table after picking up a solitary point in their last four matches.

On the other hand, 10th looks pretty good to their supporters after their 17th-place finish last season, and they are performing respectably in the Champions League. That 4-0 destruction of Copenhagen, even after Brennan Johnson’s red card, is the sort of result that a contending English team should expect.

Daniel Levy looks like a genius for leaving Tottenham with this parting gift

A major reason for that was a blatantly obvious move in the transfer market, orchestrated by the man who left Tottenham, Daniel Levy.

Randal Kolo Muani suffered through a disappointing first season with Paris St.-Germain in 2023-24, and the French giants eagerly loaned him out to Juventus last season, where the Frenchman scored eight goals in 16 Serie A matches. That decent haul was still not enough to crack PSG’s loaded starting lineup, and so the Champions League holders made him available for loan again this season.

Spurs snapped up a player whose flashy talent couldn’t drum up much demand, and now he has transformed the look of their offense. While Kolo Muani is big and strong enough to score with his head on crosses, his main value is as a speed threat up front to complement the physical play of Richarlison.

This allows Tottenham to start matches with two strikers, which gives opposing defenses a look that they haven’t seen since the partnership of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. The combination of power and speed that Kolo Muani and his Brazilian teammate offer is a time-tested way to give all manner of defenses trouble. The fact that he’s playing with a broken jaw should also answer any questions about his toughness.

Of course, this combination isn’t foolproof, as witnessed by Spurs’ ineffectual 2-1 home defeat to Fulham over the weekend. However, Kolo Muani registered an assist in the win over Copenhagen, and the two goals he scored against his parent club in a 5-3 defeat in Paris had to feel good. If Kolo Muani can continue to improve his chemistry with his fellow Spurs attackers and not lose his eye for goal, it will portend better days for the Tottenham faithful as this season moves on.

Thomas Frank's utilisation of Xavi Simons has come under scrutiny, with the Dane fatefully opting to start Spurs' most creative available player on the bench against Fulham.

Xavi has endured a slow start to life in north London, with the Dutchman failing to notch a single Premier League goal contribution after he teed up Pape Matar Sarr on his debut against West Ham United.

His best performance arrived in the emphatic Champions League win over Copenhagen, and Frank gave Xavi the chance to build on that showing against Manchester United a few days later.

Since the November international break, though, the former RB Leipzig star has been reduced to cameo roles off the bench. Frank's plans for the North London Derby and daunting trip to Paris Saint-Germain were predicated on principles that rendered the crafty playmaker surplus to requirements.

However, the vast majority expected Xavi to come back into the XI for Fulham's visit on Saturday night. Instead, Frank opted for a similar approach from their midweek defeat in Paris, which provided positives, no doubt, but the Dane's team selection once again came back to bite him, and former Tottenham defender Michael Dawson has called the manager out.

Michael Dawson believes Thomas Frank is mishandling Xavi Simons

We're only a few months into his Tottenham career, and perhaps we shouldn't expect Xavi to be purring right away. Frank has discussed the player's need to adapt and adjust to a different environment, and his recent selection calls suggest he's trying to put Xavi out of the limelight.

I can somewhat understand his exclusions for the Arsenal and PSG games, but his omission at the weekend was just flat out silly. Once again, Spurs were found wanting on home soil. Frank's cross-heavy approach simply didn't come off, and we were subject to another wretched watching experience.

He hasn't hit the ground running, but there have been glimpses from Xavi that suggest he could really help out a side so devoid of invention and craft, despite the manager's primitive approach that is failing to maximise his skillset.

While Frank has spoken almost exclusively positively about Xavi's development since joining the club, he currently isn't giving the 23-year-old much of a chance to find his flow. And Dawson pointed that out after his 31-minute cameo.

“For a player to get confidence and belief, you have to play consistently," Daws said.

Frank seemed to have worked it out, starting Xavi in five of the six games before the November break, and we saw genuine improvement from the Dutchman in the Copenhagen win. It seemed like he may have been hitting his stride despite the tactical issues around him, and he scored for the Netherlands against Lithuania, too.

He must've returned to N17 in high spirits, confident that he'd make the difference in two significant upcoming games, but Frank instead picked supposed duel-winners and midfield engines in favour of guile and craft.

The Dane's working with a talent so bright he could emerge as his jewel in the crown, but too much tinkering has prevented Xavi from developing a groove, and Spurs are suffering as a result.

Pedro Porro took to social media to explain his shenanigans after a horrific home defeat to Fulham on Saturday night.

Regarded as a must-win for Thomas Frank after back-to-back defeats, Spurs laughably found themselves 2-0 down inside a few minutes and were unable to mount a comeback despite Mohammed Kudus' strike at the start of the second-half.

Once again, Frank's side struggled to inspire a home faithful that's becoming increasingly restless, with extortionate ticket prices only exacerbating their exasperation at the current ongoings in north London.

For the most part, the Lilywhites have been a torrid watch this season, and strong concerns remain over the scalability of Frank's ideas, having worked wonders at Brentford. Spurs, right now, are a stodgy, cross-heavy mess bereft of the defensive security Frank believed he was installing.

Key to the manager's approach is right-back Pedro Porro, one of few standout technicians at Frank's disposal. However, Porro has been out of sorts in recent weeks, especially in possession. His delivery from the right has been erratic at best, and his antics were the main talking point from a tense post-match atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Relationship between Spurs players and fans is at its lowest

Porro initially stormed past Frank after the final whistle blew, but returned to the field to seemingly have a go at teammate Lucas Bergvall, who was in the centre circle applauding those that remained in the ground.

The reason for Porro's outburst wasn't initially clear, but he provided an explantion on Instagram the morning after: "Football is emotions," his story caption started, "In Football, as in life, there can always be mistakes, what in will not tolerate is hearing the disrespect from the fan to my teammates, hence my frustration at the end of the game.

"And we will get up we remind you 6 months ago, everything was so bad, and in the end is not how it begins but how it ends. To the true Spurs fan, I love you."

Aristotle-like.

Anyway, I'd love to know who this singular fan is. There's only one of us?

Porro was clearly peeved by the dissent shown by the crowd towards Saturday's performance, but he perhaps took most offence to the boos that Guglielmo Vicario was subject to immediately after his woeful mistake that allowed Fulham to take a 2-0 lead. Thomas Frank chimed in, too, perhaps unwisely in the current climate, but he had to back his goalkeeper.

I've never been one for booing. I don't see what good it does, but supporters are paying a lot to endure a product that's currently failing to deliver on any sort of level. Discontent is to be expected. That's sport!

Still, it's all so bleak at Tottenham right now. Frank was a great unifier at Brentford, but he has a huge job on his hands if he's to restore the connection between this group of players and those who follow them so intimately. The relationship is creaking, and I can hope Saturday was the final deterioration.

I probably said that after Chelsea.