Hotspur HQ

Coming into the January transfer market, Tottenham Hotspur were already desperate for a winger, and you could make a strong case that no team in the Premier League has a bigger need for an injection of attacking fire power this winter than Spurs.

Tottenham sit comfortably in the bottom half of the table, as new manager Thomas Frank has done little to improve this team or give Spurs fans any sort of confidence that he is the right man to lead the way.

But as Spurs recent 0-0 draw with Brentford and now 1-1 draw with Sunderland drive home, Frank's negative football is far from the only problem plaguing the team. The Tottenham players are not good enough, and while youngsters like Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel are being actively held back from success by Frank despite being superior options, it is the sheer struggles of veterans like Richarlison and more that are really hampering this team.

Tottenham lost their superstar

Well, to make matters worse for Tottenham, one of the team's few competent players this season, right winger Mohammed Kudus, went down early in the 20th minute of the 1-1 draw with Sunderland. And thus, this injury to Kudus, which is of unknown severity, now makes the already present need for a new winger just outright desperate for Tottenham Hotspur.

Tottenham have to emerge from the January transfer market this year with a new left winger. Dejan Kuluesvski returning from injury will restore power to the right wing, though, with Kudus injured and Brennan Johnson already sold to Crystal Palace, there is a short term problem on the right wing, too. So someone who plays on the right like Savinho makes a ton of sense in that regard.

The options have dwindled with Antoine Semenyo set to join Manchester City and others like Omar Marmoush unlikely to move at all, but Tottenham have to keep searching and have to emerge with someone, whether that is a player like Savinho or Iliman Ndiaye in the Premier League or even an addition like Ademola Lookman or (extremely unlikely) Rafael Leao.

Kudus was a rare blockbuster summer signing that Tottenham got right, and, hopefully, he will be back soon. And yet, even if he is, Tottenham still have a desperate need for a winger who can score goals and change games for this team. Because let's be real here: part of Kudus's injury was the sheer work load and stress he has had to take on by virtue of being the one true solution every week on the wings.

GK Guglielmo Vicario

Was not overly tested for most of the game before the Sunderland equalizer, which he had little chance with. Did look uncomfortable with some crosses and on one occasion in the second half had to be saved by Ben Davies. Rating: 6

RB Pedro Porro

Started the game with intent and looked a lot more like his form from last season. Early on he tried a long-range chip after winning the ball high up the pitch. It did not go in but this is the kind of thing we want to see from the team as a whole, some unpredictability and some different kinds of attack. Followed that up by playing in a great ball in for Richarlison. Defended well one-on-one against Simon Adingra throughout. Could have had an assist for Randal Kolo Muani in the second half after a great break and pass. Â Rating: 8

LB Ben Davies

A left back scoring from a corner having been assisted by two center backs might be the perfect way to sum up Spurs attack under Thomas Frank. An unexpected start for Davies  and a much-needed opening goal. Davies rarely lets Spurs down and performed well again. Good distribution going forward and comfortable defensively. Critical goal line clearance early in the second half. Rating: 8

CB Christian Romero

Had an important contribution to our goal from a corner. Looked very much in control in the first half, including winning the ball high up the pitch to keep the pressure on. Less so towards the end as Sunderland grew into the game, but this seems more to do with the fading of the midfield control rather than with our center backs. Â Rating: 7

CB Micky van de Ven

Like Romero in terms of goal involvement, a strong first half, and less so in the second half. Again, not helped in the second half by the midfield. Micky also was a threat in the air from corners on occasion, which we hope to see more of. Â Rating: 7

CM Rodrigo Bentancur

Looked to be continuing his steady improvement in recent weeks with his best performance for a while in the first half. Moved the ball quickly and broke up any rare Sunderland attacks. Faded towards the end of the second half and could not get on top of the game once Sunderland pressed more. Rating: 6

CM Archie Gray

Back in a more withdrawn role after the move further forward at Brentford. Started with intent, like the rest of the team, then struggled to get on Granit Xhaka in the second half before being substituted. Gray is not really displaying consistent ability to move the ball forward to cement a place in midfield at the moment. Could really do with Frank finding a consistent position for him. Rating: 5

LW Mathys Tel

Aside from a decent effort in the first half that curled just wide, Tel could not get involved in attacks enough. Like Gray, he has been played up front, through the middle, and on both wings and does not seem settled at all. There is talent but we are not seeing strong enough performances, particularly when we are on the back foot. Rating: 4

RW Mohammed Kudus

Was part of the good early pressing and controlled the ball well on the few occasions he had it. Had to go off injured early on. Still showed a tendency to slow the game down by looking backwards for passes, which has happened more recently. Rating: N/A

AM Wilson Odobert

Played in a new position through the middle as Thomas Frank still seems to be trying something new each week. Initially found himself drifting wide and ending up in space occupied by Kudus or Tel. Pressed well early on and got in some good spaces, but in his central position the game needs to go through him. Instead, it seemed to happen around him. Better in the second half but still looked more at ease when he was attacking from wide positions. Â Rating: 4

CF Richarlison

Richarlison looked much more involved than in our game at Brentford and had better support. Good runs at the start of the second half were only stopped by two bookable fouls. Mostly held up play well but seemed to want too much time on the ball. Had a perfect opportunity to play in Muani in the second half for a tap-in but waited too long. Better from Richarlison but still not able to trouble the Sunderland back line enough. Rating: 6

Substitutes: Randal Kolo Muani, João Palhinha, Lucas Bergvall, Dane Scarlett, Djed Spence

Muani got very involved both in attacking and winning the ball back. Often looked like he  was close to creating something, but unfortunately a final ball or attempted run did not work out as needed. An example being in the second half when he broke with Porro, got into a great position, but then failed to control the pass for a clear chance at goal. Bergvall and Palhinha seemed like the correct subs at the point in the game they came on but it did not go as intended. Plenty of effort from Bergvall, and Palhinha was unlucky with a late chance with a header, but neither were able to re-establish the control of the game we so badly needed in midfield. Spence and Scarlett came on very late as the game became scrappier and so were unable to make much of an impact.

Every time Thomas Frank opens his mouth at a press conference, you can just hear the Tottenham Hotspur supporters groaning, face palming, and wondering just what on earth they did to be cursed with incompetent managers. Because at least Ange Postecoglou was charismatic and personable and did not throw his players under the bus or blast the fans.

Literally every single week, Frank makes some sort of inane faux pas at the press conference, whether it is adjudicating which Tottenham fan is a true or not true fan - simply because they hate the fact that he is doing such a crappy job as coach - or criticizing the very teammates he is putting in a position to fail.

Tottenham right winger Mohammed Kudus was the best signing they gave Frank last summer, far beyond the caliber of player that Postecoglou got. Kudus bails this guy out week in and week out as the main attacking threat and the only real tactical plan in a team devoid of tactics, and yet Frank had the audacity to criticize him publicly for something that is not his fault.

Thomas Frank has lost the plot

Ahead of Spurs Sunday game in the Premier League against Sunderland, Thomas Frank took Mohammed Kudus to task for not scoring enough goals, via Chris Cowlin, “I always really liked Solanke. I’ve said that many times. I’m convinced he’ll score a lot of goals for us when he’s fit and available. I think Wilson (Odobert) has got very good potential. Mathys (Tel) has got very good potential. Mo (Kudus) needs to score more goals. He will score more goals.”

It's just a weird remark to pass along. Kudus's job is not to be the primary goal scorer, and the craziest part about this statement is that nobody is really scoring goals at Tottenham Hotspur. Their leading goal scorer is Richarlison, and he is pretty terrible overall.

Frank is not doing the most to help his players score either. He basically makes Kudus run up and down the pitch and spam crosses as the team's only sense of attacking identity, There is very little room for Kudus to cut inside and score, and especially when he plays alongside Richarlison who has no creativity or all around play, there is nobody who can set him to score goals.

Kudus not scoring is entirely the product of Frank's defective tactics, and to make matters worse, the guy is not even a legitimate man manager at the highest professional level with inane comments like this one. He is clueless.

Tottenham Hotspur embarrassed themselves yet again on Thursday night, drawing 0-0 to Brentford in a totally apathetic performance that had Thomas Frank's finger prints all over it. Spurs fans can not believe how little improvement the team has shown over the past couple of months, as Frank knows he is 100 percent on the hot seat and yet continues to deliver these sorts of putrid performances and the most boring football in arguably the entire Premier League.

As Spurs head into this weekend's Premier League Matchday, they are in the bottom half of the table and look no closer to the top four than they were last season when they ultimately finished a historically inept 17th place.

Tottenham are less impressive now than they were then, and things are not going to get any easier against the darling team of the 2025/26 season, Sunderland, who boast one of the best defenses in European football this season.

Tottenham are down another key man

To make matters worse, Lucas Bergvall, who suffered an injury last weekend against Crystal Palace and was held out of the goal less draw with Brentford, is also expected to miss this weekend's Premier League matchup.

That is according to Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank, who said, via Football.London's Alasdair Gold, that Bergvall still remains a doubt to play for the Sunderland game.

Lucas Bergvall is one of the best midfielders on the team, and he has become even more important to Tottenham in the short term with star attacking midfielder Xavi Simons still out with a suspension after picking up a silly red card in a loss to Liverpool a couple of weeks ago.

Simons is a better fit for the 10 than Bergvall, but Bergvall is still a better 10 than the other options. Plus, not having either Simons nor Bergvall out there is a heavy loss to Tottenham's overall creativity and dynamism, as Spurs even more severely lack both, with the consequences of that being evident in the horrid 0-0 draw with Brentford.

Sunderland are a better side than Brentford with an even stronger defensive and midfield, led by former Arsenal captain Granit Xhaka, and thus things could get really, really ugly for Tottenham from an attacking perspective on Sunday. Tottenham supporters could be looking at yet another goose egg score line for their beloved team, and you can only imagine the nauseating excuses Frank will bring up at the press conference.

At some point a couple of months ago, the Thomas Frank updates on Tottenham Hotspur striker Dominic Solanke devolved into pure comedy. Instead of giving concrete timelines or even saying, "I don't know because of x, y, and z", Frank began coyly making vague statements and nothingisms on the frequently injured 65 million pound record signing.

Solanke played a useful role in Tottenham winning the 2024/25 Europa League tournament with clutch goals and solid all around performances, even if his overall scoring record and lack of real star power at the striker position were significantly disappointing for a player with his massive price tag.

This season, though, Solanke has only featured in a couple of games for a handful of minutes as a substitute due to injury, and even a procedure on his foot a few months ago has not provided any better clarity on his return date for Spurs.

Thomas Frank does it again

Now, Thomas Frank continues to double down on his non updates for the veteran Tottenham Hotspur striker. Ahead of Sunday's Premier League battle against an elite defensive team in surprise side Sunderland, Frank said, via The Spurs Web, "To say mid-Jan, end of Jan or 255 Jan, I won't do that."

Basically, Frank has a vague idea of when Solanke may come back, it is probably relatively soon, but it is impossible for him to commit to an exact date, probably because he is afraid of being wrong in light of how stubbornly slow his striker has been to recover.

At this point, Solanke is an aggravation risk with this injury, just by virtue of how slow it has been to heal. And for that reason, literally any minute Solanke plays for Tottenham from this day forward until the end of the season is a mere bonus for Tottenham, because they simply can not count on anything else - or anything at all.

Tottenham have three other striker options on the table without Solanke. Mathys Tel never plays so we can exclude him, though he has scored on the rare occasion Frank lets him be a 9. Randal Kolo Muani is thus the only legitiamte striker option, because, as Brentford exposed yet again, Richarlison is not someone Spurs can rely on.

Solanke has the size and all around ability to be a quality piece of the puzzle for Tottenham, and a striker partnership with Kolo Muani would actually be quite good. But with the non updates continuing, Spurs can not hold their breath.

Tottenham Hotspur underwent a sea of changes in the summer transfer window last year. Many of those changes were good, such as bringing in Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons to boost their attack, as well as waving goodbye to Daniel Levy as the club's chairman. Other moves stung, like replacing Ange Postecoglou with the eminently disappointing Thomas Frank or letting Son Heung-min finish his career off in MLS.

Just as well, not everyone has the same opinion of what is a positive or a negative transformation at the club. Take, for example, the most recent transfer decision Tottenham made when they started off the January window with a bang by selling Brennan Johnson for one of the club's highest ever fees of 33.5 million pounds.

According to reporting from Football.London's Alasdair Gold, the Johnson sale to local rivals Crystal Palace has not been met with resounding praise. Gold says that within the dressing room, Tottenham Hotspur players are upset at the club's upper management for selling Johnson because the Wales international was such a popular player.

Tottenham support their own

Like with the Ange Postecoglou firing, there was an outpouring of support from large swathes of the locker room on social media for Brennan Johnson. Obviously, Johnson is a likable bloke and scored the winner in the Europa League Final to forever etch his name in the Tottenham books, and you would expect nothing less than public praise for the player.

However, it is surprising to see that the Tottenham players do not understand the merits of why Spurs sold Johnson with a legitimate transfer offer on the table. Johnson, after all, has not been important to Tottenham this season, struggling badly off the bench or as a starter on either wing with little all around ability as a pure winger.

Tottenham have to sell at a right time and generate some sort of revenue from players who are not important to the team, and this was clearly the only time Tottenham were going to get anywhere near 30 million pounds for Johnson, a backup right winger soon to become a third stringer with Dejan Kulusevski's return to health.

It is nice that his teammates leave behind fond memories of Johnson, but Tottenham should not worry about what the players think at a time like this. The most important thing to keeping the morale up and helping the club is to invest that money in the right player and to start winning some dang games.

All everyone is talking about is how Tottenham Hotspur need to sign a left winger in the summer transfer window, and pretty much the only players concretely linked to Spurs by the big reporters are left wingers like Antoine Semenyo, Savinho, Omar Marmoush, Yan Diomande, and a couple of others.

But Tottenham are clearly after needs elsewhere, too, as a club battling in the bottom half of the Premier League table easily has other issues to resolve. The midfield is one, but left back is a position that has gone under the radar as a big need for Tottenham.

Destiny Udogie is an excellent young left back, but he does not have a real backup. Spurs haved used right back Djed Spence on the left, and, well, that usually does not go over well, especially when Tottenham are playing better teams.

Tottenham are after defenders, too

According to a new report from Brazilian journalist Lucas Musetti Perazolli of UOL on his YouTube channel, Tottenham Hotspur actually went off the beaten path a little and made a transfer offer for one of the top prospects in Brazilian football, Santos star left back Souza. Spurs offered 10 million euros to the club of Neymar for one of their most prized defenders, and they were, of course, rejected by the Brazilian Serie A side.

But Perazolli reports that Santos also countered Tottenham with an offer of their own to sell Souza, who is wanted by many big clubs around European football. Per the UOL reporter, Santos want 17 millino euros for 70 percent of the rights to Souza. A deal is said to be unlikely at this time.

Souza is almost certainly not coming to Tottenham any time soon, and Spurs probably need someone more established to compete with Udogie, given the Italian international has an extensive injury history at left back and is often out.

However, the intention is interesting and shows two things. One, that Tottenham are probably serious about signing a left back in 2026 to help the squad's most overlooked depth issue. And two, that Tottenham remain mostly interested in signing stars of the future, rather than wasting their money on 30 year olds who, at best, end up being holdover options like Joao Palhinha. Souza was worth a look, but if Spurs are not going to get a bargain out of Santos, they might as well go back to the drawing board for other options.

Tottenham Hotspur absolutely have to sign a new forward in the January transfer market, as failure to do so would effectively doom Spurs for the remainder of the 2025/26 Premier League season. Even firing Thomas Frank alone would not rectify the major issues in the side, as Spurs are trapped in the bottom half of the league table not just because of their new manager's serious problems.

Simply put, Tottenham are not scoring enough goals, nor do they have enough star power in the attack. Obviously, Frank could be doing a lot more tactically to help Spurs offensively, and decisions like relying on Rodrigo Bentancur, Joao Palhinha, and Richarlison for starts while discarding Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel certainly are not helping.

But Spurs need more talent up front to help Mohammed Kudus, Xavi Simons, and Randal Kolo Muani - all three being new signings from the summer 2025 transfer window - out. There are a number of players Tottenham are still dreaming about signing in January 2026 even after Antoine Semenyo swiftly rejected them for Manchester City, and, in fact, two of those players are Man City players.

Tottenham are losing targets quickly

One of them is goal scoring left winger Omar Marmoush, and the other is a familiar transfer target in dynamic winger Savinho, who was already tabbed by Spurs as one of their dream winger targets in the summer window.

Trying to convince Man City to sell Savinho has always been difficult, and even this winter, David Ornstein and others have been warning Tottenham fans that despite Spurs still trying, it is highly unlikely and bordering on impossible for Man City to agree to sell the young Brazilian winger.

Now, it looks like Manchester City may be handing Tottenham a definitive blow in their transfer courtship of the former Girona man, but it has more to do with a recent turn of events than anything else.

Savinho had to leave a 0-0 draw with Sunderland with an injury, exiting the pitch for Jeremy Doku. And according to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, the injury to Savinho "does not look good", via Manchester Evening News reporter Simon Bajkowski.

Now, it is still too early to tell the nature of Savinho's injury, and Guardiola and Manchester CIty have not given concrete updates. But Savinho is indeed injured and could be out for some time, meaning he might be fully off the table for Tottenham Hotspur.

Savinho's injury may be the last straw Man City need to avoid selling him at all this winter, while Tottenham may not want to try to sign an injured player. Worse yet, the Savinho injury could also take Marmoush off the table on top of that - or even emergency option Oscar Bobb - because losing one key winger would make Man City less likely to sell the other players important to their depth.

Once again, Tottenham Hotspur were the laughingstock of the Premier League, drawing 0-0 with Brentford in another toothless, lethargic display that serves as a shocking reminder to Spurs supporters of how little progress has been made by Thomas Frank.

The same problems the manager had two months ago remain totally unsolved. Maybe he has finally made a few tweaks here and there, like actually playing Archie Gray, but for every young Tottenham standout who is finally getting chances, there are three others who are discarded entirely. Look at how Pape Matar Sarr, Mathys Tel, and Wilson Odobert have been treated despite being superior options and playing well.

Frank has continually thrown away any slight amount of good will he had with Spurs fans, and after this draw with Brentford, Spurs supporters were roundly booing him. The away support was chanting random player names like Erik Lamela and Eric Dier while serenading Frank with deserved boos.

Tottenham fans won't like the replacements either

But for Tottenham supporters hoping that this will soon be the end of Frank's tenure at the N17 as 2026 begins, the harsh reality is that Tottenham do not appear to be seriously considering a change right now - nor are they going after the kinds of names Spurs fans would want as replacements who would actually be upgrades.

Journalist Paul O Keefe remarked that Tottenham Hotspur will likely reassess Thomas Frank's job status in the summer 2026 transfer window, rather than making any moves now in January. And when it comes to possible replacements, Fulham manager Marco Silva will, once again, be among the names considered, which even O Keefe admits is an unfortunate reality. Earlier in the thread, O Keefe also explained why Oliver Glasner would not likely fit Spurs and called Unai Emery "impossible".

Basically, Tottenham are not going to fire Frank unless something drastic happens this season, and then if they were to replace him in the summer, the very same types of mid table managers like Silva are going to be the people Spurs look to replace him with.

Hopefully, things change between now and then and Tottenham have some guts and ambition, but, look, when has that ever been the case? O Keefe is telling nothing but the harsh truth to Spurs supporters. Tottenham are going to have to suffer with Frank and be happy about it until they are so, so irredeemably bad that then the club has to finally step in.

Tottenham Hotspur come into the January transfer window needing to vastly improve a squad that looks set to finish in the bottom half of the Premier League without any drastic changes to alter this course, even if one of those changes includes the firing of a severely disappointing Thomas Frank.

The first moves of the January window, though, are all going to be departures. Fabio Paratici is set to leave Spurs to become the Director of Football at Fiorentina, the worst team in Italy right now, in a huge shocker, while Brennan Johnson is poised to join London rivals Crystal Palace to bolster Oliver Glasner's attack.

And while Tottenham need to be accelerating any hopes at signing forwards like Yan Diomande, Etta Eyong, Savinho, and Omar Marmoush, it looks like more high profile exits from the current first team squad could be coming - even if they are not necessarily permanent losses.

Tottenham can't lose this baller

According to information from Alasdair Gold of Football.London, Tottenham Hotspur could loan out forward Mathys Tel and center back Kota Takai in the January transfer window, replacing those players with veterans for the squad to close the season while giving these two players more minutes.

To be honest, loaning both players would be a shock, especially Tel. Thomas Frank needs to be tried in court for the way he has treated Tel, who has been brilliant and certainly far beyond the horrible Richarlison. Tel has scored big goals and provided more dynamism and goal threat than the other options on the left wing, yet he rots on the bench because of an incompetent manager. Loaning him out with left wing as the biggest need in the squad would be idiotic, but, well, Gold is not wrong to float this idea from his info because this is exactly the sort of dumb move Spurs are famous for.

Now, Takai does have a more convoluted path to playing time than Tel, because his lack of minutes as a surprising new transfer from the Japanese top flight has less to do with Frank's incompetence and more to do with a legitimate logjam at center back.

But the thing is, if Tottenham are, as everyone fully expects, bound to sell Radu Dragusin to Serie A as he and his agent laughably complain about playing time shortly after the player returned from an ACL tear, then it makes little sense to lose even more depth by getting rid of Dragusin and Takai, even on loan, in the same winter transfer window.