Nottingham Forest 3 Tottenham 0: Hapless Vicario suffers ANOTHER horror show to pile pressure on Thomas Frank
THOMAS FRANK gave his players two days off this week – and Spurs ended up looking like a team that had not kicked a ball in ages.
Tottenham were back to stinking the place out, in spite of their recent revival, as former transfer target Callum Hudson-Odoi took full advantage.
The winger netted after Ibrahim Sangare exploited a cock-up between Archie Gray and Guglielmo Vicario, before adding a second through a cross that went all the way in.
Hudson-Odoi, whom Spurs considered signing a few years ago, then teed up a stunner for Sangare to cap Spurs’ humiliation.
It made for painful watching for Frank, especially after he had rewarded his weary players with Wednesday and Thursday off this week following back-to-back home wins over Brentford and Slavia Prague.
The Dane was even forced to endure chants of ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ from the unsympathetic Forest supporters as he presided over a sixth defeat in 16 league games – the same amount as he has won – and possibly his most emphatic yet.
While close pal Sean Dyche enjoyed his best home victory of his tenure to move Forest further clear of the drop zone.
This fixture had been earmarked in the calendar as one to watch when Ange Postecoglou took the Forest job on September 9.
It would have been the first time the Aussie had faced Spurs since being sacked just over a fortnight on from ending their 17-year trophy curse with Europa League glory.
But Big Ange proved to be a big disaster at the City Ground and lasted only 39 days before he was fired and replaced by Dyche.
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Forest were missing one of their key players here with Matz Sels failing his race to be fit due to a groin issue, meaning the brilliantly-named Brazilian John Victor made his Prem debut between the sticks.
References for the 29-year-old, based on his shaky displays in the Europa League, are not exactly glowing in these parts – and yet he was put under next to no pressure.
Sangare came within a whisker of giving the hosts the lead inside three minutes when he planted a header from Nicolo Savona’s cross onto the foot of the post.
It bounced out for Morgan Gibbs-White – whom Spurs famously tried and failed to sign in the summer – and he had a shot blocked, before Vicario’s impressive reflexes repelled Neco Williams’ follow-up.
If the early save showed the good of Vicario, then the opening goal demonstrated the bad.
The Italian had the whole game in front of him, so he knew Gray had Sangare right on his tail, yet passed the ball to the youngster anyway.
It looked a bad call, but the major mistake for the goal, from Spurs’ perspective, was what Gray did next.
The teenager should have passed it first time out wide to Pedro Porro but instead took a heavy touch, which allowed the eager Sangare to pick his pocket.
Ex-PSV Eindhoven man Sangare had the wherewithal to square the ball just before Vicario intercepted, allowing former Spurs target Hudson-Odoi to fire into an empty net.
Gray, to his credit, showed a positive response and drew a solid – if rare – save from Victor with a blast from the edge of the box.
The 19-year-old was coming up against his former Young Lions team-mate in Elliot Anderson, who played ahead of Gray at last summer’s Under-21 Euros.
Anderson has kicked on massively since then, looking like a shoo-in to start for Thomas Tuchel’s seniors at No.6 at the World Cup in the summer, barring injury and loss of form.
Anderson, in fairness, is three years older than Gray, with far more experience playing regularly in midfield in the Premier League.
Given time, the younger Spurs man, whose grandad Frank won the European Cup with Forest in 1980, could.
But if ever there was an action that summed up where the two are in their respective trajectories, it came here towards the end of the first half.
Anderson put an end to a dangerous Mohammed Kudus dribble with an inch-perfect tackle.
Gray then tried the same thing on Williams as the Welshman picked up the loose ball, but his challenge was poor and he was booked.
Tempers flared between Anderson and Pedro Porro just before the break, and the barney seemed to spread into the opposition dugouts, with coaches Matt Wells and Steve Stone both receiving cautions for dissent.
It could well have been the last meaningful action at Spurs for 37-year-old assistant Wells, who is in talks over becoming the new manager of MLS side Colorado Rapids.
Forest became even more dominant after the interval and instantly went further ahead through Hudson-Odoi once again.
The ex-Chelsea winger looked almost sheepish as his cross somehow evaded Vicario’s grasp and curled into the far corner with 50 minutes on the clock.
It could have been worse with Igor Jesus – whom the Forest fans amusingly declared can ‘walk on the Trent’ – and Omari Hutchinson fired narrowly wide.
Frank had attackers Wilson Odobert, Mathys Tel and Brennan Johnson – formerly of this parish – on the bench.
And yet the Dane turned to Ben Davies, Joao Palhinha and Lucas Bergvall instead to transform his team’s fortunes, to no effect.
Forest’s fantastic day was complete when Hudson-Odoi laid off to Sangare, who belted the ball in off the post from 25 yards.
While Frank suffered the ignominy of those ‘sacked in the morning chants’ – with his players unlikely to receive an extra day off again any time soon.
