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Thomas Frank calls out Tottenham fans for turning on their own player in loss to Fulham

Jamie Braidwood

Sunday 30 November 2025 10:13 GMT

Tottenham manager Thomas Frank criticised home supporters who booed goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario during their 2-1 defeat by Fulham on Saturday.

Vicario was jeered by some Spurs fans after his error led to Fulham doubling their lead inside six minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Frank stated that booing a player during the game was "unacceptable" and that such fans "can't be true Tottenham fans", though he accepted frustration after the final whistle.

Vicario apologised for his mistake, acknowledging it is "part of football" and that players must remain calm despite fan reactions.

The defeat further highlighted Tottenham's dismal home record, as they have not won a Premier League game at home since the opening weekend of the season.

A furious Pedro Porro appeared to row with Tottenham team-mate Lucas Bergvall before storming down the tunnel following Spurs’ 2-1 home defeat to Fulham in the Premier League.

Tottenham were booed off after falling to their fourth Premier League defeat in six games, while some Spurs fans also directed their frustration at goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario after his error led to Fulham doubling their lead after just six minutes.

Porro looked to be angered by Bergvall applauding the Spurs supporters at full-time. The right back could be seen screaming Bergvall’s name as the 19-year-old started to walk around the pitch and show his appreciation to remaining home supporters.

Porro did not applaud the fans and instead went down the tunnel, removing his shirt as he did so. His frustration comes just weeks after Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence ignored manager Thomas Frank’s instructions to applaud the Spurs fans after their home defeat against Chelsea, with the pair later apologising.

Frank said he did not see Porro’s reaction but added: “We are in a tough spell right now and for my players it is about being as calm as possible and doing everything we can to work through it.”

Frank, however, said the home supporters who booed goalkeeper Vicario during the game were not “real fans” and said he hoped it does not happen again during his tenure.

“I didn't like that our fans booed at him straight after and a few times when he touched the ball,” Frank said. “They can’t be true Tottenham fans because everyone supports each other when you are on the pitch.

“We do everything we can to perform. After, fair enough, boo, no problem. But not during. That's unacceptable in my opinion. It is OK that they are frustrated, because we haven't won at home for a long time.

“We all badly want to win so I'm fine with them booing after the game, but during the game I hope it was one incident and it never happens again.”

Tottenham have not won a home Premier League match since the opening weekend of the season and they have now lost 10 league matches at home this calendar year.

Tottenham manager Thomas Frank said the home supporters who booed goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario during the 2-1 defeat to Fulham are not “true fans”.

Vicario was jeered by some Spurs supporters when he touched the ball after his error led to Fulham doubling their lead inside six minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It gave Spurs a mountain to climb and although Mohammed Kudus pulled a goal back after half time, in an improved second-half performance, Frank’s side fell to another defeat.

Tottenham have not won a Premier League game at home since the opening weekend of the season while this week has seen losses against Arsenal, PSG and now Fulham.

There were loud boos at both half-time and full-time and while Frank said supporters could voice their frustration at the team, he drew the line at the booing of Vicario.

“I didn't like that our fans booed at him straight after and a few times when he touched the ball,” Frank told Sky Sports after the defeat.

“They can’t be true Tottenham fans because everyone supports each other when you are on the pitch.

“We do everything we can to perform. After, fair enough, boo, no problem. But not during. That's unacceptable in my opinion."

After Fulham’s Kenny Tete opened the scoring inside four minutes, Vicario was caught off his line as he dribbled into trouble and was punished by Harry Wilson from long range.

The Italian goalkeepers addressed the boos he faced afterwards and apologised for his mistake. “It's part of football,” he said.

“We can't be influenced by the situation in the stands. The fans have the right to do what they think. It's on us to stay calm.

“We have to focus on ourselves. We are lacking in a little bit of composure and calmness at the moment. Today is a bad defeat and tough to accept.”

Tottenham have the second-worst home record in the Premier League this season, only ahead of winless Wolves, and they made a nightmare start.

“When you're down 2-0 after six minutes, there is a mountain to climb,” Frank said. “When you're in a bad spell, everything seems to go against you as well - the first was a deflected shot, the second is a mistake from Vic.

“It is OK that [the fans] are frustrated, because we haven't won at home for a long time. We all badly want to win so I'm fine with them booing after the game, but during the game I hope it was one incident and it never happens again.”

Tottenham have now lost four of their last six Premier League games but their dismal home form predates Frank’s tenure, with Spurs only winning three of their last 21 home league matches and suffering 10 home league defeats in 2025.

Meanwhile, Frank said he did not see Pedro Porro’s furious reaction to Tottenham’s defeat, as the right back appeared to argue with team-mate Lucas Bergvall over whether the Spurs players would applaud the home fans at full-time.

Porro looked to be angered by Bergvall wanting to applaud and could be seen screaming Bergvall’s name as the 19-year-old started to walk around the pitch and show his appreciation to remaining home supporters.

Porro did not applaud the fans and instead went down the tunnel, removing his shirt as he did so.

His frustration comes just weeks after Tottenham’s Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence ignored Frank’s instructions to applaud the Spurs fans after their home defeat against Chelsea, with the pair later apologising.

Frank said he did not see Porro’s reaction but added: “We are in a tough spell right now and for my players it is about being as calm as possible and doing everything we can to work through it.”

Thomas Frank’s Tottenham tenure suffered another setback as Fulham inflicted more home woe with a 2-1 win.

Frank watched Spurs suffer a third consecutive defeat in a horror week after they conceded twice in the first six minutes at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – the second following a moment of madness by goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

An early strike by Kenny Tete and Harry Wilson’s sublime lob put Frank’s team immediately on the back foot and, despite Mohammed Kudus’ 59th-minute effort, Tottenham slumped to their fourth defeat in six Premier League games.

This latest bad result extended an awful run of results at home, with Spurs only winning three of their last 21 home league matches.

Those statistics, combined with a string of toothless attacking displays, mean Frank has plenty of questions to answer going into December, with scrutiny growing.

A spirited display in defeat at Paris St Germain on Wednesday had earned Frank some credit after the derby hammering by Arsenal where fans were scathing of his tactics.

Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall provided green shoots of encouragement in Paris and Frank trusted the 19-year-old duo in what felt a significant fixture.

Yet before the highly-rated pair had even had time to make a handful of passes, Tottenham were 2-0 down in shambolic fashion.

Fulham broke the deadlock in the fourth minute when, within seconds of a poor header by Kevin Danso, the excellent Samuel Chukwueze cut inside from the left and picked out Tete, who had an 18-yard shot deflected beyond Vicario by Spurs’ Destiny Udogie.

Tottenham were stunned but 136 second later conceded again in a moment to forget for Vicario.

The keeper rushed out to intercept Joachim Andersen’s pass ahead of Raul Jimenez, but instead of knocking the ball out for a throw, he inexplicably cleared it infield and Joshua King teed up Wilson to curl home wonderfully.

It was a sensational 40-yard lob by Wilson, but Vicario’s comical error saw him heavily booed straight after by the home fans.

Chukwueze curled against a post moments later before Danso had to block a shot by Wilson.

Tottenham’s lop-sided 4-2-3-1 formation with no left forward continued to struggle to create chances and only a superb tackle by stand-in captain Micky van de Ven prevented another Fulham goal as he slid in to thwart Chukwueze, who had rounded Vicario after Pedro Porro’s lapse in concentration.

It was masterful defending by Van de Ven but did not stop loud boos at half-time and, despite no changes by Frank, Spurs returned with much-needed attacking intent.

Randal Kolo Muani had an effort blocked seconds into the second period before a succession of promising openings ended with a poor Tottenham delivery.

When Porro did finally produce a quality cross, Kolo Muani sent his 57th-minute header into the side-netting.

Spurs finally had momentum, though, and the deficit was reduced with 31 minutes left when Bergvall chipped into the path of Kudus and he lashed into the top corner.

Frank immediately sent on Rodrigo Bentancur, Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons and the latter had a shot deflected over by Andersen as Tottenham pushed for a leveller.

The equaliser nearly arrived in the 67th minute when Bergvall flicked on Kudus’ corner, but Jimenez brilliantly headed clear and there was no grandstand finish, with Kolo Muani sending a backheel wide as Spurs lost again at home.

Tottenham conceded twice in the opening six minutes of their Premier League home match against Fulham as goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was booed by his own supporters following a calamitous error.

Having fallen behind to Kenny Tete’s deflected strike inside four minutes, it quickly went from bad to worse for Thomas Frank’s side as Vicario attempted to dribble out of trouble close to the touchline but presented a chance to Fulham.

Harry Wilson curled into the empty net from range - as the mood inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium turned and the frustrated home supporters directed their anger at the Spurs goalkeeper.

Tottenham came into the clash following a humiliating 4-1 defeat against north London rivals Arsenal and a 5-3 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in midweek.

"Vicario is getting absolute pelters from his own supporters,” the former Arsenal striker Alan Smith said on Sky Sports. "He makes a complete hash of his clearance. Wham, bam - what a start.

"You don't hear that often, booing your own player after seven minutes. A goalkeeper too. This could get really testing for the Spurs players now."

There were only two minutes and 16 seconds between the goals and it left Spurs with a mountain to climb against Marco Silva’s side.

At the home of the European champions, Thomas Frank was playing with fire. And he inevitably got burned as Paris Saint-Germain plundered five goals.

The under-pressure Dane had no choice. The wounds, however, could now be given time to heal. Frank survived his ordeal, with the bravery displayed proving to the world there is another way than the excruciatingly negative football on show over the past few weeks.

Frank was fortunate that his phallus-on-the table move in Paris has the potential to be a real gamechanger for his Tottenham project.

Sunday’s unforgivable North London derby surrender required the boldest of reactions. Deploying two 19-year-olds at the head of Spurs’ midfield, up against arguably the most ingenious engine-room in world football, was just that step.

Both tired as the European champions took the game away from Spurs in the second half at the Parc des Princes, but this wasn’t about the outcome, this was about the means.

Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray were Spurs’ standout performers, linking up seamlessly for the visitors’ opener. Yet, it was all about the chutzpah, the gall to take the attack to their illustrious Gallic opponents, in their own back yard, that will give supporters some hope a brighter future may still exist.

“Me and Lucas are really close,” a clearly buoyed Gray said after the match. “Every time we're on the pitch together, we just trust each other 100 per cent. Even if there is pressure on us, we know we can play to each other and we can handle that pressure. We’re really close on the pitch and off the pitch as well.

"The coaching staff have been absolutely brilliant with everyone, especially improving our individual games and stuff like that. Last season was a tough season, obviously it ended really well but a lot of tough moments in the season, especially for me playing centre-back and all these different positions, which I'm grateful for, but there were loads of setbacks.

“It is just things to learn from and the coaching staff this year have been really helpful with individual plans.”

Neither Gray nor Bergvall have had it easy. Gray has been pushed from pillar to post, a victim of his own versatility. Such is his effortlessly natural ability on the ball and incongruously calm aura, Gray can fill in anywhere, without his effectiveness dropping too much.

Bergvall is another who has been thrown in the deep end in the most treacherous water. Coming from the Swedish top flight, there has been no gradual assimilation to life in the Premier League – he is already one of Spurs’ key, senior players.

Yet, it is ostensibly clear neither are feeling the pressure. Quite the opposite, in fact.

“Two young players, I have said from the beginning, that I believe a lot in,” Frank said. “Archie was there ready before Monaco and then unfortunately picked up the calf injury. So we've been waiting for him to be ready again. Today he showed a lot.

“The way the two of them set up the first goal was also joyful to watch, but the mobility, technical, ball handling, mentality, character, I liked it.”

Now comes the really hard part for Frank. He cannot go that narrow against Fulham at home next up, and deploying both youngsters together again, alongside only one central midfielder in either Rodrigo Bentancur or Pape Matar Sarr, would represent an even greater risk than the one taken in Paris.

At this stage, however, Frank may not have a choice. If his Spurs project – the role he has been waiting for all his life – is to even get off the ground, Gray and Bergvall will almost certainly be his leading lights.

Fortune favours the brave. Frank has shown he can be bolder. But after Sunday, Spurs’ disgruntled masses want more. And now is not the time to retreat.

Tottenham will look to avenge their heartbreak from the Super Cup as they take on European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

Thomas Frank’s reign at Spurs kicked off with a silverware near-miss in August’s clash of continental cup winners, with the Europa League holders throwing away a two-goal lead in the last five minutes to lose to heavy favourites PSG on penalties.

While Spurs fans, fresh off their 17th-place league finish with Ange Postecoglou, could take some encouragement from pushing such a strong team to the wire, goodwill towards Frank is now at a stark low after suffering a humiliating 4-1 derby thrashing at the hands of Arsenal on Sunday.

They’ll need a much improved performance against the Parisians, who to nobody’s surprise are top of Ligue 1 but do come into the clash with defeat in Europe relatively fresh on the mind, suffering a 2-1 home loss to Bayern Munich at the beginning of November.

PSG v Tottenham betting tips

Thomas Frank will be looking for a big improvement from his side on Wednesday when Tottenham travel to Paris St-Germain in the Champions League (8pm, TNT Sports 3 and discovery+).

Spurs were thrashed 4-1 by Arsenal on Sunday, leading Frank to apologise for his side’s performance, as they slipped to their sixth defeat of the season in all competitions.

They are now ninth in the Premier League table and betting sites have pushed them out to qualify for the Champions League next season via a top four finish.

However, this season’s European campaign is going well with Spurs unbeaten in the Champions League with two wins and two draws from their opening four games, which leaves them one point behind PSG.

The French side, who won the competition for the first time in May, have won three and lost one of their four matches, with the defeat coming last time out when they went down 2-1 at home to Bayern Munich, with Luis Diaz scoring both goals before he was sent off.

Luis Enrique’s side are top of the Ligue 1 after winning nine of their opening 13 games, drawing three and losing just once against Marseille, back in September when an own goal from Marquinhos was the only goal of the game.

Paris Saint-Germain vs Tottenham preview: PSG too good for Spurs

The two sides have only met once before, and that was earlier this season when they clashed in the European Super Cup final.

Frank’s side took a two-nil lead just after the break, thanks to goals from Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero, only for two goals in the last five minutes from Lee Kang-In and Goncalo Ramos to earn PSG a 2-2 draw. The French side then went on to win 4-3 on penalties to secure their first silverware of the campaign.

Any Spurs fans expecting a repeat of that nail-biter might be left disappointed and the Champions League odds on the majority of football betting apps suggest an easy win for the reigning champions.

PSG have lost just one of their last six home Champions League games against English opponents, which was a 1-0 defeat to Liverpool in the round of 16 stage last March, only for the Parisians to bounce back and knock out Arne Slot’s side on penalties after winning the second leg 1-0.

They have also never lost successive Champions League group stage/league phase matches at home, and after what we have seen from Spurs in recent weeks, they will need to be more clinical in attack and disciplined in defence if they are to take anything from the game.

They have drawn their two away matches in this season’s competition against Bodo Glimt and Monaco, but this is a big step up. Spurs may have some joy against an injury-hit PSG side going forward, but the standout option on football betting sites remains a PSG win and both teams to score.

PSG v Tottenham prediction 1: PSG to win & BTTS - 7/4 Bet365

Neves to keep on scoring

Portuguese midfielder Joao Neves goes into the game in great goalscoring form, netting six goals in his last four games, including a hat-trick for his country in a 9-1 win over Armenia.

He also has three in his last three PSG games, scoring against Bayern, Lyon and Le Havre to take his tally for the season to nine from 10 appearances.

The 21-year-old also scored a hat-trick in the side’s 6-3 win over Toulouse, and his price to score anytime looks like excellent value, potentially.

PSG v Tottenham prediction 2: Neves to score anytime - 9/2 Betfred

PSG v Tottenham team news

PSG: Achraf Hakimi will be missing once again for the home side, and he is joined on the sidelines by Desire Doue (hamstring) and Ousmane Dembele (calf). However, Bradley Barcola and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are both available.

Tottenham: Brennan Johnson will be missing for Spurs, following his red card in the 4-0 win over Copenhagen, and he joins James Maddison (ACL), Radu Dragusin (ACL), Kota Takai (thigh), Dejan Kulusevski (knee), Dominic Solanke (ankle), and Yves Bissouma (ankle) on the sidelines. Mathys Tel is also unavailable after being left out of the Spurs’ squad for the group stages.

PSG v Tottenham predicted line-ups

PSG: Chevalier; Zaire-Emery, Zabarnyi, Pacho, Mendes; Ruiz, Vitinha, Neves; Lee, Barcola, Kvaratskhelia

Tottenham: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Palhinha, Sarr; Kudus, Simons, Richarlison; Kolo Muani

Free bet offer for the Champions League

Betfred are running a special offer for Wednesday’s Champions League games, offering enhanced odds of 40/1 on a goal to be scored in the clash between Arsenal and Bayern Munich.

This offer is only available to new customers who register using the Betfred promo code CL40 and make an initial deposit using a debit card. Next, bet a maximum of £1 on over 0.5 goals in the Arsenal vs Bayern match market on Betfred.

If there is a goal at Arsenal, bettors will be paid out in cash on the £1 bet and receive £40 in free bets to equal a payout at odds of 40/1. If there isn’t a goal at the Emirates Stadium, bettors will still receive £20 in free football bets.

When betting, always assume you’ll lose and therefore, only bet what you can afford to lose.

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Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur continue their Champions League campaigns as the visitors face a tough trip after a difficult derby day.

Spurs manager Thomas Frank faced criticism for a passive approach against Arsenal that resulted in a 4-1 defeat to their north London rivals, and now faces a meeting with last year’s Champions League winners in Paris.

Frank’s side have made a solid enough start to their return to the top tier of European competition, and start the fifth round of fixtures a point behind their opponents.

PSG suffered a defeat to Bayern Munich in their last Champions League outing and will hope to solidify their place in the top eight of the league phase.

Here’s everything you need to know.

PSG vs Tottenham is due to kick off at 8pm GMT on Wednesday 26 November at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

Viewers in the United Kingdom can watch the match live on TNT Sports 3, with coverage on the channel from 7pm GMT. A live stream will be available via discovery+.

Ousmane Demble could return to the PSG squad in a significant boost for Luis Enrique, although Achraf Hakimi and Desire Doue remain sidelined. Marquinhos could make his 500th appearance for the club.

Tottenham are without Brennan Johnson, who is suspended after his red card against Copenhagen. Randal Kolo Muani, on loan from PSG, could be involved with Uefa allowing players to feature against their parent clubs.

PSG XI: Chevalier; Zaire-Emery, Zabarnyi, Pacho, Mendes; Ruiz, Vitinha, Neves; Dembele, Barcola, Kvaratskhelia.

The stuff of club history, and maybe future champions. If it’s still far too early to say this will be seen as the day when Mikel Arteta’s side won the 2025-26 title, it is undeniably the afternoon that Eberechi Eze launched himself as an Arsenal player. Scoring a hat-trick in a north London derby will do that, especially when it was just the fourth in the history of the fixture and the first since 1978. There was of course the added edge that he was so close to signing for Tottenham Hotspur in the summer.

They could barely get near him in this 4-1 defeat. Even some within the club were rolling their eyes that this is the essence of Tottenham, but it’s bigger than that. Eze took charge, and took off. The supreme third goal was some way to crown it all.

There was an electrifying sense of purpose about Eze from the start, which is a lot more than you could say for Spurs. It’s instead hard to know what their purpose was.

They got the defeat their approach deserved, and were fortunate it wasn’t much worse. Even allowing for attacking injuries, the depth to which Spurs sat deep was galling. Up until Leandro Trossard’s clever opening goal, it was like all they actually wanted to do was create a massive physical block around their own box. Thomas Frank set out with three centre-halves and a lot of bulk around them. Get through us if you dare. Oh.

If we’re talking about fateful days and memorable afternoons, Frank’s approach instead made the first part of this game feel like an eternity.

And still all it took was a moment of delightful ingenuity from Mikel Merino for Trossard’s opening goal. Arteta and his staff are known to be aggravated at how pundits talk about the Spanish international as a “defensive midfielder” and the way Arsenal’s approach is treated, feeling there is nowhere near enough attention paid to how teams like Spurs - and even Manchester City - sit deep against them.

Arsenal certainly did all the attacking here, at least until it was 3-0 and the game was over. It still could have been 5-1 or 6-1 even after Richarlison’s wonder-strike from 40 yards.

Merino’s attacking quality set everything off. Amid a mass of bodies, the 29-year-old arched the most artistic little clipped pass. On receiving it, a momentary thought was that Trossard could have finished it first-time, but his smart turn and finish ended up being fully justified - if also deflected.

It was also full impact. Despite the historic Arsenal events that happened after the goal, that was pretty much it for the contest. Game over.

Spurs had been so geared into one very fixed approach, that was like they couldn’t shift emphasis. Hence Eze immediately got Arsenal’s second and his first - even if there was considerable debate over whether it should have been ruled out for offside. Spurs couldn’t dispute that it was deserved.

Arsenal had played all the football. Spurs just looked so empty. To which there is now going to be a different discussion.

“Are you Tottenham in disguise” the Arsenal fans gleefully sang… but which Tottenham?

Can this club only go from extreme to extreme, from Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle to George Graham and Jose Mourinho?

This derby approach was the diametric opposite of everything Ange Postecoglou attempted in the Premier League - if not the Europa League.

There can be an in-between, which was what Frank was supposed to supply.

Numerous mitigating factors exist, from injuries to the fact it’s still relatively early for a manager trying to reconstruct this team, but this was still a lot worse than it should have been.

They couldn’t have had too much complaint if the difference was five or six, especially amid some of the flurries in the second half.

Eze had brought the win to another level with a smart finish at the start of the second half, but it was his third strike that really displayed his own escalating qualities.

The playmaker exquisitely curved the ball into the top corner, after a coruscating break ended with Destiny Udogie careering off in the wrong direction. There’s that old Geoff Green line about a fire engine going to the wrong fire, but Eze was ablaze.

Against that, all Spurs had was Richarlison scoring with an admittedly spectacular speculative strike. A hit and hope. They should have much more than that.

It’s Arsenal who have Eze, though, and he has shown exactly why. It might yet lead to the title itself.

This felt a significant weekend, especially with Manchester City dropping points and an Arsenal trip to second-placed Chelsea up next.

It was undeniably Eze’s day, as he goes down in history.