Cartilage Free Captain

It’s one that’s over almost as quickly as it begun. Tottenham Hotspur’s move for Liverpool Andy Robertson is now reportedly no longer on the table:

Initially broken by Paul Joyce at The Times, the report has now been followed up by the likes of Alasdair Gold at Football.London and David Ornstein at The Athletic, with all of them saying the same thing: Liverpool have pulled the plug on a move - but that doesn’t mean a move still can’t happen.

As much as Spurs are struggling for depth, the Liverpool brass aren’t willing to sacrifice their own, hoping to recall Greek defender Kostas Tsimikas from his loan at Roma to make up numbers. Starting left back Milos Kerkez was pulled at half-time in the Reds’ match against Bournemouth on Saturday as Arne Slot attempted to manage his load, and Joe Gomez has picked an injury, meaning Liverpool aren’t exactly flush with defensive options right now.

Roma, however, have at this stage rejected the recall, currently unable to find a suitable replacement. Why they are able to say “no” is anyone’s guess; there could be clauses that penalize Liverpool in case of an unsanctioned recall, or perhaps Liverpool just don’t want to damage a club-to-club relationship in a move that could have long-term ramifications just to sell somebody who is seen as a club stalwart at Anfield. This does indicate though that if Roma find somebody to step in, Robertson’s transfer to Spurs could still happen.

It’s the latest in a long series of failures in Johan Lange’s transfer business, and though once more circumstances are largely out of Spurs’ control, the need for left back depth has been a pressing need for some time; a need that has been only exacerbated by Ben Davies’ ankle injury. Was Robertson the right option? He’s a solid player who has passing ability, good experience, and wouldn’t cost a ton; but you have to think there are better options out there who won’t command as large a wage and that aren’t in their early 30’s.

Whether Lange (and Spurs) will sign one of those in January is another question that remains to be answered.

Good morning everyone - I hope you’re all staying warm amid this winter storm that’s gone through a fair chunk of the US.

Your hoddler-in-chief probably should take his own advice. But instead he went out for a long run this weekend.

As I’ve shared before, I’m in training for my next marathon, which is a little more than two months out. Going through my training schedule I can’t believe I’m nearly halfway through.

Let me tell you something: Running 20 miles in sub-freezing temperatures is not ideal. This was my first of three 20-mile runs planned, and I was pretty determined to go out there. The temperature was a brisk 10F (-17C) when I went out. That made it important to dress properly. I wore two thin ankle-cut socks, over which I wore thicker and longer socks. Plus a baselayer compression pants, running shorts, a warm long-sleeve over a tank top, running gloves, a running buff to cover my head and ears, and a second to cover my mouth and nose. The little bit of exposed skin was given some vaseline.

This type of year makes me question why I signed up for a spring marathon. I knew these temperatures were coming, but I still don’t enjoy them. And it took me a little while to get warmed up, but things really clicked once I did.

But what I really enjoyed was the running route itself, which continues to expand as I increase my mileage. Saturday’s run brought me the furthest north I’ve ventured in DC yet, well north of the Smithsonian Zoo and alongside Rock Creek and up Piney Branch Valley. Incredible scenes.

Halfway through my water bottle and gels both froze. And the running buff I used to cover my mouth kept freezing, so I continually rotated it until it became a crinkly frozen piece and immovable piece of fabric.

As for the running itself, I felt very good. I’m always happy when I achieve negative splits, and my second 10 miles were right around marathon pace. Most of all the legs felt good this week and I felt I could run for at least a couple more miles.

I left home around 9.15am and by the time I finished my run two hours and 25 minutes later, Tottenham were putting on the final touches of their draw against Burnley. Running 20 miles was the better choice that day.

Jack P-B ($$): “Thomas Frank has failed to do what he was brought to Tottenham Hotspur to do”

I don’t even know what to say. Four days after Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank saved his job by running roughshod over Dortmund at home in the Champions League, this same Spurs side came to Turf Moor to play relegation-threatened Burnley and again were unable to come away with a win. Spurs opened up the scoring in the first half with a strike by Micky van de Ven off of a corner kick, but couldn’t keep the lead, letting Axel Tuanzebe equalize on a defensive mistake just before halftime. Spurs then capitulated in the second half courtesy of a Lyall Foster go-ahead goal before Cuti Romero pulled back the equalizer from a late header.

Thomas Frank made a tactical tweak for this match, bringing Kevin Danso into the side and playing three at the back with Djed Spence and Pedro Porro as advanced wingbacks. That worked pretty well with Spurs having the majority of possession in the opening 45 minutes, though Spurs wasted numerous opportunities in and around Burnley’s box to take what could’ve been a commanding lead. At halftime, Frank fulled Pedro Porro for Destiny Udogie as Spurs locked into a 3-4-3 that turned out to be mostly ineffective. Spurs’ passing was woeful, their offense worse, and Burnley keeper Martin Dubravka had nine saves for the Clarets. Things got interesting late after Mathys Tel forced another good stop from a diving Dubravka and Xavi Simons clanked a rocket off the bar.

But in the end, it the match ended as another disappointing result against a team that Spurs really should be beating. Tottenham have now dropped points to all three teams in the relegation zone and are now only eight points above the drop zone with a brutal stretch of matches upcoming.

Here are my match reactions. Spoiler: I’m pretty mad.

Match reactions

The back three formation is an interesting wrinkle for Frank as it allows Djed Spence to play as an attacking winger, something that worked really well vs. Dortmund. It kinda worked here, but Spence was pretty up and down during this one.

Early brightness from Tottenham in attack, though as usual the finishing kind of let them down. A couple of moments where players didn’t see others making good runs into space and choosing to lay off or dribble into traffic.

The plan seemed to be, at least initially, to let Burnley have the ball and hit on transitions. It worked, kinda, but Burnley broke through the defense a couple of times for chances that ended up flagged for offside.

Shoutout to Yves Bissouma who looked really good in central midfield, at least until he ran out of steam late. He looked super motivated, which is good, because we need him to be motivated like this, maybe he understood that this was probably his last chance to make a good impression at Spurs.

I have Dubravka in my fantasy team because he’s a good keeper and he had some really annoyingly good saves in this match.

Another lovely goal from Micky though again it’s noticeable that the goal came on a corner kick and not from the myriad of chances Spurs wasted from open play.

I had a comment written about how Kyle Walker looked absolutely cooked and then he put a ball on a plate to Tuanzebe for the equalizer and now I’m just mad because that was just terrible defending from Spurs not to track the runner into the box. That was Solanke’s man and he just let him go.

Another Frank first half where Spurs actually played decently well but wasted so many open play chances because the front line players aren’t especially great and/or aren’t being coached to look for open runners and cutters, and then they made one stupid defensive mistake in an otherwise good performance to let in an easy equalizer. This team is so aggravating.

Interesting choice to take off Porro for Udogie at halftime, which locked Spurs into a 3-4-3 formation that didn’t really work at all in the second half.

I’m still an Odobeliever and think he’s made a leap this season, but holy smokes his passing was atrocious today. He’s not the only bad passer on this team (Conor Gallagher couldn’t pass his way out of a paper bag today, Vic’s distribution was again catastrophic) but it was especially noticeable when Spurs got the ball around Burnley’s box.

That late Burnley goal was coming for a while and everyone knew it. The only surprising thing was that it didn’t come from Walker or Marcus Edwards to make it a truly #narrative-laden goal.

Wonderful header from Cuti to level the score, but does it bother everyone else that we only seem to get goals from our defenders right now? Micky is now one goal short of Richarlison for the team’s top scorer, and that’s… well, that’s bad.

I’m putting this draw on Frank, 100%. Spurs actually looked decent, if flawed, in the first half and while I can understand making a tactical change for this match he actually made us worse by not making good and timely subs and sticking to something that it was clear was not working. This is a loser team with a loser head coach playing loser football. He’s got got GOT to go, man.

Spurs are now only eight points out of the relegation zone and have a brutal stretch coming up including games against City, United, Newcastle, a surprising Fulham, and Arsenal. This could get seriously ugly very, very fast.

This team. I say we give up this Premier League lark and go, IDK, win the Bundesliga or something because I’m just so tired of watching us on the struggle bus against beatable teams in England.

The vibes at Tottenham Hotspur have been about as toxic as I’ve ever seen them, but nothing puts things right like a comfortable home win in the Champions League. That’s exactly what Spurs got — first half goals from Cuti Romero and Dominic Solanke put Spurs up two goals by halftime over a ten-man Dortmund, and while the second half was slightly more fraught, Tottenham did enough to see the match out, winning comfortably over a Dortmund side that has only one Bundesliga loss so far this season. The final score was 2-0.

Say what you want about Thomas Frank and his job prospects, today he got it exactly right despite a ton of absences. Micky van de Ven was one of the most notable, as he served a one-match suspension for yellow card accumulation. Kevin Danso replaced him on the right side of the defense, with Cuti sliding over to Micky’s usual position. More unusually, Djed Spence started as a left winger, with Destiny Udogie at left back behind him. Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall anchored the midfield, with Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert, and Dom Solanke, making his first start all season, ahead. Pedro Porro was Pedro Porro.

Spurs came out flying, attacking Dortmund from the opening whistle and looking to get balls into the box. They broke through via a set piece just 14 in, with Wilson Odobert squaring a ball to Cuti Romero’s boot, which he easily converted to put Spurs ahead. The match changed abruptly ten minutes later after Dortmund defender was sent off for a VAR-assisted dangerous tackle on Odobert. Spurs pressed their advantage and went two up late in the first half through Dominic Solanke, his first goal of the season.

Up comfortably and also up a player, Tottenham took their foot off the gas slightly, showing a little more patience for opportunities in front of Dortmund’s goal rather than pushing hard for a third. Part of that was dictated by Dortmund, who came out in the second half pressing higher and trying to disrupt and discombobulate Tottenham in possession. Lucas Bergvall was forced to the sidelines after a hefty challenge with Emre Can that forced his substitution for teenage debutante Jun’ai Byfield. Randal Kolo Muani later came on as a late sub for Solanke.

Here are my match reactions for the game.

Match reactions

Thomas the Frank Engine keeps chugging along. Somehow the Tottenham Hotspur manager is still in place to lead what is left of the squad in a challenging Champions League match against Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund after it seemed like the Danish manager’s tenure was all but over.

Spurs actually have a rather good record against the German side, winning their four last encounters, but it’s hard to confident of that outcome here; almost as hard as it is to call this Spurs side a football team - and I’m not saying that to be derogatory of their play (well, maybe a bit), but as a reminder that due to the numerous absences thanks to injury, illness, and suspension, the Lilywhites barely have a senior XI available.

It’s a side with only one win in the past month against a side sitting second in the German top-flight; but football isn’t played on paper.

COYS!

Lineups

Lineups will be posted closer to kick-off.

Live Blog

How to Watch

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Borussia Dortmund

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, UK

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Time: 3:00 p.m. ET, 8:00 p.m. UK

TV: DAZN USA, TNT Sports 1 (UK). Check international listings at livesoccertv.com

Streaming: Paramount+

Match thread rules

The match thread rules are the same as always. To any visitors coming here for the first time, welcome! We’re glad you’re here! Wipe your feet, mind the gap, and be sure to check out the other pages at this outstanding site. While you’re here, though, we have a few rules and regulations:

Absolutely no links to illegal streams. They’re bad and they get us in trouble. Violators will be warned or banned.

We have rules against “relentless negativity.” Nobody likes a Negative Nancy. Don’t knee-jerk and post outlandish or hurtful things just because you’re frustrated.

Along those lines, outright abuse of players or match officials is also not allowed. It’s fine to say “wow, that was a really bad call,” but it’s NOT okay to direct copious amounts of abuse in the direction of said official over a call you did not like.

Treat other people in the match thread the way you would want someone else to treat your grandmother. Be nice. This is a community of fans, not an un-moderated message board.

NO SPIDERS!

Finally, while we don’t have a rule against profanity, please try and keep the naughty words in check. Also, language that is sexist, racist, transphobic, or homophobic in nature will be swiftly deleted and you will be immediately banned. This is an open, supportive community.

Have fun, and COYS!

The cups are gone; the league is nearly dead. In some twisted irony, once again a (maybe lame duck?) Tottenham Hotspur manager’s fate may lie in Europe. The difference this time around is that Spurs have no real chance at lifting a trophy, meaning there really may be very little Thomas Frank can actually do to save his long-term prospects at the club. However, crashing out of the Champions League is one way to surely accelerate his demise.

Tottenham is highly likely to advance from the League Phase despite the respectable two names left on the fixture list, and there is even an outside shot at getting a bye into the Round of 16. Doing that requires wins over a pair of German sides, starting with Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. Both teams are flawed but have done well enough in this competition so far, leading to an interesting battle in North London.

UCL League Phase MW7

Date: Tuesday, January 20

Time: 3:00 pm ET, 8:00 pm UK

Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

TV: Paramount+ (US), TNT Sports 1 (UK)

Table: Spurs (t-10th, 11 pts), BVB (t-10th, 11 pts)

At one point, Spurs saw Dortmund three times in four seasons, making them one of the most frequent opponents amongst Europe’s top clubs. The Europa League Round of 16 defeat in 2015/16 was wiped away with two wins that helped Tottenham top its 2017/18 Champions League group. A memorable 4-0 win on aggregate in the following season’s Round of 16 featured domination at Wembley, then a heroic defense effort at Signal Iduna Park was validated by Harry Kane right out of halftime.

Two Things to Watch

Glory, glory nights

Tottenham’s home form in the league continues to sink lower, sitting 17th in points after the latest debacle over the weekend. Not so is the case in the Champions League, however, with nine points taken through three League Phase contests thus far with an aggregate scoreline of 8-0. The quality of competition could be questioned, but the problems that arise domestically do not seem to be the case on European nights.

That reality will be tested on Tuesday. Dortmund will be the best team yet to visit Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and while a 1-4 loss at the Etihad was unimpressive, the other two road matches featured four goals at Copenhagen and four more at Juventus. No team has scored more than Dortmund in the League Phase, and level on points with Spurs, they will be equally motivated to try to jump into the top eight.

Domestically, Dortmund are second in the table and second in goal difference. This is a quality side (12th per Opta) and one that figures to provide a difficult test for Frank. There remains the thought that Spurs play to their competition, and a home fixture means something much different in Europe than the Premier League, but poor effort will be punished by this squad.

Gridlock

Despite both team’s form in this competition and the ability to level up their play based on the occasion, there is a world where this contest ends up fairly uneventful. Even with the addition of Conor Gallagher, the Spurs midfield leans defensive, and Micky van de Ven’s yellow card suspension is likely to make Frank even less ambitious in his both his squad selection and tactics than usual.

Meanwhile, the Dortmund defense should feel optimistic about slowing down whoever ends up in the Tottenham attack, with the back three finding plenty of success behind the industrious midfield. It will be interesting to see how directly the visitors look to attack themselves, especially without the speedy van de Ven around to chase down through balls. With this in mind, expect Spurs to play it safer.

The only reason I could see this match opening up is because of all of the pressure on Frank. While a draw here and a win against Frankfurt would be a reasonable situation on paper, how much patience does the club really have for the struggling manager? Three points would definitely provide a boost — and would probably buy him a little more time, which might just be the biggest motivating factor, despite how long he claims a turnaround takes.

I hate international football.

But boy, this AFCON tournament was crazy in all the right (and some of the wrong) ways. A dream run for the host team? Check. Banger goals? Check. Intra-team drama? Check. Beautiful moments from teams that have walked a heartbreaking road to even reach the tournament? Check.

Moments of potential officiating corruption? Also check.

In the end, Pape Matar Sarr’s Senegal were the tournament victors, winning a dramatic final over hosts Morocco. They had to fight to even reach the final, though. 1-0 wins against Yves Bissouma’s Mali and Mo Salah’s Egypt meant Les Lions, one of the tournament favorites, seemingly rode their luck in what ended up being a deserved AFCON win. Their final opponents, Morocco, also rode their luck, only progressing to the trophy match via a penalty shootout, claiming a narrow victory over another tournament favorite in the shape of Nigeria.

The final itself was an extraordinary event. Amongst a hostile Rabat crowd, both sides probed and pushed, before chaos erupted. First, Ismaila Sarr headed home a set piece for Senegal in stoppage time - only for the goal to be chalked off due to a push on Achraf Hakimi, a push that was more fall than shove. Morocco then almost immediately were awarded a penalty on a set piece of their own, as El Hadji Diouf grappled with Brahim Diaz. Already furious with the decision to disallow their goal, the Senegal team were incensed by this latest decision and after protests left the pitch for around quarter of an hour, only to return to the pitch after pleas from Sadio Mane.

Brahim Diaz then stepped up to take the ensuing penalty, with his weak panenka attempt only settling in Edouard Mendy’s gloves, and sparking wild celebrations amongst the Senegal supporters. With 21 minutes of added time on the clock, the match then went to extra time, with Senegal securing the winner and the trophy via a stunning strike from Pape Gueye following a sweeping counterattack.

Keen-eyed readers will note I haven’t mentioned PM Sarr very much in this summary. That’s because he was not involved at all in the knockout phase, not playing a single minute off the bench, an unusual outcome for a player often heavily involved for his national side. To make matters worse, Sarr was taken ill during the match, and was so unwell he reportedly ended up in hospital.

Though the prognosis is unclear, this means he will miss Spurs’ midweek Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund, compounding Spurs’ availability woes, and probably means the AFCON campaign finishes on somewhat of a bittersweet note for the central midfielder. Nevertheless, it’s another trophy win for this Spurs squad, and I’m sure he’ll take what he can get!

Congratulations Pape Matar Sarr: Champion of Africa!

I still hate international football.

Champions League football really does come at you fast.

That’s right everyone - we only have two more matches in the current phase before Tottenham find out if they progress to the next round. Thomas Frank’s side will play host to Borussia Dortmund today (more on that from the rest of the Carty Free gang later),

Before we get to that, though, why not take a quick look at some of the other leagues across Europe?

Bundesliga

Bayern (50 Pts, +57 GD)

Dortmund (39 Pts, +18 GD)

Hoffenheim (33 Pts, +14 GD)

Stuttgart (33 Pts, +7 GD)

It’s a dominant Bayern campaign this year. They’ve been lead by a formidable Harry Kane, who has scored 21 goals and recorded 4 assists in 18 games this season. Those are some mind-boggling stats.

The BBC did a breakdown of Bayern’s historic season by the numbers. Some of those include 82 goals scored in the Bundesliga for Bayern since joining the team, and he is also the quickest to reach 100 goal competitions in the competition.

Serie A

Inter (49 Pts, +27 GD)

Milan (46 Pts, +18 GD)

Napoli (43 Pts, +14 GD)

Roma (42 Pts, +14 GD)

Bayern might be running away with the Bundesliga, but if you’re looking for a competitive title race than watch some of the Italian football. Just seven points separate first from fourth - your hoddler-in-chief is interested in seeing what Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma are up to these days. Meanwhile, Antonio Conte’s Napoli are sitting third.

La Liga

Barcelona (49 Pts, +32 GD)

Real Madrid (48 Pts, +26 GD)

Villareal (41 Pts, +18 GD)

Atletic Madrid (41 Pts, +18 GD)

Things are not alright with the Real Madrid fandom in Spain, though. Some of the players were subject to some heavy booing by their fans the other day shortly after manager Xabi Alonso departed the club. But Real are only one point behind their rivals Barcelona. Still, second is never good enough for Madrid.

Also keep an eye out for Espanyol who are somehow sitting in fifth.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Jinx Removing, by Jawbreaker

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Xavi Simons delivers verdict on Luca Williams-Barnett and Thomas Frank’s Tottenham future”

BBC: “Under-pressure Frank ‘feeling trust’ of Spurs board”

The Standard: “Tottenham face new crisis as Micky van de Ven among up to 14 stars out for Dortmund clash”

Thomas Frank, Dead Man Walking, will shamble the corpse of his Tottenham Hotspur managerial career out in front of the Tottenham faithful for possibly one last time on Tuesday as Spurs host Dortmund in the Champions League. This is a pretty important match for Spurs — while they’re in good shape in the table and are very likely to at least get out of the group stage and on to the playoff round of the competition, a win over Dortmund could be significant and give them a chance to finish top eight in the table and earn a bye in the competition, much like they did in the Europa League last season.

But much as Frank’s job prospects are in tatters, so is Tottenham’s squad. Frank will have a bare-bones roster available to him against a team that has lost once in the Bundesliga all season — Micky van de Ven is suspended after picking up a third yellow card in Spurs’ last Champions League game against Slavia Prague, and the team is basically the walking dead. Ben Davies just underwent surgery for a broken ankle and is out indefinitely. Rodrigo Bentancur is out for three months. Joao Palhinha’s status is unknown, but he missed the West Ham match due to injury. Mohammed Kudus and Richarlison are also out medium-to-long-term. New signing Conor Gallagher isn’t eligible until the next round, and AFCON winner Pape Matar Sarr was reportedly hospitalized after the final with an illness and is not available. At least Archie Gray, who picked up a knock vs. West Ham, and Xavi Simons, who also was carrying a slight knock, apparently trained today and Dom Solanke continues to work his way into fitness.

Which makes Frank’s decision about Mathys Tel and Dominic Solanke so bizarre. According to L’Equipe, Frank has made the decision to withdraw Tel from the Champions League squad… again… in favor of Solanke.

This is Olympic levels of fucking-a-guy-around, if you ask me. With Spurs still forced to register a smaller squad due to a lack of homegrown, association-trained players this season, Tel was left out of the squad, a decision that most thought was harsh but probably fair. Tel was then brought back INTO the squad ahead of the Slavia match as Dominic Solanke continued to recover from a long-term injury. Now, apparently, Frank has decided to reverse that decision, bringing Solanke back into the team and leaving Tel behind.

This is an unusual situation — Spurs are, according to Champions League rules, able to make a substitution in the CL squad for injuries without penalty, and are then able to change it back no later than two days before the match, which is apparently what they’ve done. But I confess to scratching my head on this one — Solanke is barely fit and hasn’t started a match since his return from injury. Meanwhile, Tel has been starting regularly, something that he has been demanding and even going as far as to have his agent try and force a loan so that he can get more playing time. Solanke is probably a better striker than Mathys Tel, but at least Tel is healthy and 100% fit. It feels especially cruel to be brought into the squad only to have that taken away

I get that everyone’s Mad at Frank™ right now, myself included, and are likely looking for any opportunity to stick a knife in. I’m leaving myself open to the possibility that this might be the correct decision for the squad ahead of an important match. But man, I just feel so bad for Mathys. This sucks for him and I’d probably be pissed off if this happened to me.

Good morning and welcome to the latest edition of Trending Up / Trending Down, where hoddle headquarters looks at what is trending up around Tottenham Hotspur, and what’s trending down.

Needless to say, things are looking pretty bad around N17. So, of course, today’s edition reflects that. I’m not going to waste any time getting into all the bad vibes, so we might as well dive into it:

Trending up:

Tottenham Hotspur women’s squad: At least there’s one Spurs squad that isn’t embarrassing right now. The women’s side recently beat Leicester City 3-0 to advance to the next round of the Women’s FA Cup. They’re also currently level with Arsenal on points which is pretty incredible, and it makes me excited about what the future has in store.

Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven: But we all want to talk about the men’s squad, and I’m not sure there are any players who give us anything to be proud about than our central defenders. It’s pretty shocking that Romero is the one we rely on to be the attacking force inside the opponent’s box, whilst we contineu to rely on VDV’s speed to blunt some of the counter-attacks. And it appears that Romero’s instagram post calling out the Tottenham board compelled Vinai Venktasheman (apparently) to put out that message in the programme this past weekend.

Toxicity at White Hart Lane: That said, it’s all gone horrible at Tottenham. And I don’t see how it gets better. The players were booed after West Ham. Thomas Frank was booed. There were even reports that West Ham were shocked by how bad the atmosphere was at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Trending down:

Richarlison and Ben Davies: I never like placing injured players here, but I have no choice. The inclusion of Davies especially hurts, and I hope we get to see him play for Spurs again.

The rest of the Tottenham men’s squad: And then we have everyone else. And I don’t know what to say about this team that is so un-inspirational. I struggle to think of anyone who’d compete for a spot on a top-four team (Pedro Porro could make it on the bench, I guess), but where is the leadership? Where is the fight? Sack whoever you want, it won’t change the character of the squad.

Thomas Frank: That brings us to Thomas Frank who, as of this writing, still has not been sacked. After the chorus of boos he received on Saturday, I don’t understand how he lasts the remainder of the year. From all I can understand from the reporting it seems that his time is coming up soon. Credit to the Spurs brass for trying to stick behind their guy, but he’s not the guy. The results, the play and the stats speak for themselves.

Vinai Venkatesham & Co: But where does this leave those in charge of Tottenham? Venkatesham and the rest were called out by Romero (we can infer). The manager is a dead man walking, and what plan in place is there? And what about the transfer window? A relegation fight this year isn’t out of the question, and I don’t understand how the board gets out of this mess. It’s a total disaster.

Fitzie’s track of the day: The Kiss, by The Cure

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Thomas Frank’s future and the Tottenham transfer to be done after surprise dressing room appearance”

BBC: “Results, fans, fall-outs - factors that lead to managerial pressure”

Jack P-B ($$): “Is Frank’s relationship with Tottenham fans broken for good?”

Matt Law: “Thomas Frank takes Spurs training with players in the dark over his fate”

The Independent: “How the Africa Cup of Nations final descended into chaos”