Football London

Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold and football.london reporter Ryan Taylor are back for the latest episode of 'Talking Tottenham' - our newly-rebranded Spurs podcast

There was more post-match drama for Tottenham after yet another underwhelming Premier League home defeat under Thomas Frank.

Spurs were booed off after Fulham, who had not won away from home in the top-flight this season, took all three points from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium courtesy of first-half goals from Kenny Tete and Harry Wilson.

Following the full-time whistle, Pedro Porro made his frustrations known when he was spotted in heated dialogue with Spurs youngster Lucas Bergvall.

The Spaniard has since clarified his anger on social media and accused some Spurs fans of "disrespecting" his team-mates before also telling "true" Tottenham supporters that he loved them.

On the latest episode of our newly-rebranded podcast Talking Tottenham, Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold and football.london reporter Ryan Taylor delve into the fallout of the defeat whilst also analysing Porro's statement and Thomas Frank's post-match press conference.

The Dane is looking to get a response from his players on Tuesday night when Tottenham travel to the North East to face Newcastle in the Premier League.

Spurs have already picked up impressive away wins in the top-flight at Everton, Leeds, West Ham and Manchester City this season but they have already faced Newcastle at St James' Park in the Carabao Cup, a match which they lost 2-0 in October.

Frank has no fresh injury problems to contend with, which is a much-needed boost ahead of facing Eddie Howe's hungry Magpies following their explosive 4-1 demolition of Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium last weekend.

Tottenham need a positive performance and result to get their season back on track and both Gold and Taylor will be on hand to reflect upon what happens later in the week with another podcast episode.

Here's every word the Tottenham Hotspur head coach said on Monday ahead of the Premier League match at Newcastle United

Thomas Frank faced plenty of questions at his latest press conference on Monday ahead of Tottenham's Premier League trip to Newcastle.

Spurs continued their horrendous home form of just three league wins in 2025 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a 2-1 defeat to Fulham on Saturday night. The game was marked by supporter boos at half-time, full-time and early in the game after a mistake from Guglielmo Vicario leading to the Cottagers' second goal.

The goalkeeper was booed on his next few touches of the ball and then cheered sarcastically when he cleared a ball out of play as he should have done in the original incident. After the game, Pedro Porro stormed off down the tunnel before coming back out and shouting at teenager Lucas Bergvall as he applauded the fans from the halfway line.

Our Spurs reporter Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions about all of the above to Frank. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at Hotspur Way.

What's the latest team news?

Everyone ready for the Fulham squad is ready for Newcastle tomorrow.

What's your reflection on the fans' treatment of Vicario?

That as I said after the game, I completely understand the frustration. If we don’t win, there will always be a frustration. So that is normal and is part of it. Also when we haven’t won as much as we want at home not only this year but the last long period. I don’t know how long that is maybe years, maybe more. Of course then the frustration can grow a little bit more, that is understandable.

It’s my job to do what I can to make sure we are calm and look at the things in a way where we are splitting things up in terms of performance, what is the impact in how we tried to build the team. That is part of it. We would like to do.

We are nothing without the fans. No club is anything without the fans. Tottenham Hotspur we are nothing without our fantastic fans. Nothing. We need each other. There is nothing we want more than making them happy in every way.

My point was during matches that’s where we need each other. After, fair with the booing but during that is when I want to create a fortress. Some of you guys probably have more up to date stats in terms of how many games we have won, lost or drawn in the last couple of years but if any club wants to be successful, you need to create a fortress. If you want to create a fortress, it can only be together. Fans, team.

My job is to make sure we do everything we can to perform but can we do that together? That’s when you create a very difficult place to play.

How do you keep the players calm in difficult situations?

We of course have meetings yesterday and today. Yesterday, like normal debriefing the Fulham game and today looking more forward to Newcastle. There will be some meetings tomorrow. I said from the beginning we want to build something sustainable that can compete in all tournaments. We have a squad that is learning, and learned from last year playing Europa League and Premier League, going into this year where we are in the Champions League.

I want to do well in the Premier League. Competing on both fronts that is something that takes time to learn physically and mentally. We are searching to find the right formula that will click while we have to rotate some players to keep freshness, keep the intensity high, do a little bit for injury risk and stuff like that.

As a good example, in the next period we play four fantastic games in 10 days. Two, two and two days between the games. We are the only of the five (English) Champions League teams. Probably fair to say probably with a squad that is not as used to it as the others. No problem that’s why we are learning along the way, we also had a spell earlier in the season I think it was Everton, Newcastle, Chelsea and Copenhagen where it was also two, two, two. It was only us and Arsenal that had that. The fact is if you have two days between games it’s just more complicated. It’s not impossible. We still need to perform, we still need to win matches. It’s just facts.

What does Xavi Simons need to show to earn more minutes and can we expect him to start against Newcastle or in this busy period?

Yeah of course. There's a reason why we got Xavi. I think he's a very good player in every aspect. Xavi has trained well the last couple of days and in general training well. We talked about it before - it's not the first time a player is stepping into the Premier League and just needs a little bit of adaptation to hit the ground running. That's one thing the physical league, but also to play games every third or fourth day. And then in a team that's maybe not top in sync, so how can we help each other? That's part of the process.

How impressed have you been with Newcastle recently?

Newcastle are good! They have been good for a long time since Eddie Howe took over. I said that before, I admire Eddie and his coaching staff and everything they do massively. They are a very intense team, very aggressive. Speaking about having a good home record - that's a difficult place to go to. Everyone knows that. I think they have won their last six home games so perfect timing. Good but not unbeatable.

How impressed have you been with Nick Woltemade in adapting to the league and taking over from Alexander Isak?

Definitely. Two different players but Nick Woltemade has done very well. He's got the physicality but also he offers something different. He's good to drop down, to link the game for them. That's why he offers something a little bit different. The way he attacks the box I think he does that very well, finding good positions.

Vicario spoke to the media after the Fulham game - how much does that show about his personality and how important is he as a leader?

Vic is remarkable. His character is fantastic in every aspect. I think it's about how you carry yourself every day in good times and in bad times. He's very consistent in that way. Everyone knows that everyone makes mistakes. Sometimes on the football pitch, outside football, whatever we do. But the way he carried himself, that impressed me very, very much. I think also his response to setbacks and also mistakes, I think he does that very well.

Should fans not be allowed to have their opinion whenever they want?

Yes, just like I'm allowed my opinion whenever I want. I think it's fair. I'm just saying what I think. I can't say it enough, we have some fantastic fans. We are nothing without the fans, we need them every aspect. They are very much allowed to be disappointed, no problem. I'm just saying when you play a match at home, it is not as helpful as it is when they can see they are driving the team forward for example. Of course it's up to us to do everything we can to perform, so it's going hand in hand. But the beautiful thing about football and life is it's never straightforward.

Pedro Porro posted on social media about Saturday, what did you think of it, and do you think he should have posted that?

I think it's fair. I think it's fair in that sense. Again, the players, they are individual people that can have their own opinions. And I think what he put out there was fair in every aspect.

Finally, you know how fickle football is, so how do you stay calm and with your players, keep things now on an even keel?

I think you're, of course, searching to... I wouldn't say find the winning formula, because it's, let's say, three different games. We played away to Arsenal. That was a bad performance. Away to Paris. That was a good performance. We lost both. And then we played a freak game against Fulham, where we down 2-0 after six minutes. But especially in the PSG, and especially in Fulham, that were some good performances. It's all about keep going back to that, keep going back to what we can affect.

The process is how we train, the principles, and then keep the energy with the players, and for the players, and then go again. That's the only way out of it. Of course, in the tough period, it's easier when you win, but when you don't, you need to do the same.

You said you would speak to Vic after the game, how did that go? And in general, how do you speak to someone that's experienced that in front of 60,000 fans?

Yeah, I spoke with him after the game, and I said 'how are you?' and he said he was OK. You can say there's different types. I think Vic is a relatively good player to deal with setbacks like that, and move forward. Others maybe it would have hit harder.

I also think if you are a goalkeeper, unfortunately, I don't think there's any goalkeeper in the world except, and I can say that, because I know Peter Schmeichel, never thought he made a mistake, but probably did sometimes. That can also be a way of dealing with it.

You know you make mistakes, and how you deal with that is a big part of how you become, let's say, a goalkeeper, but also, actually, as a player.

With Vic going out in the next action and getting the ball and doing it that time and showing that strength of character, you want your players to take risks, how important is it that they feel that they can take risks and if they make mistakes not suffer a reaction like that?

I think it's hugely important, because every game, every player makes small mistakes. There can be at a bad time. Some can be the crucial goal-defining mistakes that everyone can see, but there's always small mistakes in a game where you lose the ball, where you miss a touch, where you miss a clearance, where you miss a one-vs-one, and you sometimes don't get punished well enough, but how can you keep going no matter what in a game?

You and Pedro both use the same expression about 'true Spurs fans'. You said they're not true Spurs fans, Pedro said he loves the true Spurs fans, do you have fear that that might fire up those frustrated supporters in being told they're not true Spurs fans?

I don't know, and you can say, how do you define a true Spurs fan? I think all the fantastic fans we have believe they're true Spurs fans. Some react in one way, some react in another, some are a little bit in between. No matter what, we need all of them.

You said it is the second time you’ve had four games in 10 days, how much does that impact you and the coaching staff?

Yeah, of course (it impacts) extremely and even if you have that extra day, it just gives you a day more to recover, but of course with 2-2-2, it’s very limited with what you can coach, how many meetings and how much individual time you can have with the players because it’s just pure recovery as well, but again it’s just the way it is. We need to find a way. I think the more bits it also impacts is that, if you want to kind of find a little bit of… I think every good team, they found out they have seven, eight, nine players to play when it's the top matches, if that makes sense and that of course is what we are searching to find what is the thing that can click. And we can’t do it all the time because we also need to rotate to make sure we have enough intensity and freshness.

You've used different tactical approaches, is the long-term plan to settle on one particular system?

For me, it's always the guiding principles that is the most important thing. How we build up? What do we do when we split centre-backs? What do we do when we have a sitter or two sitters? What do we do with the position in front of that? How do we attack with playing one on the side? How do we press? And that will always more or less be the same no matter if you play 4-3-1, 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 3-4-3, whatever, so it's always the guiding principles. It's about how we can get the best players on the pitch that make the team the best way.

What have you noticed about the defence of late with 13 goals conceded in four games?

You can say the four goals we conceded against Man Utd and Fulham is some of the goals I would like to avoid a bit more and also those two games, if you can see at the actual amount of shots we conceded, I think we conceded five shots and seven shots. It's very low. If you can see at the xG, you can see those games are very low, so the other stats behind it was good. And then there's two other results where we conceded too much against two, unfortunately, two of the best teams in the world.

How do you mend this relationship with the fans because it feels at a tipping point where you need them but yourself and the players have lost a lot of them?I think if we were going into every game, I'm pretty sure every fan wants us to win and wants to support and wants to do everything. And then if not going to plan, then maybe some get more frustrated than others. Again, I think there's always some that shout louder than others, so I don't think fans, when you say you lose the fans, how many is that? Five per cent? 10 per cent? 15 per cent? 20 per cent? How much is it? I don't know. We would like to get all 100 per cent on board and there's only two things we can do. We can perform and keep connected.

Would you consider speaking to fan groups or talking to fans after a game like we see in different countries?

I would consider a lot of things. I don't know? I think there's two ways. That's performing and connecting. Connecting is a lot of things. I, in general, always believe in dialogue, but we're privileged. We have a lot of fans, so there'll be a lot we need to reach out to.

Thomas Frank is holding his latest press conference on Monday ahead of Tottenham's Premier League trip to Newcastle with plenty on the agenda.

Spurs continued their dreadful home form with a 2-1 defeat to Fulham at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday night. The game was littered with boos from the crowd, at half-time, full-time and early in the game after a mistake from Guglielmo Vicario leading to the visitors' second goal. The goalkeeper was booed on his next few touches of the ball and then cheered sarcastically when he cleared a ball out of play as he should have done in the original incident.

After the game, Pedro Porro stormed off down the tunnel expecting the others to follow and then when he realised they were not, he came out and shouted at teenager Lucas Bergvall as he applauded the fans from the halfway line as most of the players did rather than head over to the big south stand.

The players have spoken about the disconnect with the fans during a recent post-Chelsea debrief meeting and Porro was upset by the treatment of Vicario.

Now Frank will discuss the incidents as well as Spurs having only won three times at home in the entirety of 2025 as the year edges towards its close.

Under-fire Thomas Frank branded Tottenham fans "unacceptable" for booing Guglielmo Vicario during a damaging 2-1 Premier League home defeat to Fulham, while the squad held crunch talks last month

Tottenham Hotspur’s players held an emergency meeting to discuss the disconnect with the club’s fans last month. Thomas Frank’s side conceded twice during the shambolic opening six minutes on Saturday night as Fulham claimed a 2-1 victory.

The defeat capped off a disappointing week for Spurs after they had been beaten by Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. It was also Spurs’ 10th home defeat of 2025 in the Premier League.

The main talking point from the game was Fulham's second goal when Guglielmo Vicario lost possession well outside of his box. Harry Wilson eventually curled the ball into the unguarded net.

Moments later when the ball came to Vicario again, some Spurs fans booed him – something that left Frank and Pedro Porro furious after the game.

And according to The Telegraph, the subject of Spurs supporters was the key theme in a players’ meeting following the defeat by Chelsea on November 1.

The disconnect between players and supporters is, according to the report, viewed as critical within the squad.

The report also claims that the Spurs players have adopted a new convention where they gather together in the centre circle at the end of the first half and leave the pitch together.

The reason behind the move is that it demonstrates their solidarity regardless of the atmosphere inside the stadium.

It is claimed that this is not the first set of Spurs players to have held concerns over their relationships with the club’s fans and that it has been an issue in previous years.

Speaking after Saturday’s game, Frank described Tottenham supporters who booed Vicario as "not true fans" and deemed it "unacceptable".

He said: "I didn't like that our fans booed at him [Vicario] straight after and a few times he touched the ball. They can't be true Tottenham fans because everyone supports each other when you are on the pitch.

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

While in an Instagram post on Sunday afternoon, Porro said: “Football is emotions. In football, as in life, there can always be mistakes.

“What I will not tolerate is hearing disrespect from the fans to my team-mates, hence my frustration at the end of the game.

“And we will get up. We remind you, six months ago, everything was so bad. In the end, it is not how it begins but how it ends. To the true Spurs fans, I love you.”

Tottenham fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday night - extending their winless run to four games with Thomas Frank now under huge pressure

Former Tottenham full-back Ryan Sessegnon promptly took to social media to celebrate Fulham's 2-1 win over his former club on Saturday night. The 25-year-old started for Marco Silva, playing the full 90 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The left-back spent five years in north London before joining Fulham on a free transfer after his Spurs contract expired in 2024. Sessegnon's spell at Spurs was hampered by injuries, with the left-back making just 57 appearances for the club.

Despite his time there, Sessegnon now seems firmly opposed to Spurs. Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), the defender wrote after his side's win: "FULHAM FULHAM FULHAM!!"

The post prompted a number of replies, with one fan asking: "Why do you hate Spurs so much, mate?" Another rubbed it in, adding: "Champions of Europe, we know what we are. You’d have liked that better."

It was Spurs' fourth consecutive Premier League game without a win, following last weekend's defeat to Arsenal. Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario came under scrutiny after his mistake gifted Fulham their second goal.

The Italian was subject of boos from the home fans, something which manager Thomas Frank did not agree with. "I didn't like that our fans booed at him [Vicario] straight after and a few times he touched the ball," he said in his press conference.

"They can't be true Tottenham fans because everyone supports each other when you are on the pitch. Of course I understand [fans' frustration]. That's not what I said.

"Completely, I understand the frustration when it's not working. I think we were all a bit that it's going against us and it's frustrating in many ways, so that I understand. No problem.

"I think there's nothing that the players, I, everyone want to get the win here. Nothing we want more.

Frank continued: "And I hope the fans can see that they were running out there today, giving everything. But football is so beautiful and complex. It's 11 players that need to be in sync and play and run at the same time.

"And there are small setbacks during games, you need to get through it and stick to the plan, stick to the bits. And sometimes it's just more tough.

"And sometimes you're in a spell where it's difficult, which it is right now. But there's only one way, it's going forward and do everything you can to get out of it together. So there's only one thing, we keep going and do everything we can to win the next home game."

Tottenham suffered another disappointing defeat on Saturday with a 2-1 loss at home to London rivals Fulham – and Thomas Frank is now under huge pressure

Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O'Hara has outlined the three reasons he believes Thomas Frank is struggling in North London.The ex-Brentford boss has only been in charge since the summer, having been appointed to replace Ange Postecoglou in the dugout.

However, it has been far from a straightforward start to life at the club, with five wins, three draws and five defeats from their opening 13 Premier League games. Sunday's 2-1 defeat at home to Fulham was their third setback in the space of a week, following losses against Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain.

The manner in which Frank's side were beaten by the Cottagers was equally damning, as they found themselves two goals down inside the opening 10 minutes due to significant defensive errors, and the scoreline could easily have been much worse.

Mohammed Kudus offered Spurs a glimmer of hope in the second half with an outrageous finish to halve the deficit. But it wasn’t enough to salvage anything from the game, as the visitors just about held on to secure all three points.

Speaking on social media platform X after the match, O'Hara admitted the job at hand may be too much for the manager. He also outlined three factors he believes have contributed to the team’s struggles.

"I'm starting to think the job is too big for Thomas Frank," he wrote. "But our recruitment has been so bad; these players just aren't good enough and most of them are way off it. Big problems."

In terms of recruitment, the club brought in Xavi Simons, Kudus, Mathys Tel, Kevin Danso and Kota Takai on permanent deals, while Joao Palhinha and Randal Kolo Muani joined on loan.

However, missing out on Morgan Gibbs-White and Ebere Eze proved significant blows for the club’s hierarchy. Both appeared close to signing at different stages of the summer, but deals collapsed at the final hurdle for separate reasons.

Nottingham Forest were left unhappy with how Gibbs-White’s release clause was triggered, and the England international eventually signed a new deal at the City Ground. The move for Eze, meanwhile, was hijacked late on by bitter rivals Arsenal.

Now, Frank’s side face another tricky run of fixtures in the lead-up to Christmas. They visit Newcastle United in midweek before the manager takes on his former club Brentford for the first time. After matches against Slavia Prague and Nottingham Forest, a visit from Liverpool also awaits next month.

The goalkeeper made a mistake that led to Fulham's second goal as Spurs fell to a 2-1 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario has taken ‘full responsibility’ for the mistake he made in Spurs’ defeat against Fulham.

Thomas Frank’s side fell to a 2-1 home defeat against the Cottagers on Saturday evening. They found themselves 2-0 down after just six minutes.

Kenny Tete gave Fulham the lead in the fourth minute, just two minutes later it got worse for Spurs when Vicario made his way out of his box to clear the ball.

His clearance, however, fell to a Fulham man, who passed the ball to Harry Wilson. With Vicario out of his goal, the winger was able to find the net from the right wing to double Fulham’s lead.

The incident led to some fans in the stadium making their feelings known and booing Vicario the next few times he had the ball at his feet.

The goalkeeper has now issued a statement on the mistake. Taking to Instagram, he has written: “I take full responsibility for the second goal we conceded.

“Moments like this hurt, especially when the results aren’t going our way.

“Now more than ever, it’s time to fight even harder and give everything for this club. COYS”

Former Spurs midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg showed his support by commenting with a white heart emoji.

Speaking about the reaction from the crowd, Vicario told Sky Sports after the game: "Look it’s part of football. It’s part of football, so I am a big man, I am quite older.

"We cannot be influenced for which is the situation in the stands. The fans have the right to do what they think and probably it is on us to stay more calm and focus more on ourselves because we know which is our game plan and which is our strengths.

"We are lacking a little bit composure to overturn the result. Today it is a bad defeat and tough to accept."

Frank gave a more stern response to the reaction. "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," he said.

“I didn't like that our fans booed at him straight after and a few times after that. They can't be true Tottenham fans because everyone supports each other when you're on the pitch and we do everything we can to perform.

“I'm fine with them booing after the match, no problem, but not during. That is unacceptable in my opinion."

Here are our Tottenham talking points after their 2-1 home defeat to Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday night

The biggest problem for Thomas Frank is that Tottenham Hotspur have not improved under his watch at this point.

Tottenham currently sit in 10th place in the Premier League with 18 points to their name, having scored 21 goals and conceded 16 after 13 matches. Last season at this stage they had scored seven more goals, let in two fewer and had two more points to their name in seventh place.

If Arsenal win at Chelsea on Sunday then Spurs will be almost as far from the top of the table with 14 points than they are from bottom side Wolves, who are currently 16 points below with a game in hand.

When a club makes a managerial change, it's because they believe they can improve what they have.

Frank has a history of starting very slowly at both Brentford and Brondby and his solid early weeks at Tottenham may have only briefly postponed that this time around.

The north London club will not give him the time those smaller clubs did though, especially when it's very difficult to watch Tottenham right now.

Opta pointed out after this latest defeat to Fulham that Spurs are averaging just 9.5 shots and 3.2 shots on target per match in the Premier League this season. Both of those are their lowest averages on record in a single campaign since 2003-04.

This was another night that showed the connection with the fans is as broken as ever. If anything the boos that were twice sent towards Guglielmo Vicario, the noise at both the half-time and full-time whistles and for Mohammed Kudus' goal were the only real shows of emotion from a fanbase that has grown apathetic.

It's not hard to see why. They've been served up slop for Michelin star prices.

On Saturday night, 60,546 fans turned up who are clearly glutton for punishment because Tottenham have now won just three of their past 21 home league matches. It's tough to justify paying to come to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2025.

It's hardly the most enjoyable day out unless you're an away fan. Otherwise you could easily mistake it for the London Dungeon.

On this occasion the fans had to watch Spurs go 2-0 down within six minutes. It was the earliest that Tottenham have ever conceded two goals in a Premier League home match. Another record for the collection.

Kenny Tete's shot deflected off Destiny Udogie and into the net just three minutes in and not long after that Vicario came out to claim a ball outside of his box. He did manage to do that well enough but then inexplicably chose not to kick it out of play and instead hit a weak pass down the line and the ball eventually fell to Harry Wilson, who curled it back from the touchline into the empty net.

Vicario was booed with his next two touches and then cheered sarcastically when he next kicked the ball out of play, despite showing character to put himself in the same situation by rushing out.

Vicario has saved Tottenham repeatedly this season and it made for uncomfortable viewing. It was all very reminiscent of Davinson Sanchez being booed for mistakes by the Spurs fans during the home defeat to Bournemouth in April 2023 until he was finally taken off.

"I've never seen this in my career. I feel really bad for Davinson," said his captain Hugo Lloris that day. "He's a team-mate, he's a friend and he's been fighting for the club for many, many years now.

"It's just sad. The story is sad for the club, for the fans, for the player. It's something you don't want to see in football."

Just over two and a half years on and it was happening again.

"I take full responsibility for the second goal we conceded," Vicario posted on Instagram after the game. "Moments like this hurt, especially when the results aren’t going our way. Now more than ever, it’s time to fight even harder and give everything for this club."

The Italian fronted up by asking to do the interviews for the club and Sky Sports.

Of the booing, he said to the latter: "It's part of football, so I am a big man, I am quite older. We cannot be influenced by the situation in the stands.

"The fans have the right to do what they think and probably it is on us to stay more calm and focus more on ourselves because we know our game plan and our strengths. We are lacking a little bit of composure to overturn the result. Today it is a bad defeat and tough to accept."

Fulham could have been further ahead in a horrendous start to the match as Samuel Chukwueze curled an effort against the left-hand post before Micky van de Ven prevented a third Fulham goal with a last-gasp tackle to stop the same Fulham player after he had rounded Vicario.

Spurs grabbed one back through Mohammed Kudus in the second half but they could not climb the mountain of their own making and the fans just weren't having it.

When Lucas Bergvall, who had seen a header cleared off the Fulham goalline, attempted to whip up the crowd for a second half corner, it brought the smallest of murmurs in response.

Perhaps it's because Spurs were looking to rescue a draw at home against Fulham. The team with the worst away record in the Premier League this season were up against the side with second worst home one. Dr Tottenham only had one prescription available and there was to be no self-medication.

Amid the half-time boos, the Tottenham players had gathered in a huddle before going down the tunnel. Both the 19-year-old Bergvall and captain for the day Van de Ven could be seen saying things to the group. It says plenty about the team's current problems that a teenager is having to gee them up.

After the game, the boos rained down again and the tannoy stadium as often is the case in defeat played Munich by Editors - a song that just means pain for Tottenham fans.

It's somewhat fitting, or simply ill-thought out by Spurs, that the songs' lyrics include the lines "People are fragile things, you should know by now. Be careful what you put them through."

As that song pumped out, the Spurs players chose to applaud the big south stand only from near the centre circle rather than walking over. Bergvall looked to be thinking about doing that at one point but saw Vicario and decided otherwise.

It was only a few weeks before that the concussed Swedish teenager was being taken away by the Italian as someone in that south stand - a 'bad person' in the words of the keeper - berated him for no apparent reason.

On Saturday, Pedro Porro went down the tunnel at the final whistle, only to reappear moments later and march across the pitch, shouting something at Bergvall, seemingly telling him not to applaud the fans before he stormed back down the tunnel, whipping his shirt off on the way.

The Spaniard had had a stinker of a match, struggling with his crosses - only three of his 16 found their target - and needing to be bailed out by Van de Ven after allowing Chukwueze to ease past him.

When it came to the boos, Frank was keen to distinguish between the different types in this latest Spurs woe show.

"Definitely conceding two goals in six minutes gives us a mountain to climb. I think it is the classic [thing that] when you are in a bad spell or a tough spell, things go against you. First one is a deflected shot and the second one is a mistake from Vicario. It happens," he said.

"I didn’t like how the fans reacted to that. They booed at him straight after and also three or four times when he was on the ball. For me that is unacceptable. They can’t be true Tottenham fans. Booing after [the game], fair. No problem. But when we are playing we need to be together. If we turn it around, we need to do it together. That is hugely important for me."

He's not wrong about the boos being unhelpful but the strength of his words, questioning fandom, comes at a dangerous time for him. He's backing his goalkeeper but he's also only further driving a wedge between him and a section of the fanbase.

His irritation grew as the press conference wore on, the Dane at his most snappiest with his answers since he arrived at the club.

He had selected an odd formation which seemed to be a lopsided 4-3-3 with Richarlison and Randal Kolo Muani both playing centrally as a pairing and Kudus on the right, meaning nobody was attacking down the left ahead of Udogie.

It made Spurs' play very predictable and the ball was constantly worked out to Porro or Kudus and Fulham knew they would do that.

When football.london mentioned to Frank that the formation felt overloaded on the right with nothing on the left, he simply smiled and said: "That’s true."

The ensuing pause brought the follow-up of 'well what was the thinking behind that?'.

"I wanted two strikers in and around each other which looked good at times but of course the gameplan was definitely way more difficult after the 2-0," he said.

He later said of the formation: "I think for me the first half was clearly we were rushing things too much. We were going in behind when we shouldn’t go in behind, we were playing in the middle when we shouldn’t play in the middle and all those bits because we were rushing too much.

"I think it is difficult to judge the first half. Of course it is a part of everything and it looked much better second half and also before I made three changes."

In essence, he was saying his own substitutions and tactical decisions were no good and to use his own earlier words 'that's true'.

Then came this little back and forth with a reporter about the boos during and after the game.

"With the fans booing during the game. Do you understand the frustration?" came the question.

"Yeah but I think we need to be clear on what I talked about," responded Frank. "I talked about after Vic, that I didn’t like. That is unacceptable. You can’t be after one player."

As the reporter tried to rephrase the question, the Dane said: "Let me finish. I think that is very important because if you want anyone to perform you need to be behind them. In my opinion, that’s what you get to get people to perform in the best possible way. After [the game], no problem."

The journalist asked: "I guess maybe it's part of the same thing. You want to come out and put on a big performance, get a big win, and within eight minutes the team is 2-0 down..."

This time Frank did the interrupting: "Six minutes. So your question is what?"

"Do you understand the fans' frustration after eight minutes when the team is 2-0 down?" said the reporter.

"Of course I understand. That's not what I said," replied Frank. "Completely I understand the frustration when it's not working. I think we were all a bit that it's going against us and it's frustrating in many ways, so that I understand. No problem."

When he later left the press conference, Frank glared at that reporter as he walked away from his seat.

Some will back Frank's support for Vicario, others will call it deflecting from another poor performance on his watch.

Very few of his players came out of the game with any credit in another Spurs match when individual errors reigned. Randal Kolo Muani showed the most endeavour and looked the most dangerous Tottenham player.

Archie Gray did not quite seem to understand his role in the first half but was improving in the second when he was taken off. Bergvall had the highest pass success rate on the pitch with 97% even though he tried to force matters. The Swede got an assist for the perfect pass to Kudus and Spurs lost something when he was taken off.

Otherwise most others were sub-par. Richarlison limped around a bit and didn't really impact anything.

Kudus was poor other than his excellent goal. He huffed and puffed, often beating one man before turning back inside to try to beat him again, and his crossing was even worse than Porro, with only two of his 16 attempts reaching someone in a Spurs shirt.

Kudus had been the shining light of Tottenham's early weeks under Frank but the Ghana international has not recorded an assist in almost two months and this goal was his first since early October.

There's no harmony at Tottenham right now. The players are shouting at each other. The fans are booing their own players, the club's £51million playmaker has not started the past three matches and did not exactly put forward his case to start the next one when he came on.

Frank is yet to get a handle on things. It's been three defeats in a week and any drops of positivity from within the PSG clash have now been flushed away by Fulham.

A trip to a back-in-form Newcastle awaits on Tuesday night and then comes the visit of Brentford, who sit above their former manager in the table. Lose both of those and the pressure really dials up on Frank.

But surely Spurs have to back their man otherwise their summer change after finally winning a trophy will look incredibly daft and CEO Vinai Venkatesham built a reputation for patience at Arsenal, which has benefited Mikel Arteta.

Frank needs to show more though and his irritation with some sections of the fanbase and the media belied perhaps that he knows it as well. Pointing back to last season's 17th place finish while tracking below it does him no favours.

The Lewis family are expected to back the club in the January transfer window but that feels like a lifetime away right now and Frank needs to prove that new signings are safe in his hands. He's only really playing three of his summer arrivals with any regularity and it's difficult to point out too many players who have improved under his tutelage yet.

It's a huge week ahead for the Dane and this latest iteration of Tottenham Hotspur. The fans are drained and the players look fed up just three months into the season. Nobody wants to jump on the same old Spurs cycle of doom, so something needs to change quickly for Frank and his team to succeed. Otherwise the wheel of Tottenham misfortune spins again.

Thomas Frank's side lost 2-1 to Fulham on Saturday evening and full-time scenes speak volumes of Tottenham morale

You have to admire his wishful thinking because Tottenham have now won just three of their past 21 Premier League home matches after Fulham punished a wretched first-half defensive horror show.

Spurs were two goals down inside just six minutes and they've now conceded first in six successive home top-flight games for the first time since September 2003.

Mohammed Kudus restored a small slice of pride after Kenny Tete and Harry Wilson had struck for the Cottagers but it was a damning reflection of this side's current direction of travel under Frank that they never truly looked capable of wrestling things back.

The Dane's wilting Europa League champions look starved of all inspiration and they have now won just three of their past 13 matches in all competitions. It's scarcely believable that Tottenham, who were booed off by their own supporters, have become scared of their own shadow on their own patch - a £1billion state-of the-art stadium.

Prior to last night's meeting, Fulham were one of only two sides, alongside Wolves, yet to taste victory on the road in the Premier League this season.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, basement boys Wolves' sole away point was banked against Spurs. There were no signs of travel sickness, however, when the visitors forced themselves ahead after just four minutes.

Kevin Danso's poor defensive header put the hosts under intense pressure and Fulham winger Samuel Chukwueze's wayward pass somehow evaded Lucas Bergvall, allowing right-back Kenny Tete to strike at goal. The Dutchman's effort then deflected off Destiny Udogie and wrong-footed Guglielmo Vicario.

While the Tottenham No.1 was powerless for the opener, there was nowhere to hide for Fulham's second just two minutes later. Joachim Andersen sent a long punt up field, Vicario raced off his line to collect the ball and instead of hoofing it off the pitch, the Italian tried to be overly clever and shield off Raul Jimenez as he pressed the panicked shot-stopper.

Vicario then miscued his clearance which arrived at the feet of Josh King, who teed up Harry Wilson to apply a pinpoint 40-yard finish into the empty net. Marco Silva could not believe his luck as boos began to perforate the eardrums of Thomas Frank.

Remarkably, there appeared to be some late-coming fans that were still yet to even sit in their seats. They must have been tempted to turn around because it did not get any better from there.

Spurs were playing lopsided with no left-winger as Richarlison tucked in alongside Randal Kolo Muani following their goalscoring exploits at PSG in midweek. It did not require a tactical genius to determine that it was a farcical mess.

Chukwueze's curling shot from the edge of the box then kissed the post before sarcastic cheers echoed around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Vicario finally hacked a clearance off the pitch. Had it not been for stand-in captain Micky van de Ven, Silva's troops, who were tearing Spurs to shreds, would have been three goals to the good before the break.

Chukwueze profited on calamitous Pedro Porro's mistake before the centre-back made an expertly-timed, last-ditch tackle to prevent the Nigerian from scoring. Mohammed Kudus sparked Tottenham back into life on 59 minutes when his venomous half volley flew in at the near post before Lucas Bergvall saw a glancing header cleared off the line.

Outside of a tame Kolo Muani back-heel, Spurs barely threatened and they've now lost three successive London derbies for the first time since October 2021.

Here's every single word the Tottenham head coach said after the defeat to Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday evening

Thomas Frank grew irritated with the media at his press conference after Tottenham's 2-1 defeat against Fulham on Saturday.

Fulham had taken the lead just three minutes in after some sloppy Spurs play. First Danso sent a loose header to the visitors and then Bergvall misjudged a Samuel Chukwueze pass which landed at the feet of Kenny Tete. His shot deflected off Udogie and into the net.

Then just three minutes later and Guglielmo Vicario came out to claim a ball outside of his box and inexplicably chose not to knock it out of play and instead hit a weak pass down the line and the ball eventually fell to Harry Wilson, who curled the ball from the touchline into the empty net. Vicario was booed with his next two touches and then cheered when he next kicked the ball out of play.

Chukwueze curled an effort against the left-hand post before Micky van de Ven prevented a third Fulham goal with a last-gasp tackle to stop the same Fulham player after he had rounded Vicario.

Spurs hit a goal back on 59 minutes when Lucas Bergvall picked up a loose ball and chipped a ball to Kudus and the Ghanaian lashed a left-footed half-volley into the top left corner with Bernd Leno only getting fingertips to it on its way in. Bergvall had a header cleared off the line but Spurs never really did enough after that to justify a point, let alone all three and now they have won just three games in 21 home league matches.

Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Frank after the game. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

What were your thoughts on the game? First half was a disaster but the second half seemed much better.

I think you described it well. Definitely conceding two goals in six minutes gives us a mountain to climb. I think it is the classic (thing that) when you are in a bad spell or a tough spell, things go against you. First one is a deflected shot and the second one is a mistake from Vicario. It happens.

I didn’t like how the fans reacted to that. They booed at him straight after and also three or four times when he was on the ball. For me that is unacceptable. They can’t be true Tottenham fans. Booing after (the game), fair. No problem. But when we are playing we need to be together. If we turn it around, we need to do it together. That is hugely important for me.

Then we rushed first half. I think the team was a little bit shell shocked after the two goals. Big ambition to do everything right and come out and turn it around and get that home win. And then you are 2-0 down it just makes it so difficult and they are human beings. We rushed it too much.

Second half I liked much more. Scored a good goal, had opportunities to score the equaliser. Unfortunately couldn’t get it.

Have you spoken to Vicario?

No but I will.

The formation felt overloaded on the right with nothing on the left?

That’s true.

What was the thinking behind that?

I wanted two strikers in and around each other which looked good at times but of course the gameplan was definitely way more difficult after the 2-0.

Fans booing during the game. Do you understand the frustration?

Yeah but I think we need to be clear on what I talked about. I talked about after Vic, that I didn’t like. That is unacceptable. You can’t be after one player. Let me finish. I think that is very important because if you want anyone to perform you need to be behind them. In my opinion, that’s what you get to get people to perform in the best possible way. After, no problem.

I guess maybe it's part of the same thing. You want to come out and put on a big performance, get a big win, and within eight minutes the team is 2-0 down...

Six minutes. So your question is what?

Do you understand the fans' frustration after eight minutes when the team is 2-0 down?

Of course I understand. That's not what I said. Completely I understand the frustration when it's not working. I think we were all a bit that it's going against us and it's frustrating in many ways, so that I understand. No problem.

Just watching your players when they gathered together to come off at the end of the first half, it feels like they have a bit of a problem with the fans, that there's a huge disconnect, leaving aside what happened today. Do you sense that as well?

I think there's nothing that the players, I, everyone want to get the win here. Nothing we want more. And I hope the fans can see that they were running out there today, giving everything. But football is so beautiful and complex.

It's 11 players that need to be in sync and play and run at the same time. And there are small setbacks during games, you need to get through it and stick to the plan, stick to the bits. And sometimes it's just more tough.

And sometimes you're in a spell where it's difficult, which it is right now. But there's only one way, it's going forward and do everything you can to get out of it together. So there's only one thing, we keep going and do everything we can to win the next home game.

You mentioned with the formation, you didn’t want too much on the left, wanted the two forwards, does that not leave you too predictable that everything will go down the right?

Yeah, I think for me the first half was clearly we were rushing things too much. We were going in behind when we shouldn’t go in behind, we were playing in the middle when we shouldn’t play in the middle and all those bits because we were rushing too much. I think it is difficult to judge the first half. Of course it is a part of everything and it looked much better second half and also before I made three changes.

With that first half in mind and last week at Arsenal, are you worried the players are not taking on board your messaging?

No, I am not (worried), because I think we have seen clearly other times it has worked much better. Maybe we haven’t been absolutely free-floating, but it looked much better. I think it is isolated in two different games. The Arsenal game was hopefully a big one-off in terms of the overall performance. I think PSG it looked like they took on board my messages it is fair to say and second half, it looks like they took on my messages. And I think this game we are behind 2-0 down after six minutes with all the nice, good questions that we want to do so well to get back on track. I think there are so many things into it.