Guglielmo Vicario was booed by his own fans after he dominated a disastrous opening six minutes that saw Spurs concede twice against Fulham, but his eventual comeback was not enough to avoid a 2-1 defeat and could have been much worse.
Already trailing after Kenny Tete’s deflected opening goal in the third minute, less than three minutes later a moment of madness on the part of the Italian goalkeeper handed the ball over to Harry Wilson, who ran some 25 yards from his own line, and the Fulham midfielder punished his own poor clearance with a sublime strike into the unguarded net.
It was the quickest two goals conceded by Spurs in Premier League history, and it was enough for a significant proportion of the fans, who Spurs have won only three of their last 21 home league games, to turn on Vicario, booing his touches numerous times in the final half.
Thomas Frank was furious at their reaction and told Sky Sports after the match:
“They’re not real Tottenham fans because everyone supports each other when they’re on the pitch.
“And we do everything we can to perform. Of course, it’s okay if there are boos after we’re done. But not during the middle. In my opinion, that’s unacceptable.”
Vicario’s teammates were not spared either. At half-time, Micky van de Ven anticipated the reaction of the furious home crowd and called on his team-mates to walk away together and stand together against their anger.
Fulham would have been out of sight at that point had it not been for the action of the home captain. After Vicario was rounded up, Samuel Chukwueze made a decisive slide from a seemingly impossible position to deny the Cottage a decisive third goal.
Kenny Tete (left) and Harry Wilson (right) gave Fulham a 2-0 win over Tottenham within six minutes.
Frank clearly changed tack after last weekend’s dry defeat at Arsenal, naming an attacking line that included both Archie Gray and Lukas Bergvall, only to see his team torn apart at will with every Fulham attack in the first half. The only problem seemed to be the margin of victory for the away team.
This result would have been bad enough if the Spurs offense hadn’t been more limp than ever. By half-time, they had an xG of just 0.07 and had no shots on target.
Frank’s decision to maintain faith in his starting XI was made all the more surprising as that same line-up showed a different side after the restart but still found clear chances hard to come by.
Fourteen minutes into the second half, Mohamed Kudus needed a rocket to beat Bernd Leno at his near post, but the momentum slowly waned and things returned to normal. A lack of creativity on home soil and another disappointing result to add to the collection.
Now, the heat for Frank himself may start to rise.
Spurs’ unfortunate home base in palatial surroundings
Tottenham suffered their 10th home defeat in the 2025 Premier League, tied for the most home league defeats in a single calendar year in the club’s history (10 defeats in 1994 and 2003). Spurs have picked up just 14 points at home in the past 12 months, the lowest of any Premier League side so far, and sit six points behind West Ham, who have the second-lowest points total. Of the three teams that won, Southampton have now been relegated with 12 points, Manchester United finished in 15th place, and Burnley, whose only win at home this season, is currently in second place at the bottom of the Premier League. Tottenham have had 37 more shots on target and 27 more shots on target than they have attempted in 12 months at home. Fulham were 2-0 up after six minutes, the fastest time Spurs have conceded two goals in a Premier League home match. For the first time in the Tottenham Premier League, they have suffered four consecutive home defeats in London derbies (against Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Fulham twice).
Dawson: Spurs need to be realistic
Former Tottenham defender Michael Dawson said on Saturday Night Football:
“We were always going to improve from last season[in the Premier League]. They’re currently 10th but only four points off the top four. That’s where we have to be realistic.”
“Did we expect them to finish in the top four this season? They didn’t. I thought top six was realistic with Frank playing.”
“You can’t simply say Frank isn’t a good manager now, given what he’s done over the last four or five years at Brentford.
“The performance at home is way below par. It’s the creativity. It’s difficult for Thomas, but he just got into the building in the blink of an eye. We have to give him a chance, but we have to see improvement.”
“We are only four points behind the top four. Top six was a realistic target. Thomas Frank is a good manager, as we have seen for many years, but a big club brings expectations and scrutiny.
“This group of players is not playing at the level I expect.”
Frank: We lost the game in the first six minutes.
Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank told Sky Sports:
“This result put us in a situation where we lost another game. Every game has a story, but this one we lost in the first six minutes. We just have to keep trying.”
“Then we rushed the first half in a lot of ways. We wanted to get back into the game and we couldn’t do that in the first half, but we were much better in the second half. We got a little bit more momentum and created more chances and opportunities, but we couldn’t get the second goal.”
“It was an emotional performance in the second half, and I think that’s quite normal. We know we really want to win at home, so it’s tough when things don’t go our way. That’s why we need to stick to the plan, stay calm and not stress. Easier said than done.”
Silva: I’ve been talking about my poor performance away from home.
Fulham manager Marco Silva told Sky Sports.
“I’m very proud of our players. We’ve been talking really hard about the games on the road and everything else, so it was very important for us to win. We knew it was going to happen someday, so we prepared for that tonight as well.”
“It was definitely a great first half for us. We scored two goals early so we had a sense of presence, but maybe we should have scored more in the first half. The way we controlled the game in the first 35 minutes was satisfactory, we didn’t leave anything for the opponent and our quick attacks were very good.”
