Thomas Frank under pressure after Spurs go from bad to worse in defeat by Fulham

It had been very bad in the first six minutes, when Fulham scored twice and then it had improved only marginally afterwards. There had been a rally at the end of the first half for Spurs although that is the least one might expect given what had come before it. Just a single shot on target for the home team all half. There were periods when their confidence was paper-thin and given the start that was hardly surprising.

Frank had made four changes from the team that lost at Paris St-Germain, with Cristian Romero suspended and Pape Sarr, Djed Spence and Rodrigo Bentancur all on the bench. But there was scarcely time for the Spurs players to settle into another demanding home game before they were a goal down on 3mins and 30secs. It would be a dreadful first half for Pedro Porro and Kevin Danso and the first goal came down Porro’s right side.

It was created by the Fulham winger Samuel Chukwueze, on loan from AC Milan, and very dangerous against a retreating Spurs defence. He squeezed past Porro and held off Archie Gray to pick a nice pass to Kenny Tete. The shot was in via a big deflection off Destiny Udogie, who was always stretching to try to block. The stadium had barely processed it when Wilson scored within two minutes.

That second goal was on Guglielmo Vicario. The goalkeeper had given it away out on the right. The 18-year-old Josh King had won the ball and his pass to Wilson was shaped beautifully by the Welshman’s left foot into the goal that Vicario had left empty.

Two goals down to a club that had taken just a single point away from home all season, and the home fans could barely contain their disgust. Frank could not disguise his shock. Chukwueze would hit the post just past ten minutes. Shortly after that when Vicario made a simple clearance up the pitch the home support cheered ironically. Nothing could have demonstrated the dysfunctional relationship between players and fans more clearly.

Micky Van de Ven’s recovery tackle on Chukwueze on 26 minutes came just as the winger was about to aim at goal. That had come from Bernd Leno’s long strike down the middle, with Danso failing to clear and Chukwueze running off Porro. Later Van de Ven would come to the rescue again, heading the ball away from Raúl Jiménez as the Fulham striker attacked Chukwueze’s cross.

Frank had readied his substitutes by the time his team finally got their first goal back just before the hour. Kudus, back in the XI, struck a fine left foot shot with the outside of the boot that surprised Bernd Leno by flying on his near post rather than across the goalkeeper as the winger’s body shape suggested.