Guglielmo Vicario was booed by his personal supporters as his howler in a shambolic opening half in opposition to Fulham noticed Spurs concede twice within the first six minutes with a second-half revival not sufficient to keep away from a 2-1 defeat – which might have been a lot worse.
Already trailing from Kenny Tete’s third-minute deflected opener, a second of insanity from the Italian goalkeeper lower than three minutes later gifted possession to Harry Wilson after operating some 25 yards off his line, who punished his poor clearance with a surprising strike into the unguarded internet.
It was the earliest Spurs had conceded two objectives within the historical past of the Premier League and sufficient for Spurs followers, who’ve seen their facet win simply three of their final 21 residence league video games, to activate Vicario and his colleagues, booing a number of of his touches throughout the rest of the half.
Captain Micky van de Ven anticipated the response of an infuriated residence crowd on the interval and known as his team-mates throughout to stroll off collectively and face their response as one.
By that time Fulham would have been out of sight have been it not for the actions of the house skipper, whose very important slide on Samuel Chukwueze from a seemingly inconceivable place denied the Cottagers a vital third after Vicario had been rounded.
Thomas Frank had clearly modified tack following the insipid defeat at Arsenal final weekend and named an attacking line-up that includes Archie Grey and Lucas Bergvall, solely to see his facet minimize aside at will by each first-half Fulham assault. It felt a case of merely what number of the guests would win by.
That will have been unhealthy sufficient with out Spurs’ attacking show proving limper than ever, with an xG of simply 0.07 racked up by the break and never a single shot on course.
That made Frank’s determination to stay together with his beginning XI all of the extra stunning, however that very same line-up appeared a distinct facet from the restart, although nonetheless discovered clear-cut alternatives laborious to return by.
Even their lifeline 14 minutes into the second half required a rocket of a strike from Mohammed Kudus to beat Bernd Leno at his close to put up, earlier than their momentum slowly ebbed away and it reverted to a well-known story – a scarcity of creativity on residence soil, and yet one more poor consequence so as to add to the gathering. This time, it could additionally start to boost the warmth on Frank himself.
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