Now We Will See The Real Thomas Frank Tottenham Hotspur

At the point Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario came sprinting out of his goal to intercept a Fulham through ball, there was little danger.

Even when he was caught in possession of the ball longer than felt necessary, it wasn’t clear that the away team might score.

However, as he continued to dwell on it, the situation escalated. Shifting his body weight in an attempt to evade a pressing Fulham attacker, Vicario became unbalanced and shanked the ball straight to an opponent.

Remarkably, a further five seconds passed before the ball was whipped into the empty net by Welsh forward Harry Wilson.

Speaking after the game, even Wilson was surprised by how long Vicario had gone walkabout.

“I felt like the goalkeeper was out of the box for ages,” he said.

“I was surprised none of the back four went back to the line. When none of them defended the goal, my eyes lit up a bit.

“[Destiny] Udogie slipped too, which gave me a bit of extra time. Then it was all about trying to make the right contact and get it on target. I had a good feeling, as soon as it left my foot, that it was on the right line.”

After the game, the goalkeeper was big enough to admit the mistake was on him.

“The second goal was a mistake of mine, I take responsibility for that,” Vicario said.

“The intent was to clear the ball long and I just hit the ball in a bad way. It was an even bigger mountain to climb.”

It was the type of unforced error that Spurs really didn’t need. The club is winless in the past four Premier League games, a run which has included chastening defeats to bitter rivals Chelsea and Arsenal.

Ultimately, Vicario’s error proved to be the game’s winner and the 1-2 defeat now means you have to go back four months to the opening day of the season for the last victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The atmosphere at any stadium where a team fails to win for that long is bound to turn mutinous at some stage.

In the past couple of games, there have been signs of growing frustration.

Manager Thomas Frank’s substitution of Xavi Simons against Manchester United was booed by supporters, who ultimately had to eat humble pie when his replacement, Mathys Tel, bagged an equaliser.

This time, Vicario was subjected to boos in the wake of his error by an angry section of the fanbase.

The 29-year-old took the negative reaction in his stride, describing it as “part of football.”

He added, “I’m a big man, what can I say? We cannot be influenced by the situation in the stands. The fans have the right to do what they think.

“It’s on us to stay more calm, to focus on ourselves. We are lacking in composure and calmness to overturn results. Today is a bad defeat and it’s tough to accept.”

His manager, Frank, was far less forgiving.

“I heard some of our fans apparently booed the incident and booed after, which, in my opinion is completely unacceptable,” the Dane said postgame.

“[They] can’t be true Tottenham fans that do that. Fair enough booing after the game, no problem, but when we are playing, we are supporting each other, we are behind each other going forward.”

The Spurs manager felt the error was indicative of the run the club is currently on.

“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,” Frank said.

“This result leaves us in a place where we have lost another game. Every game has a single story, this game we lost in the first six minutes.

“We just need to keep working. The second half was much better and hopefully something we can use to learn.”

The question increasingly is whether Frank will be allowed to rescue the situation.

After an encouraging start to the season, things have deteriorated in North London to the extent that it’s hard to see much difference from the toxicity that blighted the end of previous coach Ange Postecoglou’s reign.

There is a grim familiarity in the way Frank is starting to clash with Spurs fans and complaining about poor focus.

The concern is how quickly this has happened and whether there are underlying issues that even a change of manager won’t solve.

But, as former Spurs midfielder Danny Murphy told the BBC, this is what Frank signed up for when he moved from Brentford in the summer.

“He’s taken a high profile job at a huge football club with massive expectation. There is pressure and responsibility that comes with that,” he said.

“The performances at home have been poor and they have to improve quickly. I don’t think at the moment he knows his best team and he’s not sure on his best formation and that’s a problem.

“Confidence is really low. He has to ride the criticism, keep working on the training pitch and get that team winning some games at home.”

The challenge for Frank is that he is likely to face more situations like the booing of Vicario unless the home form is improved.

If it doesn’t change, it’s hard to see the Dane making it into 2026 as Spurs coach.