Disaster game leaves Thomas Frank sweating for his future as manager barracked by fans after late 2-1 defeat.
Frank’s future in doubt as Romero calls West Ham defeat ‘a disaster’ for Spurs.
Following Tottenham’s thrilling 2-1 home loss to West Ham on Saturday, the club’s supporters demanded that Thomas Frank be “sacked in the morning,” casting doubt on Frank’s future as manager.
Frank’s struggles during what was always going to be a transitional season have been taken into consideration by the Spurs management. On Saturday morning, Vinai Venkatesham, the CEO, addressed an open letter to supporters with a sympathetic tone and an emphasis on patience.
However, the drama of the West Ham match, in which Spurs lost to Callum Wilson, a replacement, in stoppage time, has made the team question if they can continue with Frank.
At several moments during the game, including halftime and fulltime, spectators booed, creating a poisonous atmosphere within the stadium. They made fun of Frank for replacing winger Mathys Tel in the 62nd minute when they were behind 1-0, but Cristian Romero immediately equalised. Wilson’s victory was followed by the chant “sacked in the morning.”
Romero pulled no punches with his post-match assessment. “At this moment this is a disaster for us,” he said. “We played sometimes good, sometimes bad. We must work hard and go again. It’s a difficult moment for us. We are not the best on the pitch.”
Following the West Ham match, Frank declared that he would turn around what he called a “supertanker” of a club and that he still had the hierarchy’s support. He stated that he had taken heart from Venkatesham’s letter, but he did not sugarcoat the situation. Spurs remained in 14th place in the Premier League after the loss. Only three of Frank’s team’s previous fifteen games in the competition have been victories.
“I have seen the letter and I took six to eight positive things out of it,” Frank said. “What I take out of that letter is that we are a club and an executive team with Vinai on top that are aligned and know this is a big transitional phase.
“It’s a supertanker we’re turning in the right direction and there are a lot of good signs behind the scenes and also in some of the performances. But, of course, when you lose last-minute to one of your rivals, it is very emotional and there will be noise. That noise we need to keep out there and get our head down and keep walking, keep doing the right thing.
“Of course, I’ve probably had better times. But I understand [the chant]. I’m the man in charge. So the blame will go to me. That’s fair, no problem in that sense. If you’re not winning enough, we know you will not get enough support from the fans. But when we’re winning, it will change … when we start winning again. Which we will do. I’m not in doubt of that.
“It seems to be the perfect storm at the moment in many ways. We have a last-minute defeat when everyone feels that everyone has given everything, including the fans, to back the team. You get a sucker punch in injury time and it’s unbelievably tough to take. You have to keep going. You can’t feel sorry for yourself.”