Stuart Pearce reacts to on-air update that should see Thomas Frank sacked by Tottenham – ‘Goodness me’
Tottenham produced a quite frankly embarrassing first-half display en route to defeat at the hands of Fulham on Saturday evening.
Guglielmo Vicario’s horror show in the Spurs goal gifted Harry Wilson a second for Fulham after Kenny Tete had earlier opened the scoring.
With six minutes played, it marked the earliest Tottenham had trailed by two goals at home in the entire Premier League era.
Tottenham were supposed to be favourites to beat Fulham, but once again Spurs failed to turn up in what was another hugely worrying display.
Thomas Frank‘s side did pull one back through Mohammed Kudus just before the hour, but Spurs lost 2-1 to Fulham in front of an increasingly annoyed home crowd.
Tottenham register just two first-half shots vs Fulham
What made the manner of the first half all the more embarrassing was the lack of any sort of attacking intent from Tottenham.
Despite being two down inside six minutes, Spurs went on to register just two shots of any sort before half-time – neither of those being on target.
As pointed out on Sky Sports’ coverage, no Premier League team has registered fewer first-half shots in a game this season.
And remarkably, Spurs had an expected goals (xG) value of just 0.01 with 43 minutes played, which did later rise to a still terrible 0.07.
That fact was relayed to Stuart Pearce on talkSPORT’s live commentary of the game, to which the former West Ham assistant replied: “Oh my goodness me.”
Pearce’s views were no doubt echoed by every last home fan in attendance at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
- Read more: ‘Tottenham squad don’t respect Thomas Frank’
Frank cannot last as Tottenham boss after latest attacking horror show
Tottenham’s 5-3 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in midweek was supposed to have been a turning point for Tottenham.
While they may have conceded five times, they showed far more attacking impetus and scored three times against the reigning European champions.
| Tottenham | Fulham | |
| 1 | Goals | 2 |
| 0.86 | xG | 0.42 |
| 14 | Shots | 6 |
| 2 | Shots on target | 3 |
| 63% | Possession | 37% |
However, once again in a home Premier League game they lacked any sort of cohesion. A first-half xG of 0.07 is staggeringly bad and unfortunately strengthens calls for Frank to go.
Kudus provided some hope, but there was still no clear plan for Tottenham as they ended with an xG of 0.86 in a game in which Fulham sat back for pretty much an hour and a half after taking a two-goal lead.
Frank has been under pressure as Tottenham boss for a while now, and the first half against Fulham would have been the final straw for many.
Spurs looked devoid of ideas and this season is now spiralling out of control. As harsh as it may seem, Frank’s style of football just is not cut out for Spurs and it may be best that a change is made.
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