When the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was built, U2’s acoustic experts were appointed to help design a roof that would keep the noise in. In practical terms, this means Tottenham supporters are now able to boo even more loudly than before.
Why the jeers? Thomas Frank’s new side head into the north London derby fifth in the Premier League, two points off third, and on course for the Champions League knockouts.
At the same time, only Wolves and Burnley are attempting fewer shots at goal. No other side have completed so few through balls – Arsenal, the league-leaders, have 40. Spurs have managed four.
At home, where it is worst of all, they have won just three league games of their last 20, a run which began in November 2024. Thus it precedes Frank’s appointment and stretches all the way back to the halcyon days of Ange Postecoglou. But the “anti-Ange” act has not won over a febrile crowd yet – quite the opposite, for those who have unkindly dubbed the new style of play as “Frankenstein-ball”.
A little context: the new head coach has been without Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison, Spurs’ two most creative players, for the duration. Dominic Solanke has not been fit enough to start a single game and last featured on 23 August.
The only player to create more goals than Maddison last term was Son Heung-min, who joined Los Angeles FC in the summer. Of last season’s five top scorers, Brennan Johnson, Solanke, Maddison, Kulusevski and Son, Johnson is the only one available, and his minutes have been limited by the arrival of Mohammed Kudus.
Spurs could lose every single game after New Year’s Day and still not fare as badly as in Postecoglou’s final campaign, when they recorded the most defeats by any team without being relegated (22) in Premier League history. Despite Europa League glory, a 17th-placed finish left the bar so low domestically that Frank was always going to pole vault over it.
A muddled transfer window did not help. There were good bits – Kudus for £55m, Joao Palhinha on loan – and bad bits, Randal Kolo Muani’s own temporary stint quickly turning into an injury-riddled disaster. Then there were the “jury’s out” bits, Xavi Simons and Mathys Tel, amounting to a squad still grappling with questions of identity and congruence.
Over the course of the season, Spurs have a lower xG than West Ham, a club on its third manager in nine months and whose most prolific striker has scored two goals.
Pinpointing the exact moment tensions started to boil over is tricky. The home defeat to Chelsea was the real nadir, when Tottenham registered an xG (expected goals) of 0.05, a serious mathematical feat and their lowest since records began. Supporters could not even wait until the final whistle to express their fury as Guglielmo Vicario and Djed Spence passed backwards and sideways between themselves.
The 2-2 draw with Manchester United felt different, precisely because Frank himself was the target.
His decision to leave on Richarlison and haul off Simons prompted a round of boos reminiscent of Nuno Espirto Santo’s infamous substitution of Lucas Moura in the same fixture four years ago. Nuno, of course, did not survive that rebellion. Frank’s subs at least delivered two goals.
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There is evidence too that for all their attacking woes, Tottenham are more defensively sound than they were (another low bar). Even then there are exceptions – the 23 shots conceded against Monaco, the 96th-minute collapse against Manchester United, the fact that on more than one occasion they have conceded two goals when they have only faced two shots on target.
That is the environment in which Spurs fans are starting to express their reservations about how much of this is actually worth watching, least of all at a club built on “glory, glory” days and the high-octane, push-and-run football of Arthur Rowe, Bill Nicholson and more recently, Mauricio Pochettino. Angeball before it was Angeball.
The good news is they are away this weekend – the bad news is it’s at the Emirates.
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