Tottenham Hotspur's crisis is deepening, and manager Thomas Frank might just be running out of time to salvage the season—could this be the tipping point for one of England's biggest clubs?
Tottenham Hotspur aren't designed for instant solutions, as Thomas Frank bluntly noted following their crushing 3-0 loss to Nottingham Forest on Sunday (check out the match report at https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/dec/14/nottingham-forest-tottenham-premier-league-match-report). This has been a long-standing reality for the team, dating back roughly four decades to the turbulent 1980s, when financial woes and internal power struggles forced them into uncharted territory. Back then, Spurs became the pioneer soccer club to go public on the stock exchange, only to dive headfirst into a risky diversification strategy that spectacularly backfired. One infamous example was their partnership as Hummel's UK distributor—a venture executed so poorly that rivals Southampton publicly called them out in their match programme, complaining about delayed shirt deliveries. Imagine the embarrassment of a football club fumbling such a simple business role; it's a lesson in how overambitious side projects can distract from the core game.
But here's where it gets controversial... Right now, Spurs would gladly accept even the smallest glimmer of improvement—a gradual upturn, a spark of optimism—to escape their downward spiral. They've managed just one victory in their last seven league matches. After defeating Everton on October 26th, they sat in third place, only five points adrift from the top. Yet, that Sunday setback has plummeted them to 11th in the table (see the updated standings at https://www.theguardian.com/football/premierleague/table), now trailing Arsenal by a hefty 14 points. Considering they ended up 17th last season, this position might not shock everyone, and the tight-knit nature of the Premier League means they're just four points shy of fifth spot and a potential Champions League berth. Still, their 22 points after 16 games mark their lowest tally in the Premier League since 2008—a statistic that highlights how far they've slipped.
And this is the part most people miss—the problem isn't solely about the scores; it's the way they've been losing. In their last 11 games, Spurs have only hit an expected goals (xG) figure of 1 or higher twice. This season alone, they've had four matches where their xG was a meager 0.3 or less: against Arsenal, Chelsea, Brentford, and now at Nottingham Forest. To put xG in simple terms for newcomers, it's a metric that predicts how many goals a team should score based on the quality of their chances—low xG often means they're not creating enough clear opportunities. A kinder way to view Sunday's thrashing might be to acknowledge the first goal as a clumsy defensive blunder, the kind that plagues teams attempting risky build-up play from the back, especially when morale is rock bottom. The second could be seen as either a masterful shot or a deflected cross, and the third was an astounding 22-yard screamer. But let's be real: not every team faces such freakish goals regularly.
Except... Nottingham Forest's Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ibrahim Sangaré had all the time in the world to line up their strikes, and those weren't even the only openings Forest carved out. Perhaps Spurs have morphed into one of those unlucky squads where misfortune strikes—think of the two goals they let in within the first six minutes against Fulham, courtesy of a long-range rocket and a careless turnover in a perilous zone. But the team must shoulder much of the blame for these lapses.
The drop-off from their season's promising beginnings is stark. Early on, they nearly toppled Paris Saint-Germain in the Super Cup, falling only on penalties, and then secured a win away at Manchester City. Yet, the lack of flair up front is glaring, and it's fair to note the absences of key players due to injuries: Dominic Solanke, James Maddison, and Dejan Kulusevski. On the flip side, they invested heavily in the summer, splashing out about £140 million (roughly $187 million) on Xavi Simons, Mohammed Kudus, and Mathys Tel, plus bringing in Randal Kolo Muani on loan. So, they're not exactly operating with a skeleton crew—explaining this to fans, it's like having a talented roster but struggling to get them firing on all cylinders.
Maybe Frank chose to focus on bolstering the defense first, which desperately needed shoring up after the turbulent Ange Postecoglou years. But as performances worsened, confidence evaporated, now impacting the entire team. Or, coming from his Brentford background, he might not be as adept at dismantling teams that park the bus in a deep defensive block, leaving him searching for breakthroughs. Until Sunday, their home struggles had been the biggest headache: just two league wins in eight games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (learn more about the club at https://www.theguardian.com/football/tottenham-hotspur). Nothing fuels fan fury like poor home results, especially when supporters were already rallying against steep ticket prices.
Frank started off slowly at Brøndby and Brentford too, but this feels different—the spotlight on a top-tier Premier League outfit (explore the league at https://www.theguardian.com/football/premierleague) is unrelenting. Signs of unrest are surfacing: players venting frustration at the manager, like Djed Spence and Micky van de Ven after the Chelsea loss, and Spence again upon his substitution on Sunday. Fans aren't silent either, as seen after the Fulham game when Pedro Porro appeared to urge teammates not to acknowledge the crowd's boos toward Guglielmo Vicario.
So, what's next? It's hard to predict, especially with the September exit of chairman Daniel Levy (read about it at https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/sep/04/daniel-levy-steps-down-as-tottenham-chairman-with-immediate-effect), paving the way for the Lewis family owners to take a more active role. Levy was behind the summer transfers and Frank's hiring. Whether the new Lewis-led board approves of those moves remains uncertain—and that's where controversy brews. Could they view those big-money signings as misguided, sparking debates about transfer strategy in modern football? Already, pressure is mounting on Frank, luckily tempered by a favorable Champions League group draw, keeping them in 11th there.
The situation isn't beyond saving yet, but the red flags are piling up. What do you think—has Frank been given enough time, or is a change inevitable? Do you agree that Spurs' historical missteps have doomed them to repeat cycles of underachievement, or is there hope for a fresh start under new ownership? Share your thoughts in the comments below; I'd love to hear differing opinions!
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This piece is drawn from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly Guardian US column exploring soccer across Europe and beyond. Sign up for free here (https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jul/20/sign-up-for-soccer-with-jonathan-wilson-his-free-weekly-newsletter-on-european-soccer). Got a question for Jonathan? Drop him an email at soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he might feature your query in an upcoming edition.
