Thomas Frank criticised a section of Tottenham’s fans for turning their anger on goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario after the Italian was at fault in their 2-1 Premier League home defeat by Fulham.
Vicario, dashing yards from his penalty area, made the mistake that gifted Harry Wilson Fulham’s second goal in Spurs’ latest home defeat. Fulham were leading 2-0 by the sixth minute, with Kenny Tete having scored a deflected opener. Tottenham have not won at home in the league since beating Burnley on the opening weekend.
Frank said: “When you’re down 2-0 after six minutes, there is a mountain to climb. 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 [Vicario].
“I didn’t like that our fans booed at him straight after and a few times after that. They can’t be true Tottenham fans because everyone supports each other when you’re on the pitch and we do everything we can to perform. I’m fine with them booing after the match, no problem, but not during. That is unacceptable in my opinion.”
On a rancorous Saturday evening at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Frank’s players left the field to loud booing at both half-time and full time.
Vicario accepted full blame, saying: “It’s tough because to go 2-0 down after six minutes, you never expect this. Especially the second goal was a mistake of mine. I take the responsibility for that. The intent was to clear the ball long but I hit the ball in a bad way.”
Guglielmo Vicario looks dejected after Fulham’s second goal against Spurs. Photograph: David Klein/Reuters
On the fans’ reaction, he said: “It’s part of football. So I am a big man. I am quite older. What can I say? We cannot be influenced by situations in the stand. Fans have the right to do what they think. It’s on us to try to stay more calm and focus on ourselves.”
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With a promising start to his tenure long since faded, Frank continued: “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.”
Marco Silva, in his 200th game in charge of Fulham, celebrated his team’s first away win of the season. He said: “We have been really speaking about the games on the road, so it was very important for us to win. We knew that it was going to happen one day and we prepared ourselves again for that tonight. The way we controlled our game during the first 35 minutes was pleasing, we didn’t leave anything for them.”
