Tottenham Hotspur’s belated show of spirit may keep the wolf from head coach Thomas Frank’s door a little longer, but a damaging FA Cup defeat reaffirms the lingering belief his time in charge is only heading one way.
If there is scant consolation for Frank after Spurs slumped to a 2-1 third-round loss at home to Aston Villa, it is that the mood at the end was nowhere near as ugly as it threatened to be at half-time.
Dig beneath that and – barring a trip to Fantasyland in which Spurs win the Champions League – the rest of this season is now a quest for respectability, and for Frank, survival.
Spurs supporters sent their team off at the interval with deafening jeers ringing in their ears after they were brushed aside by a vastly superior Villa, who established a fully deserved 2-0 advantage.
Such was the lack of hope that thousands of seats inside the vast Tottenham Hotspur Stadium remained empty for even longer than usual at the start of the second half, fans resigned to Spurs’ fate after a dismal first 45 minutes in which they conceded goals to Emiliano Buendia and Morgan Rogers.
It was deeply uncomfortable for Frank, who not only felt the full fury of the Spurs fans he is failing to convince, but also the taunts of thousands of travelling Villa supporters revelling in his misery.
As well as the time-honoured “You’re getting sacked in the morning”, he heard chants of “Thomas Frank is an Arsenal fan” after he was inadvertently pictured drinking from a Gunners-branded coffee cup before the Premier League defeat at Bournemouth.
Helped by complacency from Villa, who came out for the second half looking like their work was done, Spurs at least competed and poured forward, with Wilson Odobert’s 54th-minute goal offering a lifeline.
The stadium threw its support behind their team, who finally posed a threat, although too often it was frenzied rather than composed when opportunities arose.
