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Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly ‘willing to let’ one or two stars leave the club in January to ‘pave the way for Thomas Frank’s preferred signing’.

Spurs have had a mixed start to the 2025/26 campaign as they sit sixth in the Premier League table after ten games, while they remain unbeaten in the Champions League group stages.

However, it has become apparent that not all of Tottenham’s supporters are sold on new head coach Thomas Frank, as they have suffered a disappointing exit from the Carabao Cup and have produced some woeful performances in the Premier League.

Most of Tottenham’s struggles have come at home, while they have lacked a goal threat in certain matches this season.

Last week, a report claimed the north London outfit’s players are ‘desperate for new attackers’ in January, while the club are linked with several potential targets.

READ: Big Weekend: Manchester City v Liverpool, Tottenham, Xhaka, Farke

Naturally, Spurs are linked with several past and current Brentford stars following Frank’s appointment, with Al-Ahli striker Ivan Toney linked with a possible reunion with his former manager in north London.

The 29-year-old has spent the last 18 months in the Saudi Pro League, though it has been suggested that he could return to the Premier League ahead of next summer’s World Cup.

Now, a report from Football Insider claims Toney to Spurs is on the cards, with the Premier League side ‘willing to let Richarlison or Dominic Solanke leave’ to ‘pave the way’ for the Al-Ahli star to join as he is Frank’s ‘preferred signing’. It is also noted that they face competition with Everton and Man Utd.

The report adds:

‘Spurs and Everton are among the clubs keen on signing Toney in the mid-season window, with a loan deal seen as most likely.

‘But Tottenham must offload one of Solanke or Richarlison, with both of the forwards believed to be seen as expendable by Frank.’

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👉 Tottenham to go ‘all out’ with £53m offer for ‘top priority’ as Frank eyes reunion with Brentford star

Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence recently made the headlines by ignoring Frank after last weekend’s loss to Chelsea, with former Premier League chief scout Mick Brown explaining why it will “take time” for the head coach to settle.

“Yeah, I think it was just a bit of frustration from both players losing a London derby to Chelsea,” Brown said.

“It was the manager in which they lost the game, they didn’t really lay a glove on Chelsea.

“Thomas Frank came out quickly to sort of play down any talk of unrest or anything like that amongst the squad. He said both players came and apologised to him the day after.

“It’s obviously had no effect on Van de Ven, he scored that wonder-goal in midweek.

“It was a disappointing result against Chelsea, there’s no getting away from that, but obviously still early days in the tenure of Thomas Frank at Tottenham. It will take time for him to get his ideas across.

“To be fair to Spurs, they’re sixth in the table and still unbeaten in the Champions League.

“It’s not been the worst start to a season and as I said I think there’s still a lot of time for Frank to improve things and I’m sure he’ll be looking to improve the goal scoring output in the team as well.”

The tables don’t lie, apparently, so you better believe us when we tell you that Arsenal are grinding like champs, while Man Utd and Tottenham are as absurd as ever…

If you had not already noticed, we love a table here at F365. Which is handy because we’ve got bloody loads of them, based on whichever metric you fancy.

And when you have devoured all those, you can create your own. The fun need never end.

You’re busy, though, so with a quarter of the season now played, we’ve pored over all the tables and picked out six to tell some of the stories of 2025/26 so far…

Arsenal set-piecing their way to the title

We start with the table boiling most p*ss so far this season. The one that highlights how reliant Arsenal are on set-pieces for their goals.

We know that to be true because only three teams have scored fewer goals in open play. The Gunners are 15th in this table because the alphabet. They could just as feasibly be 17th, with only Forest, Leeds and Wolves below them.

GOALS FROM OPEN PLAY TABLE

Is that a problem? Jamie O’Hara thinks so, but no one is coming to take away Arsenal’s set-pieces.

The opposite seems to be true, according to this table. If everyone stopped giving Arsenal the corners they are so reliant on, they might not be away over the horizon a quarter of the way into the season.

Of course, Arsenal’s title charge is powered by more than just dead balls. This and this are just as important in their early-season success. David Raya has faced one shot on target in the last four games, FFS. At this point, Mikel Arteta could probably win the title playing rush goalie.

Tottenham’s troubles at home

Across north London, Tottenham Hotspur remain a complete head-f*ck.

Away from home, Spurs have the best record in the Premier League.

They have taken 13 points from 15 available, winning by at least two goals at Manchester City, Everton and West Ham, while also leaving Leeds with maximum reward.

At home, though, they are a mess. For the clearest illustration of the staggering contrast between Tottenham on their own turf and Spurs on the road, click the ‘Home’ and ‘Away’ buttons below…

Tottenham have not won on their own patch in the Premier League since Thomas Frank’s first match in charge on the opening day when Burnley were beaten 3-0.

Since then, Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Chelsea have all won in north London, while Spurs needed a late leveller to deprive Wolves a first win they are still searching for.

It’s a problem that pre-dates Frank, but the new boss is showing no sign of getting a grip on it. In 2025, Sunderland have taken the same number of Premier League points at home, despite playing NINE fewer games.

United beat the best but struggle with the stragglers

Manchester United are similarly absurd.

At the extreme ends, they have been tipped for both a relegation battle and a title charge, when the truth almost certainly lies somewhere in the middle. They are not as bad as their start suggested, but nor should anyone be getting carried away with a four-game unbeaten run, relief though it certainly is for Ruben Amorim.

Like Spurs, United are both gaining and dropping points when they really ought not to.

Against top-half opposition, United are mustard. In such games, they have taken more points than anyone else by beating Liverpool, Chelsea, Sunderland and Brighton. They have only lost to the top two but they deserved at least a point against Arsenal on the opening day.

United are back, are they? Well, not quite. Because they still balls it up against bottom-half opposition.

They beat Burnley – just – but dropped points at Forest and Fulham while taking nothing from Brentford. Only Forest and Wolves have taken fewer points against sides 11th to bottom.

United’s problem is probably similar to Spurs’: they are happiest when they opposition is coming on to them. When they are expected to seize the initiative, that’s when they run into trouble. So Saturday’s meeting at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium should be revealing.

Sunderland the Prem’s pride for resilience

Sunderland are one of the stories of the season so far. They hardly tore up the Championship but here they are, bloodying the big boys’ noses while mixing it in the top four. You would have to be a Geordie – or a Coventry fan, weirdly – not to enjoy what the Black Cats are doing.

What’s behind their stunning start? Primarily, a massive recruitment drive featuring some huge hits and few misses. Granit Xhaka being the best bit if business anywhere this summer.

Xhaka is certainly the driving force that has made Sunderland the most resilient side in the Premier League so far.

The Black Cats have had to rally for many of their points – almost half of them, with eight of their 18 being earned from losing positions.

From six deficits, Sunderland won dramatically over Chelsea and Brentford, while taking a point from Villa despite playing most of the game with 10 men.

Villa’s creativity concerns yet to bite

That draw at Sunderland is typical of Villa’s shortcomings, especially through the early part of the season when they couldn’t win a rigged raffle.

At the Stadium of Light, they had 71 per cent of the possession against a side playing a man light, but they were outnumbered for shots and shots on target.

Having more of the ball is a common theme in Villa’s season, but so too is a lack of creativity.

Unai Emery’s men are fifth in the possession table, behind only the top three and Chelsea, but second-bottom of the big chances created table, with only woeful Wolves worse.

BIG CHANCES CREATED TABLE

In only one game this season – Burnley at home – have Villa finished with a better xG than their opponent. That feels… unsustainable.

Liverpool’s luck runs out spectacularly

We couldn’t end this feature without some illustration of Liverpool’s journey over the side of a cliff…

The Reds began the season on fire – in terms of results, not performances – but we wondered whether their stodgy displays might eventually bite them on the arse. We did not, however, foresee them clamping on for a month.

Their four-game losing streak after a perfect start saw Liverpool slip from top spot eventually allowing six teams to look down on them at Halloween.

FORM TABLE

According to reports, Tottenham Hotspur have already picked out their ‘top priority’ for this winter’s transfer window as they ‘prepare’ an offer.

Unsurprisingly, Spurs were very active in the transfer market in the summer as they look to build a stronger squad ahead of a season in the Champions League.

New head coach Thomas Frank was appointed to replace Ange Postecoglou in the summer and he was backed by club chiefs, with around £185m spent on several marquee signings.

Frank has altered Tottenham’s style to make them tougher to beat than they were under Postecoglou and this has improved their results. They currently sit sixth in the Premier League table, while they are unbeaten in their four Champions League group games.

However, Spurs and Frank have not been without criticism this season as they have struggled at home and have lacked a goal threat in certain matches.

READ: Xavi Simons, Sesko and other high-profile summer signings who might just be a bit sh*t

This means it would not be a surprise if Tottenham sign an attacker or two in the winter, with a recent report claiming that their players have internally made it clear that they are ‘desperate’ for reinforcements in this department.

Now, Spanish outlet Fichajes claims Spurs are ‘preparing’ an ‘offer’ worth around £53m (60 million euros) for Real Sociedad winger Takefuso Kubo. This is the value of his current release clause.

The 24-year-old has sparkled for Real Sociedad over the past couple of seasons and has been sporadically linked with a move to several Premier League sides.

Spurs have often been mentioned as a possible destination, with the report claiming that they are now ‘determined to go all out’ with an ‘offer’ in the winter.

MORE SPURS COVERAGE ON F365…

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The report claims:

‘Tottenham have identified Takefusa Kubo as a top attacking priority in the upcoming transfer window. The English club are looking for a player who can provide attacking flair, creativity, and goals, and the Japanese winger perfectly fits the profile their manager is seeking.

‘After several failed attempts in previous campaigns, Tottenham seem determined to go all out for the Real Sociedad player. The €60 million figure matches his release clause, meaning the Basque club would have no room to negotiate a lower price. The London club is confident of finalizing the deal quickly and incorporating the Japanese player as a key part of their new sporting project.’

It has also been claimed that Spurs are targeting several Brentford players who worked with Frank at the London club.

Nathan Collins has been mooted as a target after Spurs failed with a move for Bryan Mbeumo in the summer, while Igor Thiago is another option.

The striker has six goals in his ten Premier League appearances this season and several reports in South America have claimed that the north London outfit, Aston Villa and Newcastle United are in contact over signing him next year.

Mauricio Pochettino has suggested a return to England is “possible” as he told former club Tottenham what they should be aiming for and they “deserve.”

Spurs changed manager over the summer and there have already been calls for the new man’s head. Thomas Frank replaced Ange Postecoglou, whose Tottenham side finished 17th in the Premier League last season, and he has them sixth after 10 games.

In the Champions League, meanwhile, Spurs have two wins and two draws, so things seem to be progressing well enough, but some have taken issue to Frank’s style.

It does not seem he is in any immediate danger given the marked improvement on last season, but the north London club might be roused by the potential of one of their most successful managers returning.

Pochettino, who earned 1.84 points per game during his time at Spurs, guided them to a second-placed Premier League finish and a Champions League final, has discussed a return to English football.

He told talkSPORT: “Maybe it’s possible. Yes, maybe my challenge in the future, of course, after the World Cup and being now focusing on the USA national team, is maybe to come back one day to the Premier League.

“We were so close with Tottenham to win the Premier League and the and Champions League, and I think the fans, not the fans, but I think in that case we wanted to win the Premier League and the Champions League because it’s in that case.

“Tottenham is a club that deserves this type of titles, you know, this type of trophies.”

It seems evident that Pochettino would like the chance to win the English top flight having previously come close, be that with Spurs or another club.

He also somewhat diminished the achievement of former boss Postecoglou, who broke the club’s trophy drought of 17 years when he guided them to Europa League glory.

But Pochettino had Spurs one step away from the Champions League trophy, and though any silverware would have been nice for the club having gone so long without winning any, they’d surely rather the elite European competition than the one a step below it.

MORE ON TOTTENHAM FROM F365:

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👉 Van de Ven brilliance delays more Spurs ridicule as internal ‘desperation’ justified before Man Utd

👉 Spurs have ‘rag-tag mess of bodies’; Frank cannot ‘wash out two-bobness’

Pochettino continued: “And yes, why not one day to come back to the Premier League? For me, the Premier League is the best league in the world, the most competitive.

“And yes, I don’t say that it’s an unfinished show, but I think why not have the possibility again to challenge and to be involved in the Premier League and to challenge for the big things.”

This is the first meeting between these two since they contested last season’s Europa League final – a terrible match although one with a very happy outcome if you were a Spurs fan.

That showdown came after both had flopped horribly in the Premier League but the table makes for much happier reading this time.

After 10 games, Tottenham are sixth and United eighth and yet both managers, Thomas Frank and Ruben Amorim, have still had their fare share of stick this season.

Frank was drawing heat after a woeful Spurs display in the limp 1-0 home defeat to Chelsea last weekend but the mood changed on Tuesday as Micky van de Ven scored a wonder goal, racing the length of the pitch to score the third goal in the 4-0 home Champions League win over Copenhagen.

The trajectory for United is generally positive but last week’s 2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest meant they still only have one win in five away Premier League games so far.

True, that was a 2-1 victory at Liverpool but it’s fair to say they rode their luck at Anfield.

How to watch Spurs v Man Utd

Spurs v Man Utd kicks off at 12.30 GMT on Saturday, November 8 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The game will be shown live on Discovery+ and TNT Sports 1, with coverage starting from 11am.

TalkSPORT will provide full match commentary.

Spurs team news

Tottenham have a lengthy long-term injury list and Frank’s options could be hit further after Mohammed Kudus missed the win over Copenhagen with a knock.

Brennan Johnson, who scored before being sent off in that game, may fill in.

Frank will have to choose between Xavi Simons and Wilson Odobert on the other flank while Randal Kolo Muani will probably be his preferred option over Richarlison down the middle.

Lucas Bergvall again has so sit this one out due to concussion protocols.

Spurs expected line-up

(4-2-3-1) Vicario; Porro, Danso, van de Van, Spence; Bentancur, Palhinha; Kudus, Simons, Sarr; Kolo Muani.

Man Utd team news

The United starting XI is starting to feel more familiar now although there may be a change in central defence.

Lisandro Martinez is back in training so could push for a start but Harry Maguire, who only made the subs bench at Forest, is more likely to be the one to replace Lenny Yoro in the three-man backline.

In attack, Amorim will hope his three big forward summer signings, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko, can continue to gel further.

With no European football this season, they have less chance to work on each other’s patterns of play.

Man Utd expected line-up

(3-4-2-1) Lammens; de Ligt, Maguire, Shaw; Amad, Fernandes, Casemiro, Dalot; Mbeumo, Cunha, Sesko.

Spurs vs Man Utd stats

– Tottenham completed the Premier League double over Manchester United last season – they last won three consecutive league games against the Red Devils in 1959/1960.

– Manchester United are winless in their last seven meetings with Tottenham in all competitions (D2 L5), losing each of the last four – the last team to win five in a row against the Red Devils were Liverpool between 2000 and 2002.

– No side has lost more home Premier League matches in 2025 than Tottenham Hotspur (9). Only in 1994 and 2003 (10 in each) have Spurs reached double figures for home defeats in a year in their league history.

– Manchester United are unbeaten in their last four Premier League games (W3 D1), their joint best run under manager Ruben Amorim.

– Across spells with Brentford and Spurs, Thomas Frank has suffered nine defeats in his last 16 home Premier League matches (W3 D4).

– Only Liverpool (156) have had more shots in the Premier League this season than Manchester United (153) and no side has had more shots on target than they have (54).

– Only against Southampton and Brighton (5) has Man Utd’s Bryan Mbeumo scored more Premier League goals than he has against Spurs (4), with three of his four against them coming at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Spurs vs Man Utd predictions

One thing’s for sure, this will surely be a better spectacle than last May’s Europa League final in Bilbao.

As for the actual outcome, the evidence is mixed.

Spurs have struggled badly at home in the Premier League this season even though they’ve had United’s number in recent matches.

In addition, United look far more convincing at home than away so don’t cry out to be backed either.

Almost by default, the draw at 5/2 is probably the best bet.

It’s likely to be a scoring draw and one standout to find the net is Bryan Mbeumo, who has wheeled away in celebration three times previously at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

A Tottenham man could reportedly stay beyond January despite saying ‘yes’ to a January move, as there are two reasons Spurs could keep him at the club.

Spurs have fared much better this season than they did last. In the Premier League, they came 17th last term, and new boss Thomas Frank has them sixth in the table after 10 games.

They have dropped a few places since losing to Chelsea last time out. Tottenham have not had an issue with scoring goals – notching 17 so far – but that Micky van de Ven is their joint-top scorer in the league may bring some concern.

Alongside him is Richarlison, with the pair on three goals each, and it’s been reported of late that the striker is looking to leave the club, with our friends at TEAMtalk stating he has ‘said yes’ to re-joining Everton ahead of the January window.

They suggest that hinges on the type of deal the Toffees would look to do, as well as Spurs only entertaining the exit if they can sign a striker of their own.

The latest report, from TBRFootball, suggests Richarlison may not be able to move until at least the summer, for two reasons.

Insider Graeme Bailey said: “There is interest in Richarlison – he decided not to leave last summer, as he focused on game time for Tottenham and winning his spot in the Brazilian squad. Thomas Frank likes the player and he has five goal contributions in five league starts – showing he is capable of operating in Frank’s style.

“Tottenham are looking at new strikers, but whether it happens in January remains to be seen. We believe the left-wing and centre-back positions to be priorities at this point, but very much next summer [they could sign a striker].”

It would not be surprising were Frank not to want to see Richarlison leave, given that would leave Van de Ven as his biggest goal threat, and that he’s a defender raises problems.

MORE ON TOTTENHAM FROM F365:

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👉 Van de Ven brilliance delays more Spurs ridicule as internal ‘desperation’ justified before Man Utd

👉 Spurs have ‘rag-tag mess of bodies’; Frank cannot ‘wash out two-bobness’

But for Richarlison, a desire to return to Everton makes sense. While he’s the joint-top scorer at Spurs in the league this season, the striker has never been as effective in north London as he was on Merseyside.

His best return in a Premier League season for Tottenham was 11, but he’s not got close to double figures in his two other full seasons.

At Everton, meanwhile, he twice bagged 13 goals in the league, and the Toffees side may be of higher quality now than it was then, simply lacking a good striker.

Before Tuesday night we were of the firm opinion that Spurs and Thomas Frank needed more than just Champions League victory over Copenhagen; they needed a performance at least as much as a win.

The win was mandatory, obviously. Failure to achieve that bare minimum would have left Spurs in significant danger of contriving to get knocked out in the group stage which, even for a club of Spurs’ lofty banter standards, would be some accomplishment.

But the pitifully weak and small-time nature of that defeat to Chelsea at the weekend, on the back of failure to achieve bare-minimum acceptability in results at home against Bournemouth, Wolves and Aston Villa, meant something more was needed.

A repeat of the scrappy, skin-of-the-teeth win over Villarreal in this competition, in which a fluke early goal was defended with increasing desperation for 85 minutes, wasn’t going to cut it.

Spurs needed something noticeable. Something memorable.

And now? Well, if anything, Clive, for me, they’ve almost done that too well. They might have attracted too much attention with the specific nature of their evisceration of the Danish side.

On the surface, there are positives (caveated to all heck as they must be by the quality of the opposition) all over the place in the performances of those who have previously struggled this season like Xavi Simons (still likely to just be a bit sh*t) and Wilson Odobert and Randal Kolo Muani.

There was even the chance for Joao Palhinha to make a statement of his own in the wake of the vaguely bizarre kicking he got from Jamie Carragher for not being as good going forward as various No. 8s and No. 10s in the Premier League.

He roared forward to score in a wildly rogue counter-attack, one that also featured for some reason Cristian Romero at centre-forward in what was supposed to be 10-man Frankball defending a chunky lead, having just minutes earlier dropped a fire assist.

It was an assist that propelled Palhinha directly into the top three all-time Spurs assists alongside Jan Vertonghen and Tom Carroll. If you know, you know.

But what Palhinha so carelessly did there was set Micky van de Ven up for one of the most audacious bits of attention-grabbing, headline-making football we’ve seen this season. You will all by now have inevitably seen the full absurdity of his Puskas contender, a touching and eerily accurate if slightly quicker tribute to Son Heung-min’s own Puskas winner against Burnley all those years ago.

We can only concur with the unknown voice in the background at the very end of the clip TNT Sport sent round the world that declares with utter gobsmacked accuracy ‘What a f*cking goal that is!’

Yes, everyone has seen it. Everyone. And that makes this a bittersweet moment for Spurs fans, because at the back of their mind will now be inevitable doubts about what comes next.

They’ve been here before, of course, with a player doing something absurd on a Champions League night and catching the world’s attention.

It’s all just a slightly uncomfortable reminder of Spurs’ place in the food chain, which is somewhere near the top but crucially very definitely not in fact at the top. Van de Ven’s name will now be on the lips of everyone in football, and he will be watched closely.

And watching Van de Ven closely reveals a brilliant – and something close to uniquely brilliant – footballer, truly absurd in the completeness of his skills.

This was already his sixth goal of the season and, while most of the others are indeed your more customary centre-back fare, the kind of grass-scorching run out of defence he produced last night is no outlier either.

He created a goal against Manchester United last season with a similarly improbable yet entirely unstoppable run forward. Then as here, the first thing that strikes you is the sheer astonishing pace of it all, the second just how precise and assured Van de Ven’s touch is for a central defender.

There’s a brilliant angle of the Copenhagen goal captured by a fan in the stands at the end where Van de Ven’s run started rather than finished. It’s compelling for two reasons. First, for the magnificently disbelieving reactions of his team-mates trundling forward in his wake, and second for highlighting just how difficult the finish was at the end of that run.

There are few seasoned goalscoring forwards you’d confidently back to have settled, composed themselves and chosen the right option in that situation after that kind of run. Peak Son is undoubtedly one such player, but among current stars you really are thinking of the truly elite finishers in the Haaland mould. Van de Ven knocked it in like an unmissable tap-in.

He is a truly astonishing footballer, a dominant presence in both penalty areas, and as he showed here also anywhere in between them if given a hint of encouragement. That pace is an extraordinary asset for both his defensive and offensive work, but it is far from all he has. He can harness it.

For further evidence of his ability to combine his pace with further skills, consider his other Kodak moment this year: the goal-line clearance that preserved Tottenham’s fragile lead in the Europa League final in Bilbao.

Without his pace, he wouldn’t get there to make that clearance. But even with his pace, he still wouldn’t have got there without the anticipation and game awareness that has him moving that way before the situation even unfolds as he foresaw that it might.

While obviously a thoroughly different player, there is something undeniably Gareth Bale-like about this knack, about not just having that pace and physicality, but being able to marry it with elite technical ability and game awareness.

And the problem for Spurs and other clubs of similar level is that the Champions League as often as not provides more of an opportunity for your players than it does you as a club. Spurs aren’t going to win the Champions League, but you can be damn sure your players can catch the attention while you’re there of clubs that can.

Spurs lost Luka Modric and Bale to Real Madrid, Harry Kane to Bayern Munich. In all three cases, and especially and most obviously Bale’s, eye-catching Champions League exploits helped serve as convincers at the very least, evidence to these superclubs that here were players with the right stuff to do it on the biggest stage.

Van de Ven has just served similar notice. It’s no secret that Real Madrid need and want a centre-back. And they are said to be ‘blown away’ by the Dutchman. Spending big to prise players away from Spurs has worked out well for them in the past, and it absolutely could do so again.

Silly, isn’t it, to rush to judgement on transfers? We all know it can take even the very best players time to adjust to a new league or even just a new club and a new approach under a new manager with new team-mates.

Ridiculously daft to just be declaring any obviously top-quality professional footballer a bit sh*t a few months into a big next step in their career.

Here, then, are five Premier League summer signings that we think might be a bit sh*t, only one of which has subsequently played really well in a Champions League game since time of writing.

Did we learn anything from that? In the immortal words of the great folk-philosopher Homer Simpson: ‘Marge, my friend, I haven’t learned a thing.’

Xavi Simons (Tottenham)

Turned in a hugely encouraging man-of-the-match performance in a very weird 4-0 Champions League win over Copenhagen that still prompted more questions than answers.

While we finally saw real evidence of the impish, creative spark Spurs desperately need from Xavi in the continued absences of Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison, the nagging doubts remain: was this game against such limited opposition a sign of Xavi finding his feet or finding his level?

The fact Wilson Odobert and Randal Kolo Muani also had their best games for Spurs suggests there’s a strong chance it might just have been quite easy.

Even Thomas Frank’s harshest critics will have accepted that withdrawing Xavi at 2-0 after Brennan Johnson’s red card just before the hour mark was an unfortunate but necessary step with a lead to protect. The fact that lock-the-game-down change precipitated the most astonishing five minutes of attacking football yet seen from Spurs in this deeply weird season again leaves us pondering just where Xavi stands in it all.

The talent is there, and he will clearly be given time and perhaps a fine game even against a team as poor as Copenhagen is all he needs to get the confidence going again. But unless and until there’s some halfway compelling evidence of it against proper teams, he is going to face inevitable questions about the Bundesliga Tax and whether he’s quite cut out for Our League, and some of those questions will be reasonable and not just ones in ridiculous terms from ridiculous gobsh*tes like Jamie O’Hara.

READ: Sorry Carragher but Joao Palhinha is the wrong Spurs player to criticise

Milos Kerkez (Liverpool)

There are more conspicuous strugglers at Liverpool, sure, but greater mitigation. Florian Wirtz has the ‘adapting to a new league and coping with insane price tag’ mitigation. Alexander Isak has the ‘messy summer with late resolution ruining pre-season’ mitigation, albeit that’s slightly more of a self-inflicted problem.

Milos Kerkez has been the real oddity among the potential flops from Liverpool’s summer business specifically because he looked the safest bet of the lot. He was the best left-back in the Premier League last season and there didn’t seem to be anything about either the defensive or attacking side of his game that indicated he was in any way unready or incapable of making the step up to an elite club.

But he’s been real, hard sh*t. Again and again. Sat out the best night of the season against Real Madrid altogether, and we’ve grown increasingly obsessed by the way Virgil van Dijk looks at him with something approaching shit-on-his-shoe disgust after every single defensive travesty that has befallen Liverpool this season. Even when it’s not actually Kerkez’s fault. Especially when it’s not actually Kerkez’s fault.

Benjamin Sesko (Manchester United)

The most predictable thing ever, wasn’t it? It’s not even about Sesko himself, really, but about whether any striker can come into the ridiculous world of Manchester United and instantly shine.

He’s got a couple of goals, but the fact even that is being treated like a pleasant surprise 10 games into the season tells you how this isn’t just shaping up as another flop for United but one that absolutely everyone saw coming.

And that includes United themselves, who now appear to be out there briefing that ‘Actually, guys, we knew this guy was going to struggle’ as if this is some kind of flex.

Sure, it’s perfectly reasonable to plan for Sesko not being able to settle in as quickly or easily as the Premier League-hardened Matheus Cunha or Bryan Mbeumo, but when you’re dropping over £70m on a player you know you really do need to become an instant first-choice pick, it’s not really much of a defence to announce that you didn’t really think it would work out that way all along.

James Trafford (Manchester City)

Some sympathy for a player who signs with a club of Man City’s size to be their first-choice keeper and then a few games in sees a genuine contender for the title of world’s best goalkeeper come through the doors.

Trafford, having played in each of City’s three opening games of the Premier League season, has been restricted to just a couple of Carabao run-outs in the two months since Gianluigi Donnarumma’s arrival at the Etihad.

But let’s not also pretend Trafford is an innocent victim. He was quite cack in those early games, and the numbers are stark. City lost two of the three games Trafford played, conceding four goals, at least one of which was directly his fault.

Donnarumma hasn’t been flawless by any stretch, but in the seven subsequent games City have won five and lost only once while only conceding a further four goals.

Trafford’s uncertainty and inability to inspire the necessary confidence in a title-chasing defence didn’t help his cause, however unlucky he might be given the unexpected nature of Donnarumma’s sudden availability on the market.

Jamie Gittens (Chelsea)

Already the fear is there that this is another exciting young footballer turned grist for the Chelsea mill, another talent lost in the churn of the Clearlake approach to player trading.

He’s had plenty of minutes across Chelsea’s season, which is already a confusing one in its own right, but his only goal involvements so far have come in the Carabao and a thumping win over Ajax in the Champions League.

His cameo contributions in the Premier League, where not one of his eight appearances have lasted longer than an hour, have been distinctly underwhelming.

To be fair, he will probably survive the Stamford Bridge experience. He will probably still have a perfectly decent career, but it probably won’t be at Chelsea, who also won’t care at all as they inexplicably turn a £15m profit when selling him to some Bundesliga club or other in January 2027.

Jamie Carragher’s war on defensive midfielders has acquired another adversary but his criticism of Joao Palhinha could not be further from the truth.

As part of his Monday Night Football punditry duties, Carragher was passing verdict on the weekend’s Premier League action when he decided to take issue with Spurs’ summer signing Palhinha.

Ignoring the £50m Xavi Simons’ poor start, Carragher instead suggested Palhinha did not have the “quality” to be a midfielder for a side like Spurs.

“We spoke about courage; now we can talk about quality. Palhinha hasn’t got the quality,” Carragher said.

“For a player playing for Tottenham in central midfield, for me, that’s a pass you have to be able to make. He can’t make it.

“So even though I’m being critical of it, saying he hasn’t quite got the ability, he’s actually done okay for Tottenham in terms of his job, but they go back, listen to the boos.

“The only reason he does a clever turn on the ball is because of the boos. Again, Palhinha is on the ball, five touches because he hasn’t got the confidence or the ability.

“What you’ve got is you’ve got a lack of courage and confidence from certain players, but you’ve also got a lack of ability of certain players.”

Carragher’s suggestion that Spurs should not be playing the Portuguese midfielder is a strange one simply because almost everyone else agrees that Palhinha is exactly the sort of player they needed.

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Last season under Ange Postecoglou, control was an alien concept, and the Australian’s uber-aggressive high line often left Rodrigo Bentancur, who is far more attack-minded than Palhinha, scrambling as oppositions countered. At this stage last season, Tottenham had let in 11 goals. Now, that tally is down to eight.

When Postecoglou was given the boot, Spurs appointed a manager in Thomas Frank who is far less willing to give up control of a game. The high line and pass out from the back at all costs were dropped and as a result, Spurs have conceded the second fewest goals in the league this season.

And if Frank were to sit down and single out which one player had been the most crucial to that change, Joao Palhinha would be at the top of any list.

To be fair to Carragher, he was used to playing behind the likes of Xabi Alonso and Steven Gerrard who could pick a pass while also getting a tackle in, but Palhinha has not been brought in for his ability to pick out a Hollywood ball; his job is to stop the opposition.

Since arriving from Bayern Munich on loan in the summer, Palhinha has made the most tackles of any player in the Premier League, averaging 5.1 a game. He is in the top 3% for duels won per game, and Spurs have conceded 0.8 goals a game, a tally only bettered by their north London rivals. Spurs’ games are no longe frantic basketball-type affairs and three league lossess this year have been by a single-goal margin.

Carragher’s individual criticism of Palhinha is taking aim at exactly the wrong player because Palhinha is doing all the things he was brought in to do. Goals have also been a welcome bonus, with the 30-year-old scoring twice in the league and once in the Champions League against Copenhagen on Tuesday.

Carragher’s criticisms should instead be directed at Palhinha’s midfield team-mates. A pre-season injury to James Maddison forced Spurs back into the transfer market, and they pulled off what everyone thought was a coup in Xavi Simons. Two months later though, and while Florian Wirtz may have taken the title of ‘expensive midfielders yet to hit the ground running’, Simons’ performances have been far more concerning.

In his 458 minutes of league action, Simons has registered zero goals and just one assist. On average, he has an xG of 0.05 – which is in the bottom 15% for the league – and has created a little over one chance a game, a dribble success rate of 41.2% from just 1.38 attempts a game, and while he has had 298 touches of the ball, just eight of those have been in the opposition box. To put that into context, he has been dispossessed more times with nine.

Simons may have more ‘quality’ than Palhinha in Carragher’s eyes but when those moments are so fleeting, a more consistent player is always going to be preferred by the manager.

Blaming Palhinha for Spurs’ problems feels a bit like blaming whoever cooked the potatoes for a poor Christmas roast while the turkey is dry and burnt.

They are 15th in expected goals, with the same ranking for shots on target per match. They have had the fifth most touches in the opposition box but have consistently been unable to find a way through.

Another derby defeat to Chelsea saw them record a well-publicised 0.05 xG, but blaming Palhinha for that is pointing the finger at the one player in Spurs’ midfield actually doing their job.

Tottenham star Micky van de Ven has explained what really happened in the aftermath of their 1-0 loss to Chelsea after being accused of snubbing Thomas Frank.

After the final whistle of their defeat to the Blues, Van de Ven and Spence seemingly ignored Frank’s suggestion that they should go over to the fans.

Tottenham boss Frank then gave the Spurs pair an angry stare as they walked down the tunnel with the clip blowing up on social media.

Micah Richards and other pundits have criticised Van de Ven and Spence with the former Manchester City defender calling them “disgraceful”.

But Van de Ven insists the incident has been blown out of proportion with the Tottenham duo just annoyed at their performance.

Van de Ven said on Tuesday: “Of course it’s the past so I don’t want to make it bigger than it is. Djed and I walked [off], we were just frustrated after the game and everything got really exploded by the media, it was nothing big to be honest. Everyone thinks it was the gaffer, there was nothing to do with the gaffer.

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“We were just frustrated after the game because of a bad performance from myself as well. We want to play well and I didn’t play well in my opinion, so I was just frustrated and I just wanted to go quickly inside. As I said it got exploded by the media out of nowhere.”

Spurs defender Van de Ven scored an incredible solo goal in a 4-0 win over Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday with Frank joking that the centre-back turned into Lionel Messi.

Frank told reporters: “It seems like we had Lionel Messi turned into Micky van de Ven, roaring down from his own goal all the way to the other end and scored a fantastic goal. I think he’s our top scorer in all competitions, so he can keep going. He can keep walking past me if he’s angry after a game!”

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Reacting to Tottenham’s performance against the Danish side, Van de Ven added: “The fans were good tonight and I think also it helped that we played a good performance. Saturday was really frustrating.

“We played a derby at home against Chelsea and it’s a massive game for us but also for the fans, we didn’t play really well as a team, it was a bad performance from our side. We needed to bounce back in a positive way and I think we did that really well.”