The New York Times

As Antoine Semenyo received a pass on the edge of the Tottenham Hotspur box in second-half stoppage time, opening an angle to go for goal, the rest felt inevitable. The Ghana international, who looks set to move from Bournemouth to Manchester City after rebuffing Spurs’ interest, set the ball out of his feet and fired a wicked right-footed shot into Guglielmo Vicario’s bottom left-hand corner.

Many of the travelling Tottenham supporters, who were urging their players to find a winner of their own moments earlier, headed towards the exit. The rest stayed long after the final whistle. Some applauded the team and head coach Thomas Frank after the 3-2 defeat, while a few seemed to exchange stern words with players, including Micky van de Ven and Pedro Porro. It was an ugly end to a game that might have finished differently.

“I haven’t seen that situation (with the fans and players), that’s one thing,” Frank said in his post-match press conference. “I think it’s fair to say everyone in Tottenham, players, staff, fans, everyone, it’s a tough one to take today.

“I think hopefully everyone can see how hard we worked to get everything in the right direction. And I think overall the performance was good, especially in the second half, in a game where we deserved to get more. That is extremely painful to be part of, so of course people are frustrated, I’m frustrated, so that’s natural.”

The breakdown between the supporters and the coach is nothing new. An image of Frank holding a disposable cup with Arsenal branding ahead of Wednesday’s match only added fuel to the fire. When questioned about that incident after the game, Frank argued it would be “extremely stupid” to intentionally and publicly drink out of an Arsenal cup as a Spurs coach who is “not winning every single football match”, but it was a mishap which has widened the divide for some fans.

On reflection, the festive period offered an opportunity to re-energise the Frank era halfway through its first season.

It started perfectly with a win at Crystal Palace, where the players demonstrated some of the steel and nous shown on the way to the Europa League final win last May under the Dane’s predecessor Ange Postecoglou. Brentford three days later was a forgettable draw, but one, against a team in form, that could have been chalked up as a hard-fought point were it followed by better performances and results in the coming matches. But with a point against a Sunderland team affected by players being on Africa Cup of Nations duty and now defeat by Bournemouth, who were winless in 11 matches before a timely visit from Doctor Tottenham, Frank’s tenure has never felt so lifeless.

And yet, in Frank’s view, it could have been so different.

“It’s very tough to sit here right now and we haven’t got anything out of overall a good performance,” he said. “We started well, got up 1-0, conceding two goals on second-phase set pieces. Especially the second one, we needed to do much better. But I really liked the character in the team and from the players. They gave everything.”

Mathys Tel, starting in his preferred position of left-winger for the second game in a row after impressing against Sunderland, responded to Frank’s faith with a brilliant goal inside five minutes. Naturally, he tired in the second half and his influence waned, but it was the 20-year-old’s most complete and best performance in a Tottenham shirt since signing 11 months ago. His opener ended a 592-minute wait for a goal from open play, setting Spurs ahead again. But, in similar circumstances to Sunday, Frank’s side failed to control the game from a winning position.

After a spell of pressure, Bournemouth equalised through Evanilson, who headed home a Marcus Tavernier cross from the right in the 22nd minute. Fourteen minutes later, Spurs conceded in almost identical circumstances, this time with Eli Junior Kroupi getting the crucial touch.

Joao Palhinha’s 78th-minute equaliser briefly gave them hope of a positive result, only for Semenyo to score that 95th-minute winner.

The result leaves Spurs 14th in the Premier League table, six points off Brentford, Frank’s previous club, in fifth. Incidentally, that New Year’s Day draw with Tottenham is the only blot on an otherwise perfect five-game run for the west Londoners, who have picked up 12 points from the 15 available. In different circumstances, overturning a six-point deficit with 17 games to play might feel achievable, but in Spurs’ current state, where defeats come far too easily, a further slip down the table could be as likely.

Back-to-back league matches against West Ham United and Burnley, two of the bottom three, this month appear to be the final chance to push towards achieving their dwindling European ambitions, before a daunting fixture list in February and March.

So, with their Premier League season collapsing into insignificance, Tottenham’s route to revival may be through the cups.

Champions League success is a dream, but the FA Cup third-round tie at home against Aston Villa on Saturday offers a welcome change of scenery and a chance to restore pride.

Frank’s record in that competition is underwhelming, but after a hopeless festive period, cup success at the weekend appears to be the only immediate hope of bridging some of the gap between him and a furious fanbase.

Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank described the suggestion that he had deliberately used an Arsenal-branded cup as “extremely stupid”.

Before Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth on Wednesday, Frank was photographed holding a small cup with the logo of Spurs’ rivals Arsenal on it. Arsenal were the last team to play away at the Vitality Stadium.

After the image circulated online, Frank addressed the incident in his post-match press conference.

“(I) definitely (did) not notice it,” he said. “I think it’s fair to say that (I’m) not winning every single football match so it’d be absolutely, completely stupid of me to take a cup with Arsenal.

“You know, they’ve (Arsenal) been in there, the changing room, the game before us. Was normal. Take a cup, give me an espresso. I do that before every game. So I think actually, it’s a little bit sad in football that I need to be asked a question about that.

“I think we’re definitely going the wrong direction if we need to worry about me having a cup with another logo of another club where, of course, I’ll never do that. That’s extremely stupid.”

Tottenham took the lead against Bournemouth through Mathys Tel but entered half-time trailing after goals from Evanilson and Eli Junior Kroupi. Joao Palhinha equalised with an overhead kick in the 78th minute before Antoine Semenyo — playing his final game for Bournemouth before his move to Manchester City — won the game for the home side in the fifth minute of added time.

Wednesday’s defeat means that Spurs have begun 2026 without a win, having drawn their two previous games this year against Brentford and Sunderland. Frank’s side are 14th in the Premier League on 27 points and have won only twice in their last 12 league games.

Tottenham are next in action at home against Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Saturday. Their next league game sees them welcome West Ham United to north London a week later.

Bournemouth ended an 11-game winless run as they came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur, heaping further pressure on Thomas Frank whose side have now won just one of their last six league games.

Joao Palhinha’s brilliant overhead kick seemed to have earned a draw for Frank’s side but then, in the 95th minute, Antoine Semenyo produced an equally stunning strike from distance to win the game for his team with his 10th league goal of the season.

The hosts conceded the opening goal far too easily, with Mathys Tel cutting in from the left and arrowing his shot into the bottom-right corner in the fifth minute after being put through by a neat Xavi Simmons back heel.

But Bournemouth were ahead before the break. Marcus Tavernier was given time and space to produce a dangerous cross from the right which Evanilson magnificently headed home, leaving Guglielmo Vicario with no hope.

Another Tavernier cross from almost the same position again caused Tottenham problems, with Marcos Senesi’s cutback giving Eli Junior Kroupi a simple tap-in for his seventh goal of the season.

Referee Darren England had awarded Tottenham a penalty after the break when Micky van de Ven was brought down in the box after a marauding run from defence, but he overturned his decision after a VAR check, much to Van de Ven’s chagrin, which earned the defender a yellow card.

But minutes later Palhinha put Spurs level with a superb effort. A fingertip save from Djordje Petrovic late on prevented Van de Ven from putting the visitors ahead with a header, the save proving crucial as Semenyo, on his 26th birthday and possibly final match for Bournemouth, scored the winner.

Why do Tottenham keep conceding the same sort of goal?

What made this defeat so painful was that Tottenham fought back into the game, Palhinha’s overhead kick with 12 minutes left making it 2-2.

Spurs even had a platform to go on and win the game. But the frustrating thing about Tottenham this season is that they keep making the same mistakes week after week. And any Spurs fan will tell you that they have a terrible habit of conceding to shots taken from just outside the box. Even with so many men back, Spurs leave plenty of room for opponents to get shots off. And those opponents keep finding the bottom corner of Guglielmo Vicario’s net.

So it was again tonight at Bournemouth, when Semenyo picked up the loose ball and — before Richarlison could get over to block him — put the ball into the far-bottom corner. It was a brilliant hit from a fantastic player. But it was also punishing a mistake that Tottenham have made far too often. Which meant that their hard work in this game ended up counting for nothing.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

How did Tottenham lose control?

The most frustrating thing for Tottenham was the fact that they actually started this game far better than normal.

Spurs begun positively, moving the ball forward with purpose, taking advantage of the return to the team of Simons after three games out suspended. That industry led to their early goal, when Simons drove them forward before setting up Tel. It felt for a moment as if we might be watching a different Tottenham, more positive and purposeful. They even made chances to score a second, especially with Lucas Bergvall from distance.

But they never took advantage of those, and that made it even more frustrating how Spurs lost control of the game. They let Bournemouth — without a league win since October — back into the contest. And they switched off twice when Bournemouth scored two goals starting with crosses from the right wing before the interval.

It felt like the clearest sign of Spurs’ fragility. That even in a game like this, against a team in such poor form, and with an early lead, Spurs could still not hold onto their advantage.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Did Tel impress again on the left?

Mathys Tel has found himself on the outside looking in for much of this season, starting just four times in the league. Before the 1-1 draw with Sunderland on Sunday, none of those had come in his preferred left-wing position. But he looked lively and threatening from the opening whistle against Sunderland and, for that, he earned a second start in a row.

Tel offers something different to the rest of Tottenham’s wide players. Unlike Wilson Odobert and Mohammed Kudus, Tel’s first instinct is to shoot whenever he’s around the opposition box. That tendency was evident inside 20 seconds against Sunderland, firing a driven shot on target. Shortly after, he bent a curling effort just wide of the post. Then, against Bournemouth, he found the net from a seemingly impossible wide angle to open the scoring.

After receiving a pass from Xavi Simons on the left touchline, Tel isolated the full-back, pushing him into the Bournemouth box, before shifting right and firing a powerful and accurate shot into the bottom-right corner. It was a brilliant goal, and Tottenham’s first from open play in 592 minutes.

While Spurs faltered under pressure as a unit, Tel continued shining in the first half. His first touch was crisp and he found solutions to dribble out of tight situations on several occasions. With Kudus out injured and Brennan Johnson now plying his trade for Crystal Palace, it appears the left-wing spot is now firmly Tel’s to lose.

Elias Burke

What did Frank say?

We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.

What next for Spurs?

Former Tottenham Hotspur and England forward Martin Chivers has died at the age of 80.

Chivers is Tottenham’s fourth-highest goalscorer of all time with 174 goals, behind Harry Kane, Jimmy Greaves and Bobby Smith and one goal ahead of Son Heung-min.

In a statement on Wednesday, Spurs said: “It is with immense sadness that we announce the passing of our legendary former striker, Martin Chivers.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to Martin’s family, friends and former team-mates at this incredibly sad time.

The club also confirmed that they would wear black armbands during their Premier League visit to Bournemouth on Wednesday.

Chivers began his professional career with Southampton in 1962 and spent just over five years with the south coast club, scoring 108 goals in 189 games. He then joined Tottenham in January 1968, where he featured alongside Greaves and Alan Gilzean in attack under legendary Spurs manager Bill Nicholson.

He scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa in the 1971 League Cup final and also scored twice in the 1972 UEFA Cup (now known as the Europa League) final in the 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers as Tottenham won the inaugural edition of the tournament. He also helped Spurs win the League Cup again the following season.

After making 367 appearances for the club over more than eight years, Chivers joined Swiss club Servette, where he spent two seasons before returning to England with Norwich City in 1978. He also played for Brighton & Hove Albion, Dorchester Town, Norwegian club FC Vard and Barnet.

He was capped 24 times by England, scoring 13 goals.

Jermain Defoe, an icon for Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland, was the guest attraction at Sunday’s match between the two sides, their first meeting since Defoe led the line for Sunderland in a 0-0 draw at the Stadium of Light in 2017. He was given a hero’s applause from fans of both clubs when he was invited onto the pitch at half-time.

Seconds into the game, Mathys Tel executed a move that could have come from a Defoe highlight reel. Having received the ball in an inside-left position near the edge of the box, Tel shifted it right and, in an instant, hit a powerful, driven, no-backlift shot that stung the palms of Sunderland goalkeeper Robin Roefs. Like Defoe, who seemingly never skewed a shot off target, whatever the angle, Tel has the quick-fire shoot-on-sight quality of a natural goalscorer.

“Definitely. It’s an old saying that if you don’t shoot, you don’t score,” manager Thomas Frank said when asked whether Tel’s shoot-first instinct brings something different to the attack, speaking in his pre-match press conference for Wednesday’s game against Bournemouth. “So it’s probably pretty good to have players that can get a shot off. But Matty is a versatile player. So he can play to the left, he can play ‘No 10’ (attacking midfield). He plays striker. Probably his best is something between the three roles. And he’s young, so he’s not the first time (you have wondered with) a player, ‘Where will he actually end?’.

“In the past, I worked with Ollie Watkins. He came to Brentford as a winger, and I converted him to be a striker, and he’s quite a successful striker. Yoane Wissa came as a winger, and he ended as a striker. Is Mathys the same type, to start as a winger and end as a striker? I don’t know. No matter what, I’m pretty sure he can perform in both positions.“

For a while, it seemed as if Tel had been lost in the shuffle. As Frank experimented with different front lines, either due to injuries or lack of attacking chemistry, the 20-year-old remained on the fringes behind Wilson Odobert, Randal Kolo Muani and even Brennan Johnson, who was sold to Crystal Palace for £35million ($47m) on January 2.

It was effectively a continuation of the awkward circumstances that led to him signing for the club on an initial loan deal from Bayern Munich a year ago, with Tel failing to show much more than glimmers of his obvious talent under Ange Postecoglou. Tottenham making his move permanent in the summer in a deal worth €35million (£30m; $41m), plus €10m in potential bonuses, seemed to signal an investment in Tel, particularly after the departure of club legend Son Heung-min, but his status on the fringes of the starting XI has remained largely unchanged this term.

Frank’s comments allude to why that may be the case. Tel, who believes his future lies on the left wing, is one of the few people who seems to have a handle on which position he will make his own. It’s not uncommon to see young players trialled in several positions before nailing down their long-term role — Gareth Bale started as a left-back before becoming one of the world’s best right-wingers, for example — but it’s difficult to assess whether testing multiple roles in fits and starts will aid Tel’s long-term development. It will make him more versatile, but elite forwards tend to specialise in one position.

Like Odobert, Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall, the core of high-potential young talents Frank is investing in, there are no questions about Tel’s desire to reach the top. Bayern were always impressed by his dedication. An example of his attitude was on public display last season, when he spoke to frustrated fans in the away end after a miserable 2-0 defeat against Fulham at Craven Cottage. For a then-teenager who did not know whether he would be at the club the following season, assuming that responsibility speaks to his mentality, and frequent visits from his family in France to his new home in London help keep him focused and grounded.

So when Frank named him in the starting XI on the weekend, he was itching to go. He had not started a Premier League game since the 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa in October — he scored the opening goal in their previous fixture, a 2-1 win over Leeds United — and had not started a league match from the left all season. Within seconds, he had registered a shot on target, something Spurs only managed to do twice as a unit in the dour 0-0 draw away at Brentford on New Year’s Day. On reflection, had he been more up to speed, Frank believed he could have registered his third league goal of the season.

“It was a positive performance from Mathys,” Frank said on Monday afternoon. “He did some positive things and got into good situations.

“He had one where he bent it to the far corner, where he’s probably the best finisher from that position. He is a little bit disappointed in himself. It’s fair, he’s young. It’s not like he played five games in a row. I hoped he could do it and we’ve seen it. So that was good.”

Since joining Spurs, Tel has often felt slightly out of place. He was brought in mid-season with a plan to develop him as a wide attacker and asked to lead an attack in an unfamiliar striker position. Then he signed permanently under a different coach, who later omitted him from the Champions League squad. Compared to Odobert, who was a long-term target before signing from Burnley in 2024, the vision for his France Under-21 team-mate has been blurry.

Johnson’s departure and a leg injury to Mohammed Kudus have left the Tottenham squad even shorter on attacking players, and Tel can stake his claim. Frank said there’s “no one who’s really grabbed that shirt” on the left wing. When asked if Tel will remain at the club in the face of loan interest from around Europe, the head coach responded “hopefully”, after saying, “We are maybe a little short on offensive options.”

Desperate for a run of games in his favoured position for the first time in his short career, a depleted forward line presents Tel with the opportunity he has sought since leaving Bayern in search of more first-team minutes. Starting against Bournemouth, the onus is on him to take what’s “up for grabs”.

Tottenham Hotspur winger Mohammed Kudus looks set to be unavailable for their Premier League fixture away to Bournemouth with a leg injury, said head coach Thomas Frank.

Kudus was substituted in the 19th minute of Tottenham’s 1-1 draw against Sunderland on Sunday after going down injured. In his pre-match press conference ahead of Bournemouth on Wednesday evening, Frank said the Ghana international winger had a scan on Monday afternoon, and the club is awaiting the results.

“He’s going for a scan here, one o’clock, to clarify the issue,” Frank said. “So unfortunately I don’t have a big update on it.

“Most likely he will be out for Bournemouth, yeah.”

Kudus was replaced by Randal Kolo Muani on the right wing, a natural striker who has played across the front line in recent weeks. Brennan Johnson had previously been the most likely candidate to step in for Kudus in the event of injury or rotation, prompting questions on why the Wales international was allowed to depart for Crystal Palace in the thick of the dense fixture list during the festive period.

“Brennan has made himself a club legend in some ways,” said Frank. “Scoring the winning goals in Bilbao, winning the fantastic Europa League trophy. Done well with the top scorer last year I think in all competitions, doing well.

“Then Mo Kudus came in, playing in the right wing, which is also Brennan’s best position, not that he can’t play to the left. And then for the long term plans, there was an opportunity to sell Brennan now and give him an opportunity to try something else, so that was the right decision.”

Mathys Tel came in to the starting line-up against Sunderland and impressed, offering a goal threat from the wings and could be set to see more game time in Kudus’ absence.

“I think it’s pretty fair to say that we are maybe a little bit short on offensive options,” Frank said when asked if Tel is likely to remain at the club through January. “Hopefully. I think also it’s fair, there’s no one who’s really grabbed that shirt on the left-hand side. So I think that’s definitely up for grab. I think it was a positive performance from Mathys. I think he did some positive things and got into good situations.”

However, while Dominic Solanke has returned to first-team training, he is still not yet ready to be involved in matchday squads. Frank described the England international striker as looking “a little bit rusty”, and it will “take some time” before he can contribute on the pitch.

“Today you could see in training that he’s nice and composed on the ball,” said Frank. “Good decisions, good touches. A little bit more competitive(ness) in the small-sided (games), he looked a little rusty, which is completely normal. Now he’s unfortunately been out for what, at least six months. So of course, it will take a little bit of time.

There has been precious little to be positive about at Tottenham Hotspur this season.

In the same pre-season game Son Heung-min, a bona fide club legend, pulled on the club’s shirt for the final time, James Maddison, arguably his successor as the face of the club, sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury that will keep him out for most, if not all, of the campaign. After that, there were bright sparks against Paris Saint-Germain and in the August wins over Burnley and Manchester City, but since then, the results, performances, and atmosphere around Spurs have largely been dire.

After the 0-0 draw away at Brentford, a performance so poor it would typically rank among the worst of the season had there not already been at least three worse already, boos were directed towards Thomas Frank. The expression of frustration was not so much about the result as about the protracted lack of ambition and invention by a side seemingly content to play boring, marginal football decided by box scrambles and set pieces.

Against Sunderland on Sunday, for Frank to have any chance of easing the pressure on a fanbase that seems to be losing patience, they needed to be significantly better. And from the opening whistle until play resumed in the second half, they were.

Tottenham came out flying, with Mathys Tel, starting his first league game since the 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa in October, registering a shot on target within 20 seconds. Tel seemed symbolic of a rejuvenated side, joining in with a rampant forward press from the left wing that frequently disrupted Sunderland’s attempts to play short from the goalkeeper, creating chances from high turnovers.

In defence, Pedro Porro and Cristian Romero were dominant, stepping ahead of their markers and intercepting ground passes, before playing forward quickly and slicing through the Sunderland midfield. Tottenham’s midfield was improved, too, with Rodrigo Bentancur snappier in the tackle and more accomplished in possession than in recent games. Beside him, Archie Gray demonstrated his athletic and technical potential.

Most surprisingly, Ben Davies, given his first start of the season, opened the scoring from a set piece, and Tottenham fans went into the half-time break having seen their most dominant first 45 minutes in the league since the opening day win against Burnley. While Sunderland improved in the second half as Tottenham retreated, there were opportunities for the home side to extend the lead on the counter-attack.

In Frank’s view, their failure to make the most of their chances was their downfall.

“I think the big headline is we didn’t score the 2-0 goal,” Frank said in his post-match press conference. “We didn’t kill the game off: 2-0, then we are out of sight. We gave nothing away throughout the game.”

But against a Sunderland side significantly weakened by absences due to the Africa Cup of Nations, the game was there for Spurs to win, and they let it slip. Minutes before Brian Brobbey burst through the Spurs defence to find the equaliser, Sunderland fired a warning sign through midfielder Enzo Le Fee, who fired a header off the post. Spurs continued to invite pressure and were eventually, and predictably, punished.

“We have one bit where they do a top bit of play, and then it’s 1-1,” Frank said. “So for me, it was the 2-0 goal we lacked at. I think the first half was very good. I think we were totally dominant. Second half, not as dominant, but we still get into some very good situations, have some good counter-attack situations where we need to get more out of it. You can’t rely on, in the Premier League, just to win 1-0.”

After a first half that promised so much, the Sunderland game ended in a similar fashion to Brentford: with an underwhelming point and boos directed towards a coach who has lost the faith of many match-going fans. And unless Spurs invest in top talent in the January window, there’s little to suggest a convincing half of football every few matches can translate into something more consistent.

It’s symptomatic of the stark contradiction at the heart of the club. Tottenham play in the best football stadium in the country (maybe the best in the world) but the product on offer is mediocre. The expectation when fans pay for one of the league’s most expensive season tickets in one of the world’s most expensive cities is a premium offering, with brilliant attacking players thrilling the senses.

Dejan Kulusevski, Maddison and Dominic Solanke are three fine players but none have been available. Frank currently has three players who might expect to play regularly for the rest of the big six: two centre-backs and one right-back. Carrying the expectations of a ‘Big Six’ club with a mid-table squad is why many believe Frank’s job is among the most challenging in English football. This does not make the standard of performance any more acceptable, but it’s the sobering reality.

It begs the question of how under par this Spurs season truly is. Should a team missing three of their most established players be in the mix for the top six? Is the team available to Frank any better than most of the clubs around them, particularly when adjusted for the additional demands of the Champions League?

These are surely the considerations of the Lewis family and the club boardroom as they continue to back a coach who hasn’t yet demonstrated he’s the man for the job.

As he looked to the bench for somebody to score the crucial second or put their foot on the ball in midfield and ease the pressure, there was little to choose from. Ironically, Brennan Johnson, who started his first game for Crystal Palace at the same time, may have been that choice — though he likely will have come on earlier for the injured Mohammed Kudus. For the lack of options, or Frank’s failure to make do with what he had, Spurs crumbled.

The question is: how much of that, and a season which is falling into irrelevancy, is his fault?

Tottenham Hotspur have had an £8million ($10.7m) bid rejected for Santos left-back Souza.

Santos are hesitant to accept a bid for the 19-year-old whom they have high hopes for and believe his value may increase in the future.

In the Brazilian’s Santos contract, there is a release clause worth €60m (£52.2m; $70.3m) for Brazilian teams and a release clause worth €100m (£87.1m; $117.2m) for overseas clubs.

Souza came through Santos’ youth ranks and made his top-flight debut in May of last year. He made 24 Brazilian Serie A appearances last season and, alongside captain and team-mate Neymar, helped stave off relegation to the Brazilian second division.

Souza has also made 12 appearances for Brazil’s under-17 side and made five appearances during the Under-17 World Cup in November 2023, helping the team reach the quarter-finals.

Tottenham are looking to strengthen their full-back ranks. They are without starting left-back Destiny Udogie, who has been sidelined since December with a hamstring injury.

Ben Davies scored his first Tottenham Hotspur goal in more than two years to mark his first start of the season, but Thomas Frank’s side were frustrated by a late Sunderland equaliser.

Spurs had endured a disappointing goalless draw away to Brentford on Thursday but seemed set for a morale-boosting victory following the Welshman’s close-range finish after 30 minutes.

But a superbly-worked Brian Brobbey strike with 10 minutes of the 90 to play earned Sunderland a point and cost Frank a much-needed win, given the pressure that has been mounting on him recently. A first-half injury that forced Mohammed Kudus off after 19 minutes will be of concern for the home side, who will now wait to see the extent of his muscle problem.

For the second game in a row, Spurs fans booed at the full-time whistle.

Elias Burke analyses the main talking points from the 1-1 draw at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

How well did Davies do?

Since Destiny Udogie picked up a hamstring injury in the 2-2 draw with Newcastle United in early December, the load has increased significantly on fellow Tottenham full-backs Pedro Porro and Djed Spence, both of whom have barely missed a minute over the past month. After all, who would come in to replace them?

Well, in his first start and just third appearance of the season, Davies proved there was a capable alternative all along. The 32-year-old, who has played more in central defence for Spurs than his more familiar position of left-back in recent seasons, stepped in on the left side of defence for Spence, who was rested for the first time since that December 2 trip to St James’ Park.

From his first touch, Davies looked comfortable and assured in the position, providing balance as a natural left-footer. His tendency not to push too far forward also put the impetus on Porro to attack down the right, something he did well.

Then, in a moment which surprised everyone at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Davies popped up in the box to turn home Micky van de Ven’s shot from a corner, scoring his first goal since a late consolation in a 4-2 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion on December 28, 2023. “Davies again! Olé, olé!” rang around the stadium, a nod to the song they sang about his recently-sold countryman Brennan Johnson.

He was not far away from adding a very unlikely second early in the second half, heading into Robin Roefs’ hands from a corner. Minutes later, he was on hand to spare Cristian Romero’s blushes after a miscued pass back to Guglielmo Vicario, sliding in front of Brobbey and deflecting his shot from inside the box into the side netting.

He could do nothing to prevent the same player’s powerful late strike, and was substituted after 88 minutes to a standing ovation.

How damaging might Kudus’ injury be?

Without a like-for-like replacement on the bench, striker Randal Kolo Muani came on for Kudus, with Wilson Odobert continuing in the central No 10 position.

Kolo Muani was involved immediately, contributing to a fast transition attack — a positive trend through the first period from a Spurs perspective — but ultimately failing to find Odobert, who had drifted into space in the box, with a delicate through pass.

Given the number of matches over the festive period, and that Kudus has started all of them, the chances of him picking up an injury increased — putting the decision to sell Johnson at the height of such a fixture list in question.

Without knowing the timeline of what appears to be a muscular injury — and their long-term need for starting-quality wingers — the pressure is now on the Spurs hierarchy to find an alternative in the winter transfer window.

Was this an improved performance from Spurs?

Above all, the questions around Frank’s coaching centre on a perceived lack of attacking direction.

For Tottenham fans, who associate with ‘To Dare Is To Do’ perhaps more closely than any other Premier League club does with their own mottos, Frank’s proud pragmatism can be jarring. The boos directed towards the head coach after that 0-0 at Brentford three days earlier were less about the final result, more about the lack of ambition Spurs showed in getting it.

Against Sunderland, however, Frank’s side found an intensity and urgency in the first half that the fans have been wanting. Pressing was at the heart of the positive change, with attackers and midfielders hassling the opposition into awkward decisions, leading to high turnovers. That edge carried over to the defenders, with Porro and Romero stepping ahead of their men to cut out long passes along the ground.

While there were opportunities to widen the margin of victory on the counter-attack in the second half, Tottenham frustratingly reverted to form, dropping deeper into their own half and inviting pressure. Shortly after midfielder Enzo Le Fee hit the post with a header, he played a one-two with striker Brobbey, who smashed a shot into the top corner, drawing Sunderland level.

Overall, this performance was undoubtedly a step in the right direction, but with points on the board a priority, that late equaliser begs questions as to why Spurs could not have continued in the same vein in both halves.

What next for Spurs?

Souleymane Coulibaly was a last-minute addition to Ivory Coast’s squad for the Under-17 World Cup in 2011. It was an unexpected opportunity which he did not waste.

Coulibaly scored nine goals in four games at that tournament, held in Mexico, and earned a life-changing move to Tottenham Hotspur from Italian side Siena. He played for the reserves alongside Harry Kane and trained with Gareth Bale and Rafael van der Vaart, under then manager Harry Redknapp.

It should have been the start of a glittering career, but Coulibaly never made a senior appearance for Spurs.

Now, after playing in six different countries, including Egypt, where he dramatically fell out with employers Al Ahly, the striker represents Pickering Town in English football’s ninth tier, where he is the league’s joint-top scorer this season with 20 goals.

“I’m trying to finish my career peacefully,” Coulibaly, who turned 31 on December 26, tells The Athletic. “I got a lot of offers from Italy and Iran, but I don’t want to go. I’ve been abroad for seven years. I bought a house in Hull, and I want to stay close to my children. I don’t need to prove to anybody who I am.”

Coulibaly grew up in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast, but moved to Italy in 2009 at age 15 to live with his father.

Coulibaly left his West African homeland due to the political unrest caused by the civil war between President Laurent Gbagbo’s government and rebel forces led by the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI). Fighting broke out in September 2002, and a peace agreement was not reached until May 2007. Tensions remained high, and the conflict was briefly reignited by a presidential election in October 2010.

The young Coulibaly played for an amateur side in the Tuscany region before he joined Siena’s academy — a year before future Spurs head coach Antonio Conte took charge of the club’s first team. Ivory Coast Under-17s head coach Alain Gouamene invited him to a trial in France a few weeks before the 2011 World Cup for that age group. He impressed, and Gouamene stuck him straight into the starting XI.

“Everybody wants to play for their country,” Coulibaly says. “I was happy. My team-mates were amazing, but it wasn’t easy coming in and taking the place of their No 9.”

Coulibaly started and scored in Ivory Coast’s opening game, a 2-1 loss to Australia.

Their next fixture was against Denmark, who had qualified for the tournament for the first time under now Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank. Coulibaly scored a first-half hat-trick and added a fourth in the 69th minute. Frank could not remember Coulibaly’s name when he was asked about the forward in a Spurs press conference this month, but recalled “someone physically strong” scoring all Ivory Coast’s goals in a 4-2 defeat that ended the Danes’ chances of reaching the knockout stage.

Coulibaly then scored another hat-trick, including an overhead kick, in a 3-3 draw with Brazil in the final group match. Paris Saint-Germain’s future captain Marquinhos was an unused substitute for Brazil that day. Ivory Coast were eliminated by France in the round of 16, but Coulibaly was again on the scoresheet against a side which included future senior internationals Sebastien Haller and Aymeric Laporte.

In a strange twist of fate, while Coulibaly has never played for Ivory Coast at senior level, Haller scored their winner in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final, having switched allegiances in 2020.

“When you come from Ivory Coast, you’re not scared about playing anybody,” Coulibaly says. “You’re small, but you play with big players and adults. In my mind, this was my first and last chance to show what I could do. Anytime I scored, I wanted to score more. My team-mates wanted to celebrate and dance but I said, ‘Let’s go and play.’

“That was my hunger because I came from a poor family. Everybody was rooting for (me). And the country wasn’t in a good place. Everything I did was for my family and Ivory Coast, to make peace.”

When Coulibaly first moved to Italy, he noticed one of his team-mates throwing their football boots in the bin. Coulibaly retrieved them. He had grown up playing barefoot on the sandy pitches scattered around Abidjan.

Everything changed after he won the Golden Boot award at that Under-17 World Cup.

“I told my agent I just wanted to play football,” Coulibaly says. “He took me to Real Madrid because (their manager at the time) Jose Mourinho wanted me and they showed me their stadium. I returned to Italy, and Tottenham visited me. They showed me their plan (for my development) and the new training ground, which wasn’t finished yet.

“I moved in July 2011, and played for the youth teams. My managers were Tim Sherwood and Les Ferdinand. Chris Ramsey helped me a lot, too. We had a lot of good players in the reserves: Kane, John Bostock, Andros Townsend, Alex Pritchard, Tom Carroll. Kane worked very hard. Nobody can deny that. He’s a good lad.”

Coulibaly started learning English and player liaison officer Roberto Balbontin, who still works at Spurs, helped him settle in.

He scored against Inter and PSV in the group stage of the Next Gen tournament, a cup competition for under-19s which was scrapped after two seasons, in 2011-12. He also got a stoppage-time winner against Stevenage in the third round of the FA Youth Cup and regularly trained with the Tottenham first team.

“Emmanuel Adebayor, Gareth Bale, Peter Crouch, Van der Vaart, Luka Modric — I learned from everybody,” Coulibaly says. “Sometimes I would speak to Younes Kaboul and Adebayor, because they knew French. Jermain Defoe helped me a lot. We would do finishing (drills) together.”

After 18 months, Coulibaly pushed for a loan move so he could experience senior football. He spent the second half of the 2012-13 campaign with Grosseto in Serie B, then joined Bari, also in Italy’s second tier, on a permanent deal.

“Spurs did everything for me,” he says. “I visited Africa on holiday and I was sick. I nearly died. They took me back and looked after me. They gave me another contract. The only thing I regret in my life is to not have given back to them for the first team.”

Coulibaly didn’t play a first-team match for Bari either, as he spent the 2014-15 season on loan with third-division Pistoiese before returning to England with Peterborough United, another third-tier side. A further loan followed, this time to Newport County in fourth-tier League Two, and then he joined Kilmarnock in the Scottish top flight. Coulibaly enjoyed the best period of his career in Scotland. He scored eight times in 21 league appearances for Kilmarnock, including a stunning long-range strike in a 6-1 defeat to Celtic.

“When we played against Celtic, you could never reach their box,” he says. “We had to defend in a low block. So when I got a chance, I put all my power into (the shot). As I shot, one of my team-mates said, ‘What the f**k?’, and when I scored he said, ‘Well done’.”

Coulibaly loved his time with Kilmarnock, based a short drive south of Glasgow, but was tempted by an offer to head back overseas.

He joined Al Ahly, the Cairo club who have won the Egyptian league title and African Champions League more than any other side, in January 2017 for £800,000. Coulibaly scored six goals in nine league games before his move turned sour.

He says he struggled to find a school for his children due to visa issues and describes it as a stressful time for him while his wife was pregnant. He also alleges Al Ahly withheld his passport. Coulibaly says of his exit from the club: “We played a game (abroad). When we came back, I had my passport and I just flew (to England). They told me to return, but I said, ‘I cannot be in a situation where you own my passport.’ It was good money, but it was tough.”

The Egyptian club has always strongly denied Coulibaly’s claims, telling The Athletic in a statement, “Al Ahly did not withhold the player’s passport at any time, which is how he was able to leave the country.”

Al Ahly sued for a breach of contract in June 2017. In April 2018, FIFA ruled Coulibaly was liable to pay his former club $1.4million, and that decision was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

On the matter, Al Ahly told The Athletic: “Coulibaly was undoubtedly a very good player during his time at Al Ahly, and we had high expectations. The club fully supported him. The true reasons behind his decision to leave remain unknown to us, and only the player can explain. Had Al Ahly violated any regulations, the (FIFA and CAS) decision would not have been issued in our favour.”

“I thought I was finished and wouldn’t play football anymore,” Coulibaly says about his frame of mind when leaving Egypt.

He joined second-division Partick Thistle back in Scotland in August 2018, but the Egyptian Football Association refused to grant an international transfer certificate (ITC). FIFA granted a temporary ITC in October after a request from the Scottish FA. Coulibaly only made four substitute appearances for Partick.

A move to Tunisian side ES Sahel in May 2019 reignited his career.

Coulibaly scored 21 times in 52 appearances, form that took him to the brink of a senior debut for Ivory Coast — exactly a decade after his heroics at that Under-17 World Cup in Mexico. He was an unused substitute for an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ethiopia in March 2021 and trained with Nicolas Pepe, Eric Bailly and Wilfried Zaha, who were all playing in the Premier League for Arsenal, Manchester United and Crystal Palace respectively at that time.

However, while he was performing well for ES Sahel, with his case involving Ah Alhy still being resolved, Coulibaly says off-field issues led to him moving on again. A 32-page document CAS released in 2023 provides the full picture of a complex situation.

According to the CAS document, in October 2019, ES Sahel agreed to pay Al Ahly the $1.4million on Coulibaly’s behalf across four payments, with the total amount due by July 2021. In January and March 2020, Al Ahly filed two separate claims with world football’s governing body FIFA, claiming ES Sahel had missed deadlines for instalments.

In July 2020, FIFA ordered ES Sahel to pay Al Ahly $1.4million plus interest and banned them from registering new players, with Coulibaly suspended until the payment was settled or for a maximum of six months. ES Sahel and Coulibaly appealed the punishment but it was upheld by CAS. In January 2022, ES Sahel agreed to pay Al Ahly $1.9m.

But still the drama was not over. The following month, Coulibaly said to ES Sahel that they had failed to pay him for three months.

Coulibaly terminated his contract and filed a claim with FIFA against ES Sahel for a breach of contract. The affair ended with FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber (DRC) ruling in the player’s favour, but being suspended and spending so much time fighting in the courts disrupted his career. The Athletic has approached ES Sahel for comment on the case.

After leaving ES Sahel in summer 2022, he briefly played for Karmiotissa in Cyprus and Algeria’s ES Setif.

Coulibaly had come agonisingly close to achieving his dream of representing Ivory Coast. Instead, however, he will be watching them compete at AFCON 2025 from his sofa with his children — as long as none of their games clash with Pickering’s ones. The Yorkshire club are ninth in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division, 10 points behind Barton Town and Tadcaster Albion, who occupy the final play-off spots.

“My focus is to help the team get promoted, but the lower leagues in England are hard,” he says.

“A lot of clubs asked me to play for them, but I promised Pickering Town I would stay until the end of the season. I’m enjoying my football again.”