It was the chant that had simmered for weeks and there was an inevitability when it was belted out by the Tottenham support at the very last. “Sacked in the morning,” they yelled at Thomas Frank, the frustration unbearable. They have seen enough. In their opinion, the manager has to go.
Whether the club’s board agree is unclear. They know the problems Frank has faced and continues to face during a season of turmoil and transition. The acid test of nerve is upon them.
It was the West Ham substitute, Callum Wilson, who took a match to the tinderbox of emotions in the second minute of stoppage-time. The striker, who has been touted for a move away, had just been kept out by a last-ditch Pedro Porro block. But when Oliver Scarles dropped over the corner and the Spurs goalkeeper, Guglielmo Vicario, lacked the strength to make his presence felt, it was the prompt for an unholy mess. A metaphor for the Frank era? When the ball deflected and sat up for Wilson, he shot home from point-blank range.
What a result this was for Nuno Espírito Santo and his relegation-threatened West Ham. Their first Premier League win in 11 matches represented hope and it was deserved, certainly on the back of an excellent first-half performance, the high point being Crysencio Summerville’s goal. It was the best period of football under Nuno.
It had been billed as El Dissatisfactico and all of the angst and misery belonged to Spurs. When Porro whipped in the cross from which Cristian Romero equalised midway through the second half, what happened next was instructive. Porro turned to the Spurs fans in the West Stand and cupped his ear in their direction. Then he celebrated with a guttural roar.
It was an internal battle throughout for the home crowd. They yo-yoed between wanting to show their support and venting their spleen. In the end, the latter held sway, the boos ringing out in venomous fashion. Frank has overseen two league wins at home. His team have three victories in 15 in the competition. The shortcomings are most pronounced in the final third. The supporters have grumbled for some time, many already reaching the unwanted verdict on Frank. Is there a way back when they turn like this?
It was hard to know where the West Ham belief had come from after the shattering home loss to Nottingham Forest, which followed the embarrassing defeat at Wolves. Nuno put it down to the FA Cup win over QPR last Sunday and there was joy and disbelief in the visiting enclosure when Summerville put them ahead.
He was in the mood at the outset, eager to run at the Spurs defence, to ask questions and he profited after cutting in from the left after a well-worked counter. It was ignited by Jarrod Bowen, who shrugged off a Ben Davies challenge in which the Spurs left-back seriously injured himself. Davies was given oxygen and taken off on a stretcher. When Summerville bought himself a yard of space and unloaded, the shot flicked off Micky Van de Ven to wrongfoot Vicario.
Mathys Tel had shot high for Spurs early on when well-placed – a big miss – and it came to feel like a story about the home crowd, tracking their struggles, their inability to keep the howls at bay as their players laboured.
They were hugely edgy when Vicario tried to begin moves with low passes from the back; they wanted greater urgency. The first boos were heard when Taty Castellanos blew a free header at the far post after a corner in the 26th minute. There were more when Xavi Simons misplaced a pass for Djed Spence, who had come on for Davies. And there was a loud and angry blast of them at the half-time whistle.
West Ham ought to have been further in front by then. They created a fistful of good openings. Castellanos could not control in a good position; Bowen had a shot blocked by Van de Ven; Bowen had the ball in the net only to be pulled back for offside and Vicario had to stretch to repel a Kostantinos Mavropanos header.
Spurs’ only response in the first half was a Wilson Odobert header on 25 minutes that Alphonse Areola blocked brilliantly. The goalkeeper would deny Spence on the rebound.
Frank introduced Yves Bissouma for the second half – it was the midfielder’s first game of the season – and the Spurs support really did have to stay with the team. The red rags endured, the biggest one being Vicario in possession, playing out with little conviction. There were more boos for him and his efforts on the hour, the situation not helped when his teammates repeatedly went back to him.
The tackles flew in, including some bad ones. Bowen on Simons. Van de Ven on Bowen in retaliation. There was also a death-or-glory slide challenge from Van de Ven on Summerville as the winger ran through. He came up with glory.
Bissouma worked Areola and there was yet more anger in the South Stand when Frank introduced Dominic Solanke at the expense of Tel. The fans wanted him to stay on. It was febrile. But it lurched the other way when Romero equalised, the thumping header a real captain’s contribution.
It looked as though Spurs might pinch the win. West Ham got away with one when Scarles touched the ball inside the area with his fingertips before the Spurs debutant Conor Gallagher crossed. No penalty, said the VAR. Simons would also be denied by Areola. The finale added up to agony for Frank.
