Spurs' night of woe: Romero's social media post, Frank's Arsenal cup error and fan unrest
From players arguing with fans to the boss drinking from an Arsenal-branded cup, and a cryptic social media post by the captain, this was a truly miserable defeat for Tottenham at Bournemouth.Spurs were dealt more woe on Thursday, after head coach Thomas Frank revealed key attacker Mohammed Kudus will be out injured until April.
Kudus' Ghana international team-mate, Antoine Semenyo, scored a stoppage-time winner for Bournemouth on Wednesday to give the Cherries a 3-2 victory that sparked toxic Spurs scenes at the Vitality Stadium, as the north London club's season hit new lows.
With Thomas Frank's sorry side sitting 14th in the Premier League table and having won just two of their last 12 league games, frustrations continued on social media in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Spurs’ sorry south-coast visit
Spurs suffer stoppage-time 3-2 loss at Bournemouth, who end 11-game winless run
Spurs are 14th in Premier League table and have won just twice in their last 12 league games
Before loss, under-pressure boss Thomas Frank is pictured drinking from an Arsenal-branded cup
At full-time, several players were involved in heated exchanges with away fans
After the defeat, Spurs captain Cristian Romero appears to take aim at club’s hierarchy in social media post
On Thursday, Frank revealed a huge injury blow with Mohammed Kudus out until after the March international break
Spurs captain Cristian Romero appeared to blast the club's hierarchy for "lies" in a now-edited post on Instagram.
It originally read: "At times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don't - as has been happening for several years now.
"They only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies."
However, the post, which has been supported by team-mates Richarlison and Pedro Porro, has since been edited to remove the words "to tell a few lies".Romero's full post now reads: "Apologies to all fans of you who follow us everywhere, who are always there and will continue to be."We are responsible, there's no doubt about that. I am the first. But we will keep facing up to it and trying to turn the situation around, for ourselves and for the club.
"At times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don't - as has been happening for several years now. They only show up when things are going well."We'll stay here, working, sticking together and giving our all to turn things around. Especially at times like this, keeping quiet, working harder and moving forward all together is part of football."All together, it will be easier."Frank: Romero made a mistakeAt a press conference on Thursday, Frank revealed he, Romero and co-sporting director Johan Lange had had a "good conversation about things" as he defended the Argentina international for his "mistake".Frank said ahead of Saturday's FA Cup third round home tie against Aston Villa: "I think after Cuti became club captain, he's done a lot of things right. I said it when I named him captain that he's an experienced player who has tried a lot."He's still a young leader. A lot of things he's done well on and off the pitch, I'm happy with. I was actually happy with his performance last night. He was a true captain in many ways throughout the game. Half-time, he was speaking up at 2-1 down, keep believing, keep the right things.
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Tottenham captain Cristian Romero signed a new long-term conract last summer
"When you're a young leader, sometimes you make a mistake. It's, of course, good to keep it internally. Johan [Lange] and I had a good conversation with him this morning about everything, and we keep it internally."We had a good conversation about things."Romero also posted cryptically on social media in June when he paid tribute to sacked boss Ange Postecoglou, pointing out "the many obstacles that always existed and always will exist".Romero's apparent renewed criticism of the Spurs hierarchy comes after Daniel Levy left his role as chairman in September, with greater control in the hands of the Lewis family trust, which runs ENIC, the majority owners of the club.Tottenham chief executive Vinai Venkatesham was only appointed in April, while co-sporting director Lange has been in place since 2023.Spurs players involved in fan disputes
Romero's post came after centre-back partner Micky van de Ven, Porro and midfielder Joao Palhinha were involved in post-match confrontations with the Spurs fans.Following a winless start to 2026, the away fans on the south coast showed their disgruntlement at full-time as Semenyo's 95th-minute winner ended Bournemouth's 11-game winless run.Van de Ven, Porro and Palhinha all had separate heated exchanges with the travelling support in a repeat of last season's scenes at the Vitality Stadium, where former boss Ange Postecoglou was met with abuse by the away end.Palhinha told Sky Sports: "It was just the supporters were sharing their frustrations. We, of course, understand, we respect them first of all."I just said we are fighting for all the same."We want to win, not just the players, the staff and the supporters. We are trying to get the wins that, in my opinion, we deserve in the last games."Frank drinks from Arsenal-branded cup
Under-fire Frank said it would have been "completely stupid" to knowingly drink from an Arsenal-branded cup before the loss at Bournemouth.The Dane's unfortunate gaffe sparked outrage among sections of Spurs' unhappy fanbase after pictures circulated on social media."I definitely didn't notice it," Frank said of the cup."I think it's fair to say we're not winning every single football match so it would be absolutely, completely stupid of me to take a cup with Arsenal's [emblem on]."They have been in the changing room the game before us. It's normal to 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."We're definitely going in the wrong direction if we need to be worry about me having a cup with a logo of another club. Of course I would never do that. That's extremely stupid."Since the start of last season, only Wolves (36) have suffered more Premier League defeats than Tottenham."I think it's fair to say everyone involved in Tottenham, it's a tough one to take today," said Frank."Hopefully everyone can see how hard we worked to get everything in the right direction."Overall the performance was good, especially 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 - that's natural."It's very tough to sit here right now and we haven't got anything out of overall a good performance."Sherwood would not be surprised if Frank is sackedFormer Spurs boss Tim Sherwood on Thomas Frank:"It's a tough time for the players at Tottenham. Certainly a tough time for Thomas Frank. The fans are feeling it too."The emotions are running high, you expect frustration from fans when they're not winning football matches. They're not being entertained either. I worry for Thomas Frank, I really do."I hope he doesn't lose his job but we've seen Chelsea pull the trigger, we've seen Man Utd do it, I hope Tottenham don't do it but I wouldn't hold my breath to say that he's not going to get sacked."
