It is literally a record-low rating. Guglielmo Vicario (29, Tottenham Hotspur) accepted the worst score of 2 points.
Tottenham Hotspur lost 2-4 in the away match against Wolverhampton in the 32nd round of the 2024-2025 Premier League (PL) held at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, on the 13th (Korean time).
As a result, Tottenham remains at 15th place in the league with 37 points (11 wins, 4 draws, and 17 losses). Now, the gap with 17th place West Ham United (35 points) is only 2 points. Wolverhampton, who has won 4 consecutive league matches, has 35 points (10 wins, 5 draws, and 17 losses), surpassing West Ham on goal difference and rising to 16th place. There is plenty of potential to pull Tottenham down in the next round.
Tottenham started with a 4-3-3 formation. Mathys Tel, Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson; James Maddison, Pape Matar Sarr, Yves Bissouma; Jed Spence, Ben Davies, Cristian Romero, Archie Gray; Guglielmo Vicario were the starting lineup. Son Heung-min was excluded from the roster due to a minor foot injury.
Wolverhampton adopted a 3-4-3 formation. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde, Jørgen Strand Larsen, and Marshall Munetsi; Ryan Aït-Nouri, André, João Gomes, and Nelson Semedo; Toti Gomes, Emmanuel Agbadou, and Matt Doherty were the starting lineup. Hwang Hee-chan was on the bench.
Tottenham wobbled from the start. In the 2nd minute of the first half, Aït-Nouri scored the first goal from a free-kick scramble. Additionally, in the 38th minute of the first half, Vicario failed to clear a header from Munetsi, which hit Spence and resulted in an own goal.
Tottenham narrowed the gap with a goal from Tel in the 14th minute of the second half. However, just 5 minutes later, they conceded again to Larsen, falling behind by 2 goals once more. A critical mistake from Romero in the back was fatal.
Both teams exchanged goals. Tottenham's Richarlison pushed in a loose ball with his head in the 40th minute of the second half, keeping the pressure on until the end but was once again hindered by a mistake. Bervibal attempted an unnecessary dribble in midfield, lost the ball, and just a minute later conceded the fourth goal to Matheus Cunha.
The match ultimately ended in a 2-4 defeat for Tottenham. Having achieved only 1 win in their last 6 league matches, Tottenham continues its serious slump. Ahead of the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League (UEL) against Eintracht Frankfurt this week, they failed to build any momentum.
Above all, the numerous mistakes leading to self-destruction were painful. In particular, goalkeeper Vicario had a horror show. He triggered a major crisis with an absurd pass miss inside the penalty box in the 6th minute of the first half and caused Spence's own goal with a poor punching decision. He struggled to stop the opponent's shots, conceding more goals than saves (2).
Football London gave Vicario an unusual rating of 2 points. The media noted that Tottenham allowed 4 'calamitous' goals, criticizing, "The start of the match was terrible. Vicario's weak punch played an important role in Wolves' first goal, and he nearly conceded another goal by misjudging a pass. Before halftime, he barely cleared a cross which hit Spence and went into the goal."
Tottenham fans shared the same sentiment. 'Tottenham News' said, "He looked visibly uncomfortable throughout the afternoon. He should have done better in the first goal incident before conceding a terrible second goal," and gave Vicario a rating of 2 points.
'Spurs Web' also stated, "It was not much different in the second half. Vicario appeared less confident when handling the ball at his feet or managing set pieces," ultimately giving Vicario a rating of 2 points.
After the game, manager Ange Postecoglou pointed out individual mistakes by the players. He lamented, "It was a funny old game. The performance wasn't bad, but we struggled after conceding goals. I thought we managed the game well but allowed truly terrible goals."
Additionally, Postecoglou mentioned, "I thought we did quite well but conceded several goals. We lost today due to individual mistakes. It's disappointing. This is something I've never seen before. It just happened all of a sudden today."
Nevertheless, he embraced Vicario. Postecoglou said, "Mistakes are part of football. I'm not going to blame anyone. The person who should take responsibility is just me. My trust in Vicario is 100%. Of course, we made several individual mistakes, which is rare for our team. However, they all came out in one game, and in the end, we paid the price for that."
Tottenham is risking everything for the match against Frankfurt. Postecoglou stated, "I believe the players aren’t mentally crumbling. The match against Frankfurt is very important for us. We played well in the first leg and should have essentially won. If we play like we did that day, we can definitely have an impact on the opponent," vowing for victory in the second leg.
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