It’s no secret that Tottenham Hotspur are not in a good place right now. The team is struggling, the manager is under pressure, and the fan atmosphere is starting to turn toxic, especially after a disheartening loss away to a Nottingham Forest team that started last weekend in 17th place. That puts a lot of additional pressure on what is already a tough upcoming match tomorrow at home against defending Premier League champions Liverpool.
But Spurs head coach Thomas Frank still thinks he knows what
it takes to succeed at a club like Tottenham, and speaking to the press ahead of Saturday’s match he backed himself as the person who can help Spurs emerge into a successful club. He said that he has the backing of the Tottenham brass (as stated earlier in the week) and hinted what’s needed is time and patience.
“I feel supported. I’ve done that the whole time. And as I said, also after [Forest], that hadn’t changed my mind. This is not a quick fix. This will take time. That’s not to say that we’re not going to do everything we can to beat Liverpool. I believe we have a good chance of doing that. But this is something where we are building. And I’ve said it many times. We, of course, first and foremost, are the most critical of myself. So that’s one thing. But I think it’s fair to say that there are a lot of people in it that need to perform well together. With me in charge, of course, and taking the right decisions.
“I don’t know if there’s one main [problem]. But there’s no doubt that we can’t run away. We need to create a bit more. And that’s both principles and good training. And it’s been nice to have a good training week where we could actually focus a lot on that. So that definitely helps. But also, how can you say? I’ve said it a few times. I think we have a few good players out with a lot of goals and assists in them. And we have a very good, talented group of players that haven’t produced the same numbers yet. So that’s part of it as well.
“I’m very comfortable and confident. That I will, how can I say, fix it. But just to make sure it’s not me. When this club comes out on top, there will be a lot of good people working together, aligned at the same time through the years. I just know one thing I’m pretty good at. I’m good at analyzing things. I know what good looks like and I know where we should get. And one thing is I’m 1000% sure we haven’t seen any club be successful unless they had key people in the right decisions for a long time. And I’ll back myself to be one of those key people to be in that position. So for whatever reason that I was not here, when you said whatever, the number of head coaches were sacked. I don’t know the reason why. I just know that if you want to have success, you need to have the right people aligned and go forward together. And there will be good times and there will be bad times. And that’s part of it.”
Managers are creatures of unnatural confidence and self-belief (as are most professional athletes), so it’d be more surprising to see Frank expressing doubts about Tottenham’s future than the opposite. And he’s not wrong, exactly, to say that there are rarely quick fixes when a new manager comes in and tries to build something new. But that doesn’t change the fact that the fans are already losing patience and are not, if you’ll pardon the phrase, trusting the process. The wins have been great, but the losses have largely overshadowed whatever accomplishments Spurs have achieved so far this season, and it’s been difficult to really see the direction Frank wants to take the team.
That’s led to a lot of fan discontent, and even some outright hostility that has manifested in vociferous booing at home matches and a ton of griping online. Frank’s a smart guy and there’s no way he can fully insulate himself from this kind of criticism, but he also knows that the loudest of the critics frequently don’t represent the majority of the fanbase.
“I think there will always be, no matter where you are, I think definitely 10% of the fans will always question the head coach, no matter where they are. And then there will be a big group that are the loyal ones or the ones that can see a little bit bigger perspective.
“But I would say to the Spurs fans, I would say that first and foremost, it’s a privilege to be part of this fantastic club. And I think it’s a fantastic club with a fantastic potential that we haven’t fulfilled yet. So it’s a club with a top potential that we need to fulfil. And to fulfil that, there’s a lot of stages we need to go through. And one thing for sure, I’m working 24-7. I’ve never been thinking so much about football in my entire life. And I think a lot about football to make sure we get everything right.”
Frank might get into a little trouble by using the words “loyal fans” in contrast to the ones giving him the most stick right now, and that’s probably deserved for what will be construed as a poor choice of words. But I’m not sure he’s wrong here. He might be underestimating the dissatisfaction of the fanbase over the overall direction of the club right now, however sometimes when the team is in a bad patch the best thing to do is to ignore the fans and just put in the work to fix it. And it is becoming clear that this could be a longer term project than anyone wanted to admit. That doesn’t let Frank off the hook for some truly mind-boggling tactical decisions and some very poor matches this season, but it might be an argument for giving him some additional latitude. Or not! Feel what you want, I’m not your mom.
One of the big talking points from last weekend’s match was the mistake between Guglielmo Vicario and Archie Gray that led to the opening goal. I was of the opinion that the majority of the error goes to Vicario for playing the outlet pass to begin with. Frank felt otherwise, and clarified when asked that Gray has responded very well after the incident and will learn from the experience.
“I think [the goals are] two completely different situations. I think one is a missed clearance. So that happens. And the other one is a situation where I think it’s, you know, for me, that’s more on Archie. I’ve spoken to him. He knows next time it’s a one-touch bounce. And there’s no situation there. And it’s a situation that we have seen a thousand times in this league and across Europe. And we see a thousand times after this game where you play that bounce and you get out. So it’s like the same thing. My big philosophy is that you can’t play long and direct all the time or can’t play short all the time. You need to find a good balance. So it’s all about that.
“[Archie’s] been good. Also, when I watched the game back, I think actually he was the one that wanted the ball instant after the mistake. So I like that mentality, wanting to get on the ball. It’s part of it. Everyone who played football at this level or any level made a mistake. You make a mistake in life, you need to go back on it and go again. The beautiful thing about football, especially at this level, and in Tottenham, if you make a mistake, you can be pretty sure there will be a few questions about it. But you, of course, need to be able to manage it and he will do that.”
Frank also confirmed that there are no new players that are available for Liverpool tomorrow, which means the club will still be without the services of players like Dominic Solanke, Destiny Udogie, Radu Dragusin, or Kota Takai. Spurs will also be without Pape Matar Sarr, who has now reported to the African Cup of Nations with Senegal. Spurs kick off against Liverpool on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. GMT. The match is televised on NBC and Sky Sports and streamed on Peacock.
