Weren’t we just here? Tottenham Hotspur is back in Bodø, Norway for an important European match fixture against Bodø/Glimt on Tuesday night at a tiny stadium with a plastic pitch inside the Arctic Circle. But while last time Tottenham Hotspur needed a result in the semifinals of the Europa League, this time the two clubs meet in the Group Stage of the Champions League.
A lot has changed for Spurs since their 2-0 win in Norway last May, but one thing that has not is Spurs dealing with a number of first
team injuries. Thomas Frank, speaking to the press in his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s match, even dropped a bit of a bombshell, announcing that veteran English striker Dominic Solanke, who has been rehabilitating a bad ankle since the start of the season, is out indefinitely after undergoing minor surgery on that same ankle.
“Dom we know got that ankle issue that’s been bothering him for a little while. He decided to have minor surgery. Small procedure. More news about time frame after the internatoinal break. [Randal] Kolo Muani I think is finally on top of his dead leg. Cuti [Romero, who missed training yesterday] was just a precaution.”
I can hear the groans coming from the comment section already, but the truth is that we still don’t have much to go on with regards to Solanke’s injury. “Minor surgery” can mean so many different things, but what is now clear is that whatever Dom was doing to rehabilitate himself and get back to first team football wasn’t working. It’s also clear from Frank’s response that we won’t see Dom until at least after the upcoming international break (October. 6-14), and possibly longer than that.
Likewise I’m not sure what “finally on top of his dead leg” means (apart from being anatomically hilarious) but I can assume he won’t play in Norway either. Mathys Tel is also not in the Champions League squad. That leaves Richarlison up top, unless Frank opts to do something funky like play Brennan Johnson or Xavi Simons as a false nine.
Frank also noted how he opted to have his team train for Bodø/Glimt back in London rather than flying early and training on the Norwegian pitch. Frank said that the reason he made that decision is that instilling his tactics for Bodø/Glimt (and keeping those tactics private) was more important than training on the plastic pitch.
“We have one training session. If we have training here and we want to do a little bit of tactical, with all due respect I think it would be a little bit more obvious what we would do. That’s the thing we like to keep for ourselves. Then, yes, you can say if we train here for how long we are allowed, 45 minutes, Is that going to make a difference? I know the surface is different. If you really want to get used to it, I think you need to train here day in, day out as Bodo do. We are ready for that challenge. But for me, mainly, mainly, mainly, it was the tactical reason.”
Bodø/Glimt aren’t significantly changed from last year’s squad — a few players in, a few players out — but they’re still led by their captain and talisman Patrick Berg. Bodø/Glimt drew their first Champions League match away to Slavia Prague, and it’s unlikely they’re going to sneak up on anyone this year like they did in their run to the Europa League semis last season. Frank, being a Scandinavian manager, has of course kept an eye on what Kjetil Knutson has done over the past few years and says he is not overlooking his opponents tomorrow, especially in Norway.
“Yeah, I’ve looked at that game [in May], of course. But I’ve also looked at a lot of other Bodø games. I think they’re a fantastic team. I think their club is fantastic. I think their story is unique in many ways. I’m pretty sure that the whole of Europe knows about Bodø, because I think it’s a little bit of a fairytale. I like, of course, that Scandinavian link between Denmark and Norway.
“So of course I follow them a little bit, maybe a tiny bit closer, and the background I’m coming from, to see how they have built that club through years of some core group of people, aligning strategy, structure, hard work over years.
“And then just build a smaller club suddenly to be the absolute force in Norway and now competing in the Europe over many seasons. That’s extremely impressive, I think. Kjetil Knutsen and his staff is remarkable, what they have done. Their style of play is quite unique in many ways. Extremely well-coached team. Big praise, I admire them a lot.”
Frank will need to keep one eye fixed on this weekend’s Premier League match at Leeds this coming Saturday, but expect a strong team to be named from the players he has available. Tottenham kick off against Bodø/Glimt Tuesday at 3:00 pm ET / 8 pm BST. The match will be televised on TNT Sports 2 in the UK, and streamed on Paramount+ and Amazon Prime Video.
