Thomas Frank has admitted he is not enjoying his job at Tottenham. The head coach is dealing with numerous problems as he navigates what always stood to be a transitional season, the most insistent being his team’s lack of creativity.
Spurs were booed off after Thursday’s 0-0 draw at Brentford by the travelling support, who also chanted “boring, boring Tottenham”. But Frank is confident he will come to look back on the first half of his debut campaign more fondly once – and not if – his squad emerges on the other side, stronger and wiser for the suffering. Tottenham are 12th in the Premier League – their next game is at home to Sunderland on Sunday and Frank leant into a marathon-running analogy when he was asked whether he was enjoying the challenge to which he has signed up.
“When you need to put in a big, big shift and it’s not smooth and it’s tough, it’s probably difficult to enjoy it,” he said. “If I run hard I don’t enjoy that moment but I know I need to keep my head down and run hard to get through it. We are in a situation where you need to run hard, to stay in it. When we look back on this spell or maybe this first year when it was tough, you’ll think: ‘What a learning, what an experience, it made us so much better for the future.’
“So the short answer is: no [he is not enjoying his job]. The reality is you can’t. But when I put myself out of it and look down, I think: ‘What a privilege to be in charge of this fantastic club in a period where it’s a big transition.’ It’s definitely a marathon and it definitely seems like it’s one of the more heavy miles I’m on now, but head down and keep going.”
Frank repeated himself about the issues at the club, with injuries prominent among them, especially to attacking players. He has been deprived of Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison all season and Dominic Solanke for all but the first three games. Solanke has now returned to training. “When I walked in the door I didn’t expect Solanke and Maddison to be out for seven months, or for Kulusevski not to be ready,” he said.
Frank’s comment about Kulusevski was interesting given it was reported on 21 August that the player would be out until around the turn of the year. In other words, he ought to be back about now, at least to training. Kulusevski is not yet in training. Xavi Simons will also miss the Sunderland game as he completes a three-match ban while Lucas Bergvall is an injury doubt.
Tottenham’s travails at home in the league have been well-documented. Ditto the strain placed on the squad by their involvement in the Champions League. Ditto the unprecedented number of changes at executive level, the most notable being the departure of Daniel Levy. There is expected to be another one with the co-sporting director, Fabio Paratici, heavily linked with a move to Fiorentina. It raised a few eyebrows when the winger, Manor Solomon, cut short his loan at Villarreal this week to switch to Fiorentina, also on loan.
Frank was asked who Paratici was working for. “Good question, maybe you know,” he said with a smile before re-joining the party line. “Fabio is Tottenham sporting director. I spoke to him twice yesterday. He is working very hard for Tottenham.”
Frank knows endlessly listing the club’s problems is tedious. “This is where we are right now,” he insisted. “It’s unfortunately very boring but that’s the fact.” What Frank made clear was that this was a time for Spurs to hold their nerve – in terms of the overall situation and, more specifically, the January transfer window where the pressure for additions has been increased by the £35m sale of Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace. Tottenham have also loaned defender Kota Takai, who joined them last summer for £5m from Kawasaki Frontale, to Borussia Mönchengladbach for the remainder of the season.
Frank’s message is that only players who will help the club towards the long-term goal of challenging for silverware will be considered. He is not interested in buying himself time and credit with signings who would only provide a short-term boost. “We will do everything we can to improve the squad,” he said. “But short-term impact can’t limit long-term success. The flip-side is that if we can do something that will really improve us, we should go very hard for that.
“We have lists of players in every position. Is No 6 [on the list] good enough for us to get to where we want to be in the future? Probably not. But it’s a fine balance.
“Sometimes you need to take some steps forward before we can get the perfect solution.”
