Wednesday evening, Paris Saint-Germain faces Tottenham, as part of the fifth day of the Champions League. Fifth in the standings, the Parisian club will want to move forward after its defeat at the Parc des Princes against Bayern Munich the previous day (1-2). Opposite, Thomas Frank’s Spurs are tenth and will want to maintain their invincibility after two victories and as many draws. This meeting will also mark the reunion between the two teams who faced each other last summer in Italian Friuli in the European Super Cup. A match that Luis Enrique’s men won (2-2, 4 tab 3) even though they only had a week of training under their belt and were trailing 2-0. Today, this defeat would give food for thought to several English observers.
Tottenham are doing well in the Champions League and are in ninth place in the Premier League standings, three points behind the top 4. We are far from the disastrous last season under Ange Postecoglou, but Spurs are struggling to convince. Especially their coach, Thomas Frank. This Sunday, the 52-year-old Dane saw his team sink at the Emirates against Arsenal (1-4). Tottenham have lost some north London derbies in the past, but this morning Frank is under severe attack. The reason? The Scandinavian arrived in the lair of the London rival with an ultra defensive 5-4-1, with several offensive elements (Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo, Mathys Tel and Brennan Johnson) on the bench. At the end of the match, Frank had no choice but to apologize to the Spurs supporters.
Tottenham is not Brentford
“I had chosen a 5-4-1 team, I changed intelligently at the break, but in the first minute they scored. 3-0. The rest, you know it. Where to start? It is of course extremely disappointing that we did not play better against Arsenal, our biggest rival. I can only apologize to the supporters. When we spoke on Friday, I was very confident in our ability to be competitive today. We tried to come here, be aggressive, put the pressure on high and, at times, attack them. We didn’t succeed. We weren’t able to get close enough to them in situations where we could have.” A very cautious tactical choice from the London coach which does not go down well with Tottenham fans or the sports press. Moreover, even before analyzing the performance of Richarlison’s teammates, some did not fail to recall Frank’s provocative response at a press conference on Eberechi Eze. “Who is Eze?” ». A response which has since made Arsenal supporters laugh after the hat-trick scored by their summer recruit. But back to Frank’s 5-4-1.
In the English press, many media are reminding Thomas Frank that he no longer coaches Brentford. “Thomas Frank’s ‘small club’ approach has led Tottenham into an embarrassing situation. The result was painful, the performance unacceptable, but the biggest embarrassment for Tottenham Hotspur, who lost 4-1 to Arsenal on Sunday, was showing up at the Emirates Stadium as if it were Tamworth (an English D5 club, editor’s note). (…) Frank is an intelligent and talented coach, and the job at Tottenham is not easy (…), but he must prove that he is capable of adopting the mentality of a big club”wrote the Telegraph. Same story in the columns of the Daily Mail. “At least Thomas Frank now knows what it really means to be Tottenham manager. It is unacceptable to lose like this. (…) The problem is that the way he approached this match amounted to capitulation, and this feeling of inferiority will haunt him until he has the opportunity to make up for it – if he stays in office until then, of course. (…) It doesn’t matter if you are the coach of Brentford, where every point obtained against a big club is a mini-triumph, a blow to the leader. But it’s simply not enough when you’re in charge of Spurs, a club that aspires to European credibility.”.
“The midweek trip to Paris in the Champions League couldn’t have come at a worse time”
If TeamTalk ensures that the future of the Spurs coach is threatened, it should be remembered that Thomas Frank had already been slapped on the wrist for his overly fearful way of playing against another Premier League tenor. It was three weeks ago, when Spurs lost another London derby (1-0 at home to Chelsea). And this time, it was consultant and former Liverpool player Jamie Carragher who paid Frank. “The big problem for Thomas Frank and other managers who make the jump from a small Premier League team to one of the big teams in the Championship, especially when they are seen as pragmatic managers, is that they have to bring play to those teams. You might look at this result (against Chelsea) and think there’s not much to complain about, but when you look at the weekend’s game, it was like watching a second division team play a Premier League team in the FA Cup. Is Thomas Frank really afraid when his team faces a big arm?
Some will tell you that Spurs beat Manchester City (2-0) at the start of the season, while others will recall that the London club systematically underperformed in the other major meetings of its season (defeat against Arsenal, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Chelsea, draw against Bodo/Glimt, Monaco and Manchester United). On Wednesday, the Spurs will travel to Paris and challenge a European champion still deprived of several of his usual starters (DĂ©sirĂ© DouĂ©, Achraf Hakimi) and far from displaying Olympic (physical) form (Ousmane DembĂ©lĂ© is still announced to return), and the English press is expecting anything but a miracle. “The midweek trip to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League couldn’t have come at a worse time. But it’s the home game against Fulham next weekend that already looks important for Frank, at least in terms of maintaining the fans’ confidence. Tottenham will have to be offensive and win against their opponents. Nothing else will be tolerated”adds the Telegraph. Will Thomas Frank and his men make observers lie in two days?
