Cristian Romero’s late acrobatics salvaged a dramatic point for Tottenham away to Newcastle on Tuesday, but there is little respite for under-pressure Frank as attentions turn back to his side’s drastically poor home form. And the visit of former club Brentford.
Tottenham have won just once at home in the league this season. While the results have been damning, the manner of the performances has been the biggest concern, with Frank’s side lacking fluency.
Tottenham have shown plenty of resolve on the road, but have looked disjointed at home, with Frank chopping and changing his team as he tries to settle on a starting line-up he can trust.
Familiarity was one of the key tenets of Frank’s success at Brentford — seven players started 30 or more Premier League games for the Bees last season — but with questions to answer in midfield and attack, the Dane admits he is no clearer on what his best team looks like at Tottenham.
“I’ve got an idea of quite a few positions. I also think there’s competition, so not that easy all the time to say, ‘OK, it’s just those 11’ because you need more than 11 players, but normally, you see most teams when they are finding their strongest team, it will be those nine players all the time, and maybe change two. Or maybe sometimes it’s 10.”
Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur have been two of Frank’s most trusted players in his first few months in charge, but there is a growing discussion about their place in the side.
Tottenham lack incisiveness and unpredictability in possession with Palhinha and Bentancur in the centre of the park, and there have been calls for Frank to put his faith in youth, with Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Pape Matar Sarr waiting to make their mark.
However, patience is running thin, and Frank needs to build in some consistency and familiarity if he is to start laying the foundations for the culture that served him so well at Brentford.
“As I said, I think there is a good foundation. It's not like it was ground zero. I think there is a very good foundation on the culture,” Frank continued.
“I think the players are very good people. They want the best. They care about each other. How can we build that better and better to have that? We say winning mentality.
“What is winning mentality? It's every game. It's every minute of every game. It's three times a week, where you need to be very competitive. That kind of culture. Dealing with setbacks. Dealing with where we want to build something. And then the consistency.
“That's the next bit we try to build in performances, of course. But it's also players that consistently can play with the physical load, the mental load, three days a week and performing. That's the next challenge.”