A return to Norway means that Tottenham are back tackling questions about the conditions for their contest against Bodø/Glimt. For Thomas Frank, it is a topic with too much attention, conducting one aspect of his prep for this fixture in England purely for a "tactical reason" before the trip to Scandinavia.
‘I'm pretty sure they get that question’
Taking team training in North London, Frank clarified why the group had not gone away to Norway.
“We have one training session. If we have training and want to do a little bit of tactical work, I think it would be a bit obvious what we would do. That's a thing we like to keep for ourselves. Then, yes, you can say if we train for how long we are allowed, 45 minutes, is that going to make a difference?”
He knows that the differences in playing on artificial turf could only fully be overcome with time.
“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, it was a tactical reason.”
Based on his experiences, the Dane does not imagine that the pitch will play a big factor on Tuesday.
“Not really a tactical approach. Of course we are aware, it's the same in Denmark, when I was coach for Brøndby, we were facing Nordsjaelland at that time and it was also a different surface.”
It is a bit of a leveller, but Bodo would not have improved to this point without the work of Kjetil Knutsen and the quality of their players. It is where the Tottenham coach is concentrating the most.
“It's the same today. It's fine. They're good here, they're very good at home. For me, I think there's a lot of talk about the pitch. I rather want to praise the team, the Bodo team, and their coach for what they do, because they do it quite consistently, home and away, the way they play. I'm pretty sure they get the answer or the question sometimes, can they play on grass when they go away from home?”
In the same way that Spurs have to play on artificial turf, Bodo have had to prove that they can do it on natural grass on away days. So, for Frank, it is a question that can concern people far too much.