Although Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank had won himself a bit of good will with the fans after beating former club Brentford 2-0 and then Slavia Praha on Tuesday night in the Champions League to pick up back to back professional clean sheets, it did not take long for him to sink Spurs back to losing ways on Sunday afternoon in the Premier League.
Spurs produced what was probably their second worst performance of the season - behind only a three goal blowout loss to North London Derby rivals Arsenal - in a 3-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest. You know, the club that just fired Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Postecoglou, turning to Sean Dyche instead.
Frank got it all wrong, even before the game kicked off. Yet again, the Spurs coach left one of his biggest gems and best overall players to rot on the bench, sticking Lucas Bergvall with the substitutes and instead starting the woeful Rodrigo Bentancur, who has turned in poor performance after poor performance this season.
Lucas Bergvall snubbed once more
Bentancur, as expected, did absolutely nothing at the base of the Spurs midfield. Tottenham were completely overrun by an inferior Nottingham Forest side, with young gem midfielder Elliot Anderson strongly auditioning to Spurs fans by running circles around the melting down Bentancur.
Meanwhile, Bergvall came off the bench in the 58th minute when he should have started. By then, the game was well and truly out of reach for Spurs, as Bergvall had no chance at changing the game, with Bentancur making the merciful exit at that time.
Throughout the 2025/26 season, Frank has consistently discarded Bergvall from his top midfield options despite the fact that Bergvall was the best midfielder on Spurs by the end of the 2024/25 season when the club were making their serious Europa League push. And he was only cut short by an injury at the end of the campaign when he was peaking, even scoring important goals.
Everyone thought Bergvall would be given the opportunity to take a big step forward in the 2025/26 season, but, instead, Frank has effectively sabotaged him. After the Arsenal loss, Spurs seemed to be giving Bergvall more opportunities, but, even then, Frank continued to frustrate Spurs supporters by incorrectly evaluating the young Swede as a 10 rather than an 8. And now, Frank is not even starting Bergvall at all again, and that is absolutely maddening for Tottenham fans as they watch their team continue to deliver stinkers against lousy opponents.