When Thomas Frank was appointed, Tottenham would not have envisaged him fielding the same questions as Ange Postecoglou was a year ago.
Frank’s predecessor dismissed the notion that Spurs could be relegated as “ridiculous hysteria”– but instead of retreating this season, the idea has only gained legs.
Are Spurs too big to go down? Saturday’s draw with Burnley left them eight points above the relegation zone, a gap narrowed by defeat to 18th-placed West Ham the preceding weekend.
Frank’s call for “calm heads” is certainly in his interests. The obvious reaction would be to sack him. Instead the board have held their nerve during a run of one win in eight league games.
Over the next six weeks Crystal Palace, engulfed in a doom loop of their own, are the only bottom-half club they face.
Upcoming fixtures (Premier League)
Is it possible Spurs take zero points from that run? That is possibly a glass-half-empty reading.
They have beaten City in eight of their last 15 meetings, Newcastle have won twice on the road all season and Manchester United have spent another season in crisis despite the recent upturn under Michael Carrick.
Why Spurs are in freefall
A more optimistic reading is that due to the chaotic nature of this season’s table, Spurs are also just nine points off the top four. All the same you will struggle to find many of their supporters, who spent the weekend making eyes at Mauricio Pochettino and singing “Frank out”, interpreting the situation that way.
That is not just pure pessimism. Since mid-November, Tottenham have dropped 11 points from winning positions. Palace, Burnley and Sunderland are the only teams below them in the form table over the last six weeks.
After their 10th game of the season on 1 November, they were in the Champions League places. Since then they have picked up 1.09 points per game; on the same trajectory until the end of the season, they would finish with 44 points.
Over the same period West Ham are picking up 1.2 points per game – continued, that would earn them 38 points. So, not enough to overtake their London rivals, but enough to give them a scare.
Depleted numbers
January has done little to help rectify the slide. Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, Mohammed Kudus, Ben Davies, Richarlison, and Joao Palhinha have joined long-term absentees James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski on the sidelines. Spurs have made two signings – midfielder Conor Gallagher and left-back Souza – while a move for Liverpool’s Andy Robertson has collapsed.
The pursuit of two-time Premier League winner Robertson was a bid to import leadership into the dressing room. It was expected across the board that this was always going to be a quiet window for most clubs, not least because so many are hamstrung by profitability and sustainability rules, but in north London it has meant squad numbers are being depleted and not growing.
None of this is good news for Frank, who has a number of unhappy players in his ranks – Mathys Tel and Randal Kolo Muani among them – and with fans in open mutiny over his style of football.
In Postecoglou’s final season, Spurs finished 17th and suffered 22 defeats – the most any side has managed without going down in Premier League history.
There is no such thing as any club being too big to go down, though people said it repeatedly of Aston Villa and Newcastle in their own relegation seasons. Nobody is seriously expecting that fate at Tottenham. And yet the fact they are engaging in “six-pointers” with Burnley and West Ham (and winning neither) suggests it is creeping closer than you might think.