All the latest news from Tottenham Hotspur as Thomas Frank's side prepare to face Monaco in the Champions League
Tottenham Hotspur will face Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday evening with Thomas Frank looking to get his side back to winning ways. Spurs missed out on the chance to go second in the Premier League on Sunday as they fell 2-1 to Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The setback was their second loss in the Premier League since Frank replaced Ange Postecoglou this summer. Villa's Morgan Rogers and Emiliano Buendia cancelled out Rodrigo Bentancur's fifth-minute opener in the shock defeat.
Yet, an ongoing concern will no doubt be the inconsistent home form, despite Spurs having impressed on the road this season. They have just three wins in 18 Premier League games on home turf, although Wednesday will offer a slight reprieve from those woes as they travel to Stade Louis-II for the tie against Monaco.
Some of the latest Spurs news sees Troy Deeney's take on why the team are struggling at home and Micah Richards and Gary Lineker discussing one tweak Frank could make to get back to winning ways, while the Lewis family have also made a fresh appointment to the Spurs board. Mirror Football takes a look at all you need to know.
£1billion problem called out
Troy Deeney has suggested that Spurs' state-of-the-art arena, which cost in excess of £1billion to build, could be one of the reasons why the team is struggling for form in north London. Spurs have won one home game so far this season, against Burnley on the opening weekend.
Since then they have been beaten 1-0 by Bournemouth, held 1-1 by Wolves and, most recently, succumbed to Villa 2-1, all at home. Deeney said: “Last year, obviously, they were concentrating on Europe, which was the excuse, but what happens is that it starts to bleed into this year.
"Now, you’ve got to try to stem the tide and try to make it a fortress. The problem is, it’s such a nice ground that everyone enjoys going there, so when you have those moments to put the ball in the box and make it nervous, they’ve got to do that and they’ve got to kill teams.”
Asked about Spurs' recent failings at home, Frank told the club's official website: "I think it's about looking into the performances. I think we performed well against Burnley, I think we performed well again today. I think we had one very good first half against Wolves and then we had a bad game against Bournemouth."
On the role the fans can play, the Dane added: "I think the fans were good. I think they helped what they could and I think we, in moments, looked exciting and in moments we could have done a little bit better."
Frank told he's getting it wrong with Tel
Former Leicester star Lineker and ex-Man City defender Richards have claimed that Frank is using Mathys Tel all wrong by playing the Frenchman upfront. The 20-year-old was signed on a permanent deal from Bayern Munich in the summer.
This followed a loan spell under Postecoglou last season. However, despite scoring his first Premier League goal for Tottenham away at Leeds, Tel struggled against Villa. Lineker and Richards think they know why, suggesting the player is more comfortable out wide.
Lineker said on the Stick to Football podcast: “Thought Tel struggled a little to make an impact, and a lot of the times because, obviously, I look at this side of football, when they played a really high line like Villa did today with not necessarily that much pressure on the ball.
“I’ve said before, I don’t mind when players get offside, but he was going so early. He wasn’t just offside – he was like five yards offside most of the time. He needs a little bit of work.
"I preferred him perhaps on the left-hand side when I’m seeing him play there. But he wasn’t making the natural runs of a striker that understands how to beat an offside trap, which is not that difficult when a team plays such a high line with no pressure on the ball.”
Tel has stated in the past that he's "somewhere between a number nine and a left winger." Richards, however, concurred with Lineker, adding: “Exactly that. I echo your thoughts as well. I like him better off the left.
"But in terms of what Thomas Frank was trying to do, there’s a clip or an image of him when they got the goal – he was so happy with the way they pressed. He wants pace, he wants mobility, and in terms of Tel, he’s done alright in recent weeks, but I don’t think he’s a natural number nine. He doesn’t look like it yet, but he’s very young and can learn.”
Tottenham confirm appointment
Spurs have confirmed the appointment of Dan Lewindon as the club's new performance director. A statement from Spurs' sporting director Johan Lange said: "We are delighted that Dan will be joining us as performance director.
“He was the standout candidate and brings a wealth of experience across a wide range of team and individual sports, working in high-performance environments with elite athletes.
“Dan also has a strong academic background and his expertise will be hugely beneficial to us as we drive this area of the club with innovative thinking. We look forward to Dan starting.”
Lewindon will reportedly be responsible for the medical, sports science, nutrition and psychology departments across all teams at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He had worked with the City Football Group since 2022.
Prior to that he was the lead physio at Northampton Saints rugby team before becoming the senior physio. He has also worked with the Lawn Tennis Association