It was a positive night for Thomas Frank’s Tottenham, but one which highlighted how the Danish head coach is getting it wrong with one of his summer signings.
Tottenham Hotspur cruised through to the Carabao Cup fourth round as they defeated Doncaster Rovers 3-0 in North London.
Goals from Brennan Johnson, Joao Palhinha and a deflected Wilson Odobert cross allowed them to book their place in the next round of the competition.
Thomas Frank will be mostly pleased with what he saw from his players on Wednesday, although there was one star who struggled yet again against the League One side.
Thomas Frank needs to change Mathys Tel’s position
Tottenham’s display against Doncaster further reinforced the point that Frank needs to change Mathys Tel’s position.
Speaking ahead of the game, Frank suggested Tel’s best position is left wing, but in the Carabao Cup, the Frenchman led the line for Spurs.
The attacker struggled against weaker opposition, and despite his age, Spurs’ head coach needs to reassess where he is using him moving forward.
Throughout the tie, Tel showed some promising attributes, including his work rate off the ball and his ability to get into dangerous positions.
But ultimately, it was another underwhelming display from the former Bayern Munich star, who missed some big chances.
Tottenham view Tel as a ‘generational talent’ and there is a strong belief that eventually he will come good, but so far, the signs aren’t promising.
Tel was signed by Tottenham for £30m over the summer and the North London club are unlikely to be best pleased with their investment thus far.
Thomas Frank explains Mathys Tel’s best attributes
Speaking after the game, Frank was quite positive about Tel as he spoke about his best attributes.
The 51-year-old highlighted the Frenchman’s position, speed, pressing ability and his link play.
Frank told the media: “I think you can see that his ability in this game to arrive in the box and the pace he got to both running behind and also getting into the right areas, I think it’s good.
“I think his pressing ability is very good. I like the way he works in that situation. And then I think his link-up play is something that is at a good level, but he can be even better.”