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Tottenham Hotspur’s senior players are not giving Thomas Frank the respect he deserves, journalist Alex Crook believes.
Spurs have struggled to build consistency under Frank since he took over and will be in the bottom half of the Premier League on Christmas Day.
They were turned over by Liverpool at home on Saturday and have won just one of their last five league outings.
There have been increasing question marks over Spurs appointing the former Brentford boss and one of the club’s former players declared after their north London derby loss that the Dane is not the right man.
Frank has meanwhile admitted his side need to work on recovering from setbacks to build consistency.
The Dane only counts Brentford and Brondby as the club sides he has managed and he was not a high profile appointment for Tottenham.
Against Liverpool, Tottenham had Cristian Romero and Xavi Simons sent off, and Crook feels the lack of discipline points to a wider issue, which is that the senior stars at the club are not giving Frank enough respect.
Player Carded Xavi Simons Red card Cristian Romero Yellow, red card Micky van de Ven Yellow card Rodrigo Bentancur Yellow card Tottenham players carded vs Liverpool
Crook said on talkSPORT (21st December, 15:11): “I think the loss of discipline of players from senior players like Cristian Romero is a reflection at the moment on the relationship between Thomas Frank, the new manager, and the Tottenham players.
“I don’t think they are giving him the respect he deserves.”
Ex-Premier League winger Perry Groves does agree there is a problem and thinks it stems from there being too many egos in the Tottenham dressing room.
“This goes back to the game where Djed Spence and [Micky] Van de Ven walked off the pitch and they blanked him [Frank].
“If you were trying to assert your authority, and I know Van de Ven is their best player and Djed Spence is an England international, but I’d have dropped both of them for the next game and said ‘I’m in control of this dressing room, I’m in control of what goes on here on the pitch, not you’.
“I think there’s too many egos at Spurs. There is a culture problem.”
Tottenham have only won six of their 17 Premier League games so far this season, which is half the number of Arsenal and Manchester City and five fewer than Aston Villa.
Home form has been a particular problem for Frank’s men and they have only served up two wins in nine home league games.
If Frank cannot rapidly fix Spurs’ home form, they will likely struggle to finish in the European places this season.