Tottenham lost against Aston Villa, despite looking like the more active team in the attacking third. The reason why they lost is painfully obvious, and it's already an action item for Thomas Frank.
This season, Tottenham has started rather inconsistently. With an underwhelming 4-2-2 record, Spurs will want to have a better runout in their next 10 games.
Of course, there are many factors which could explain their inconsistent start. The first, and most obvious factor is that they have a new manager at the helm. Naturally, it will take Thomas Frank a bit of time before he finds his best squad.
Secondly, Spurs returned to the Champions League. They were used to European football last season, but let's face it, the Champions League requires more attention than the Europa League.
The third reason is that Tottenham doesn't even have a consistent squad. They have a squad that gets injured more often than it scores goals, so Thomas Frank can hardly be blamed for failing to go on a serious winning streak.
Against Aston Villa, though, Tottenham's biggest weakness was on full display.
The real reason why Tottenham lost to Aston Villa
Tottenham created three big chances but scored a laughable one goal out of those chances. Tottenham also held more possession (53%) than Aston Villa (47%) and created a higher xG (0.75) than the Villans (0.32). Yet, the one stat that matters most, is that Villa scored more than Spurs.
It was overarchingly obvious that Tottenham lacks a central threat. With Randal Kolo Muani only afforded 11 minutes, and Dominic Solanke injured, Spurs had no center forward who could finish their dinner.
It says a lot that Tottenham's midfielders, Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha attempted the most shots for Tottenham (2, matched by Wilson Odobert). This, if nothing else, tells the entire story.
But can Tottenham's former owner, Daniel Levy, really be blamed for this? After all, he already signed Solanke backup in Muani. It's hardly his fault that both the first and second option are injured, or at least recovering from injuries, right now.
But it's almost more difficult when there is nobody to blame. You almost end up wishing that there was, as if that would make the dilemma any easier to solve.
Right now, though, the only obvious solution is to sign a player in January who could at least fill the gap at center forward when needed. It isn't the first time that Tottenham has needed a plan C, and it won't be the last.