Tottenham Hotspur sit 13th in the Premier League table after Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Liverpool and Thomas Frank’s new job looks like it’s falling apart right before his eyes.
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Spurs have lost more games than they’ve won (again) and they’re one of the worst teams at home this season (again - 8 of 27 points). They spent aggressively in the summer transfer window and added quality players to the squad, but it’s still the same old, same old. So
Leadership, accountability a longstanding issue for Spurs
We’re nearly halfway through the season, and Spurs are 13th in the Premier League table (an improvement, to be fair) after yet another disappointing (and largely avoidable) home defeat. As always with Spurs, it’s not just that they lose, the frustration typically lies in how they do it. Xavi Simons was shown a red card in the 33rd minute for putting his studs into Virgil van Dijk’s upper calf with no chance whatsoever of winning the ball in the challenge, and then captain Cristian Romero — the World Cup winner tasked with leading a young squad forward in this post-Harry Kane and post-Heung-min Son era — got himself sent off for kicking out at Ibrahim Konate in the final few minutes, just as Spurs were making a late push for an equalizer that would save them from a fifth defeat in nine home games this season.
As seasons go by and Spurs’ best players slowly but surely leave the club, what’s left is the mismatched ruins of five different managers in six seasons — haphazardly orchestrated through various different transfer policies from a whole handful of different decision-makers over the years — and a squad that lacks leadership and accountability from top to bottom. Spurs failed to build another great team around Kane after firing Mauricio Pochettino in 2019 and eventually the club’s greatest-ever player felt he had no choice but to leave. Kane didn’t just take the goals and the assists with him, but he took the last bit of the toughness and tenacity that Pochettino instilled in his teams. The difference was noticeable after Kane left in 2023, and it’s even starker two and a half years later with Son also gone and an average squad age of 24.8 (2nd-youngest in the PL).
There was a sense each of the last two seasons that when things went right for Spurs, they really went right and it was something to see, but that kind of hope and belief and stubborn determination that defined Ange Postecoglou’s tenure is long gone. Spurs won a trophy back in May (maybe you heard), but it’s clear that it changed very little about the club, how it operates and how it views itself. That was at the center of everything Postecoglou preached, and it remains a problem months after the open-top bus parade. We’re six months into Frank’s tenure now, and it’s still unclear what the actual plan of attack is on a given night and the players often look just as confused as the fans. A quick thought on what the plan should be, though. A potential bright spot…
Bergvall and Gray, Spurs’ midfield of the future, is the duo for right now
It’s easy to say, “Play the young players, give them the experience and let them develop in games that mean something,” and pretend there aren’t going to be some bumps in the road along the way, but those bumps are a whole lot better than the nothingness Spurs have had in midfield up until this point. By calling for Bergvall and Gray to play regularly, and to do so together, is asking Frank to stake his job on the comings and goings of a pair of 19-year-olds in the toughest, most competitive league in the world. Any manager would be hesitant to do so, but you know what? The kids might actually be the best way for him to save his job.
They’re fearless (perhaps because they don’t know any better), always looking to play forward, whether by dribble or pass, and they have that youthful energy that allows them to never shirk their defensive duties. Bergvall is going to need to add some goals to his game in order to take the (big) leap from prospect to contributor, and Gray still needs to develop physically for the intensity and physicality of the Premier League, but they complement each other quite well and make an obvious long-term partnership.