Tottenham slumped to a dismal 3-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest on Sunday, with the pressure on Thomas Frank increasing, despite only arriving at the club in the summer
Another week, and another Premier League manager feeling the heat. Last week it was Liverpool boss Arne Slot, who has ended a tricky week with successive victories to lift the mood at Anfield.
It's a different story for Tottenham and Thomas Frank however. Their dismal 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Sunday sees Spurs marooned in the bottom half of the table with just one win from their last seven Premier League matches.
The manner of the defeat at The City Ground has piled the pressure on Frank, who only arrived at the club from Brentford during the summer. But supporters are growing increasingly concerned at the direction of travel under the Dane, with a section now calling for a change in the dugout.
Spurs face Liverpool next, before a tricky looking trip to Crystal Palace rounds off their 2025. But with fans turning and issues with players in his squad, can Frank survive the long cold winter?
We asked our team of writers to give their verdict on whether Tottenham should sack their second manager in six months and accept their mistake before it's too late....
John Cross
Tottenham have to give Thomas Frank time. It would be a terrible mistake to pull the trigger before Christmas and not give a new manager an opportunity to turn things around.
Spurs have 22 points after 16 games which is one point worse off than at the same stage under former boss Ange Postecoglou.
But far worse is the style of football, a lack of entertainment and also identity. Having said all that, those are exactly the things that a new manager needs time to introduce. It was never going to be an overnight success.
Frank inherited a squad which had won the Europa League but was abysmal for most of last season. I thought the squad was better than it actually is. They need another transfer window - and quick.
It is so short on quality, character and fight. The meek surrender at Nottingham Forest was really worrying. But they are just four points off fifth place!
But who is out there to do a better job? Managers need time. Mikel Arteta went through a far worse spell at Arsenal. Even Manchester United have indulged Ruben Amorim.
Yes, Tottenham must improve. But Tottenham would be making a grave error by making yet another change this quickly into Frank’s reign.
Andy Dunn
Here is what big clubs do nowadays. Here is how elite football organisations operate. They stay classy. They trust their judgement.
Patience is the new knee-jerk. Hire-and-fire is old hat.
Tottenham Hotspur is a giant that has been hibernating for years and it will be a long job to properly raise it from its slumber. The idea Thomas Frank should be fired ten wins into his tenure is faintly preposterous.
After a good point at Newcastle United, Spurs beat Brentford by a couple and Slavia Prague by three before putting in a poor performance at the City Ground.
How can that be sackable form? Spurs are above Eddie Howe’s team in the Premier League table.
At worst, they will be in the play-off stage of the Champions League. Yes, they were pretty awful at Nottingham Forest. Yes, they have been very inconsistent.
But, including the European Super Cup. Frank has been in charge of 25 Spurs games and has lost only eight of them. To dismiss him would be ludicrous.
Neil McLeman
Tottenham have fewer points this season than after 16 games under Ange Postecoglou in the last campaign. And they were shockingly bad at Forest on Sunday.
But the North London club cannot keep chopping and changing - and Frank is a proven if limited Premier League boss who was interviewed by both Chelsea and Manchester United last year. Who would do better right now?
This should have been a season of relative stability under Frank after they finished 17th last season but won the Europa League under Big Ange. But beating his former club Brentford has been their only good result since October.
After the Forest defeat, Frank stated there is no “quick fix” and this is a pretty average squad of players assembled at great expense. Take out the injured Dejan Kulesevski, Dominic Solanke, James Maddison and Destiny Udogie and the team is even more ordinary.
A top six or seven finish - and European football next season - should be the ambition this season. If it doesn’t happen, it will not be just Frank’s fault.
Nathan Ridley
We've seen this film before haven't we? An up-and-coming manager overperforms in the Premier League and gets a long-awaited move to a bigger club, then it all falls apart.
For Thomas Frank and Tottenham, it does feel like the warning signs are there. Although Spurs are doing well in Europe, their Premier League form has left much to be desired and going out of the Carabao Cup so early, combined with a tricky-looking FA Cup tie, doesn't bode well.
But I'd stick with him. This is a manager who's been at a forward-thinking club in Brentford, has a track record of improving players and is capable of building a solid team out of possession - exactly what Tottenham lacked under Ange Postecoglou.
Of course, Frank needs to get more out of Spurs' attacking players but the eventual returns of Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison will no-doubt help with creativity. Spurs have tried every other profile of manager, so I'd stay the course for now.
Conor Mummery
After Sunday's dismal 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest, Thomas Frank said: "If no-one gets the time, no-one can turn it around. This is not a quick fix." That may be true, and as many have pointed to, the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta both had tricky starts at Liverpool and Arsenal respectively, but were given the time and the money to turn things around. There has though, been no indication whatsoever that Frank is capable of the level of transformation that followed in both of those cases.
Tottenham have won just four of their last 14 games in all competitions, and there has been nothing in the majority of those performances to suggest results will eventually turn in their favour given time. Frank was brought in, largely, to stabilise a leaky defence. But Spurs have shipped 16 goals in their last five away games, and have looked just as toothless going the other way.
The last time Spurs recorded a lower points tally at this stage of a season was 2008/09, when they managed just two points from their first eight games under Juande Ramos. The club acted quickly and replaced the Spaniard with Harry Redknapp in October, and they need to act as ruthlessly this time around if they are to turn this season into a positive one.
Ben Husband
Thomas Frank is a good manager, what he did with Brentford was seriously impressive. But he's in the wrong place at the wrong time and both parties are better off just accepting that reality.
Setting up Brentford in the Premier League is a completely different challenge to doing so at Tottenham - and so far he has been found seriously lacking.
Yes, they are missing two of the most creative players in Maddison and Kulusevski, but their absences alone don't explain the tepid displays under their struggling boss. According to Opta, Spurs' average xG is at 0.96 per game, the 17th worst in the division and their worst since the stat began to be recorded (2012/13).
This all feels eerily similar to Nuno Espirito Santo's tenure in North London, a good manager, but a bad fit. Spurs accepted their mistake just four months into that reign, which ended in a desperate run of form not too dissimilar to their current malaise.
Frank will almost certainly go elsewhere and succeed, but that shouldn't stop Spurs from ripping off the plaster sooner rather than later.
