"I think we are in a transition phase, because yes, we are a Champions League club, but are we a Champions League club? We only qualified because we won the Europa League. We didn't qualify because we were one of the four or five best clubs in the Premier League last season. We finished 17th."
One win from their last eight Premier League games backs up Tottenham boss Thomas Frank's honest assessment of where his side are at right now.
Sitting 14th in the Premier League table, Spurs go to Crystal Palace on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, aiming to avoid a third straight defeat following losses to Nottingham Forest and Liverpool.
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A broadly unhappy fanbase, inconsistent results and toothless performances have increased the scrutiny on Frank.
But in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports ahead of this weekend's trip to Selhurst Park, the Dane explains why he is confident he can turn things around as he gives an assessment of his six-and-a-half months in charge of Tottenham...
How do you reflect on earning the chance to lead Spurs?
"I'm super happy for having the opportunity to get this challenge, this opportunity here at Tottenham. I think I earned it. I think, in a way, I deserve the opportunity, the challenge, which I'm very happy about.
"Of course, sometimes when you're in the tough moments, you're thinking, 'Oh', but I was pretty sure what I walked into, that it will not be straightforward - I was very aware of that.
"I'm an optimistic person, so I always believe in the good and that we can create something very magical here. I'm 100 per cent convinced that that will happen and we will do that.
"I also think I'm quite good at analysing situations and finding out where are we, what do we need to improve, what direction do we need to go.
"And with that said, I can also see this is, as I said a few times now, it's not a quick fix, unfortunately. This is a longer journey. That doesn't mean that in the longer journey that we don't need to win football matches, we have to, and hopefully a lot of them, and perform well and all that. But to get to where we want to get, it just takes time to build that."
So where are you at?
"Honestly, I think we are in a transition phase, because yes, we are a Champions League club, but are we a Champions League club? We only qualified because we won the Europa League. We didn't qualify because we were one of the four or five best clubs in the Premier League last season. We finished 17th. And now we need to compete in the Champions League while we're competing in the Premier League, which is the most difficult thing.
"The last time we did that was three years ago, when we finished eighth. That's reality. Something happened with the squad over those three years. Then the year after, with no Europe, some of the key players offensively were (James) Maddison, (Dejan) Kulusevski, Sonny (Heung-Min Son), who are not here anymore [Son has left club, while Maddison and Kulusevski are long-term injury absentees]. So that's just some of the reality.
"And then we need to build that competitive team that can compete every third or fourth day. And that's just an ongoing working process, no matter if we like it or not, to speak about it. That's what we're working very hard on every single day. I think we are building some of the bits behind the scenes that are good. So, for example, I think there is a very good win in how the coaching staff, performance staff, medical staff, are working together.
"I think Micky van de Ven has almost never looked better. Consistent, been available for every minute. Cuti [Cristian Romero] the same. Richarlison, the same. So that's three players who hadn't been as consistent in the last two or three years, so I think that's a massive win, but it's just a small story because we're not winning enough football matches. So all those small stories we need to add up and then make sure we can be competitive."
Do you think the scale of the challenge is bigger than people think?
"It depends what people think. The perception of us, of course, is that we are a top six club, which is the aim."
Top six club, definitely, but a top-six team is different, though?
"Yeah, I think that's fair to say. But that's what we're aiming for. We are almost halfway through the season. Learned a lot about the team, about the players. Also, playing every third or fourth day, how we do that and how we can make sure we become competitive? And that's why the expectations can be higher than where we maybe are right now, this moment in time. That can hopefully have changed in a good way towards the end of the season.
"But that doesn't change what I think is a massive task to get us to where we want to be on a consistent level. Because let's say, no matter if we finish in a good position - but it's to do it every year. That's the challenge, playing in Europe and finishing in the top six every year. That's the big challenge.
"Maybe it's a blip, that we finished eighth, fifth and seventeenth, just to understand the whole context, I think is very important."
Is building something at Tottenham different to what you've done in the past at Brentford and Brondby?
"It's different, but it's the same tools I would say you use to build something consistent. It is about building a top culture with all the right characters, with an elite mindset. It is being able to go every third and fourth day. That's the biggest thing we built. Every day, we try to get a little step further down the line. It's the same thing you need to do.
"Of course, there's more scrutiny, and there's more focus on the smallest step back, so one of the tools you definitely need to be aware of using is keeping the noise out. I do that, the coaching staff do that, the players do that, everyone around the club does that. I think that's a big thing.
"I think the players are very good in many ways. They're good people; they want the best. I don't think that's a problem anyway."
So what have you liked so far? And what is top of the to-do list to fix?
"I like the overall approach from players to want to improve and want to do well. For example, our improvement of the set pieces has gone from here [bottom] to here [top]. Clearly, they put the hard work in on something that you call the boring stuff, but they definitely understand the why. And the why is that if you want to be successful, you can't have a minus goal difference on set pieces. It's impossible. So I think that's a big win and also a big example of the buy-in from the players.
"And also, even though it's not consistent enough, I think we have more of what I would call a clean sheet mentality and understand when it's a game where we can't just run over teams and just win three or 4-0, but you need to do the other side of the game as well. And I think we see that more and more in different parts of the game.
"Then I think the biggest ongoing thing to work on is still the offensive part of the game. It's not that we haven't worked on it. And I said it's not that it hasn't been a big focus. I think we started the season quite well on it, then had a dip, and now I think we're on the up again, actually. So that's the biggest thing you can see. And the last bit is that ongoing fantastic performance, winning, competitive culture."
Is the coaching challenge of the football you need to produce at Tottenham different to what you had before?
"If you've seen my teams over the years, [they've] always played offensive football, always created top scorers, always scored a lot of goals, so that will also happen here.
"I think it's a couple of challenges, a little bit the time to train it. Hey, it is what it is. We do everything we can to get around it - clips, video, individual walkthrough, whatever it is. We use a week like we have now to work on it.
"And then I think the players also will develop and get better. And sometimes it's also a bit of who's available, because I also had a tough spell in Brentford, just as an example, when Ivan (Toney) was out, Bryan (Mbeumo) was out. I think (Yoane) Wissa was out as well, then we didn't score as many goals. That's just the way it is."
In a nutshell, is your challenge showing enough in the short-term to get the opportunity long-term?
"Yeah, I think that's fair. I think it doesn't work if you say, 'Ah, the pros are, by the way, are so good. We have so many nice underlying performance indicators, but by the way, we lost 15 games in a row'. It doesn't work like that, so we need to win, and we need to win, hopefully, a lot of football matches.
"But what I like is that we haven't had two bad performances in a row. Maybe we lost two games in a row, but not two bad performances. I think it's a big difference.
"We performed terribly against Arsenal, which is very bad. But we put in a very good performance against PSG, for example. As an example, bad performance against Nottingham Forest, but a good performance against Liverpool. I know we lost it, but that's what you need to look at. And that's a good indicator of how we bounce back, how we work with the players and the team. And I think that's signs of something going in the right direction."
What does 2026 hold for Tottenham? How do you make the next step?
"I think working very hard on that competitive culture every day, the small bits with the players, all the good habits - let's say winning habits - where we work very hard, where we have that attitude, comfortable, humble, where we use our togetherness to really work as a team and the passion to want to get better.
"So the path, as I say it, I think that's a big thing we work on very, very hard. And if we do that well, then I know we'll be more and more consistent. The challenge is we are playing a lot of games, and we're playing every three or four days, so that's a challenge.
"And then it also holds two transfer windows, which is also important. I said many times, I'm very happy with my squad. I'm very happy with the players, but I also think it's fair to say that we also need, over time, to do what we can to strengthen the squad."
