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A former Tottenham official has revealed what the feeling inside the North London club is about Thomas Frank as pressure continues to mount on him following the defeat at Arsenal.

The Frank era seems eerily similar to Nuno Espirito Santo’s stint at Tottenham a few years ago.

Both managers had positive starts built on defensive solidity, but just like it did for Nuno, the results are now on a downward trajectory, and serious questions are being asked about Tottenham’s ultra-defensive style of play.

Additionally, the atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium appears toxic, just like it was in the early months of the 2021-22 season, and if Frank does not turn things around soon, he may suffer the same fate as the Portuguese coach.

Are Tottenham considering sacking Thomas Frank?

A couple of weeks ago, it was reported that the Tottenham board remain confident that Frank is the right man for the job and are backing him to turn things around.

Now, former Tottenham scout Mick Brown, who remains well connected at Hotspur Way, has revealed that the 52-year-old still has the backing of the Spurs board, although he admitted that the pressure is growing on the Dane.

When asked if Frank’s job could be under threat, Brown told Football Insider: “That defeat against Arsenal has definitely piled the pressure on Frank. But if we forget that game for a second, they’re not in a bad position in the league, they’re without some key players and they’ve earned some impressive results.

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“It hasn’t been a perfect start by any means, but despite that result, there are some positives to look at. So from Tottenham’s point of view, I don’t think they’re planning to sack him at any stage soon.

“Obviously, losing badly against Arsenal is always going to have a huge impact on the manager both from the club and the fans because they’re not happy. Then the question becomes whether you write that off as a bad day at the office, or if it’s bigger than that are there are real concerns.

“That’s going to be one to keep an eye on over the next few weeks, because if they keep losing and the fans aren’t happy, then that often leads to the manager facing the axe.”

Will Spurs have second thoughts about backing Frank in January?

It has been reported over recent weeks that Tottenham are ready to break the bank for a statement attacking signing in January.

New Tottenham sporting director, Fabio Paratici, recently hinted that he will look to deliver the players Frank wants to add to his squad.

However, if Spurs’ struggles continue, and the former Brentford boss struggles to turn things around, the Lilywhites may be hesitant to back him with big funds in January.

An injury update has now been given on some members of Thomas Frank’s squad as Tottenham Hotspur head into a flurry of fixtures.

Thomas Frank, after a long time, gave a positive injury update on his Tottenham squad ahead of his side’s north London derby encounter with Arsenal.

Mohammed Kudus returned to the starting XI, while Randal Kolo Muani, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray were all included in the matchday squad.

These injury boosts did not help Tottenham’s case as a relentless Arsenal beat Spurs 4-1 at the Emirates Stadium in what is Frank’s biggest defeat as Tottenham boss.

Still, several Tottenham players remain out, and the Standard has now provided an injury update on the rest of Frank’s squad.

Solanke remains sidelined, and last week the Tottenham man, in an interview, refused to put a timeline on his return date as he continues to work his way to full fitness, and as such, the striker’s return to action remains unknown.

Dragusin is another player who is working his way back to full fitness. The Romanian has been nursing an ACL problem since January, but took a positive step in his return, playing in a behind-closed-doors encounter during the international break against Leyton Orient.

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It is understood that he could make his return this weekend against Fulham, when Cristian Romero serves his one-game suspension after picking up five yellow cards.

Spurs have been struggling with creativity and will be desperately looking to get Dejan Kulusevski back fit.

Frank had previously revealed that the Swede could return before next year. There was also a clip of Kulusevski training on the grass shared by Destiny Udogie, and that could mean he is edging closer to a return. The publication, however, believes that Kulusevski could return in December.

Spurs injury concerns over Takai, Ben Davies, James Maddison and Yves Bissouma

Takai has yet to play for Tottenham since his move to north London, and Frank revealed before the Arsenal clash that the Japan international is back on the training pitch.

A return could be imminent, and next month, December is the timeline given for the centre-back to make a return.

Ben Davies has also not featured for Tottenham in the last seven games due to a hamstring problem that saw him withdraw from the Wales national team.

Frank had stated that the defender could be out for four to five weeks following his setback, but after the latest scare, his return has been pushed back a tad, and December has been pencilled in as his return date.

Ramon Vega has made up his mind on Thomas Frank after the Dane presided over another poor performance away at Arsenal.

As we have come to expect, the Spurs head coach talked a good game in the lead-up to the North London derby, but his team looked anything but brave on the pitch.

The game was not dissimilar to a cup tie involving a top Premier League side and a second or third-tier side, with Tottenham happy to defend their box and pump aimless balls forward for their forwards to chase.

It was almost a carbon copy of the shocking display that Spurs delivered in the London derby against Chelsea three weeks ago, but they were made to pay this time, with Arsenal emerging 4-1 winners.

Ramon Vega says Thomas Frank is not a Tottenham manager

While Tottenham’s position in the Premier League table and the Champions League is far from alarming, what has concerned Spurs fans from the start of the season is the lack of attacking intent.

While Frank has remained adamant that the Spurs will click as an attacking force sooner rather than later, Vega is not convinced.

In fact, the former Tottenham defender has now seen enough to be confident that Frank is simply not the right fit for the club.

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Vega wrote on social media platform X: “For me, and I don’t say it lightly as I have always supported managers as much as I can, but Frank is not for SPURS!”

Spurs are keeping faith in Frank for now

According to reports, the decision makers at Tottenham remain confident that Frank is the right man for the job, and they are willing to give him time to turn things around.

In fact, it has been reported that Spurs are prepared to back their head coach with the signings he wants in January.

However, there is no doubt that unless performances and results improve fast, it is only a matter of time before Frank starts losing the dressing room.

Tottenham Hotspur could be handed a big blow ahead of their trip to France to take on Paris Saint-Germain.

The confidence of the Tottenham first-team squad took a massive hit on Sunday as the Lilywhites suffered a heavy 4-1 defeat by Arsenal.

It was Tottenham’s first away defeat of the Premier League season, and they now have an even more challenging task next up: a trip to Paris where they will come up against PSG in the Champions League.

A few days ago, reports in France suggested that Achraf Hakimi, Nuno Mendes, Desire Doue, and Ousmane Dembele could all be ruled out of the Spurs clash due to injury.

Positive signs for Ousmane Dembele ahead of Tottenham game

However, L’Equipe claim there is some good news for PSG ahead of their clash against the North London outfit.

It is revealed that Dembele recovered from his calf injury and trained with his PSG teammates on Friday.

Even though the 28-year-old did not feature against Le Havre on Saturday, he is said to be feeling ‘positive’ ahead of the club’s Champions League clash on Wednesday.

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A PSG insider told the outlet about the former Barcelona star’s fitness: “He knows his body well. We’ll see on Monday and Tuesday. There are three days left. After that, it will be up to the coach to decide.”

Another big loss could be hard for Spurs to recover from

While Tottenham are unbeaten in the Champions League this season, the reality is that they could have easily lost both of their away matches at Bodo/Glimt and Monaco.

Following the drubbing at the Emirates, the Spurs players may not believe that they stand a chance of keeping PSG out for 90 minutes.

The worry for Frank would be that another big loss could seriously dent the players’ morale and would be very difficult to recover from.

A former Tottenham striker was left astonished by one particular tactic Thomas Frank employed against Arsenal.

Frank’s tactics are being picked apart ruthlessly after Tottenham’s 4-1 drubbing at the Emirates, and rightly so, with the Dane’s ultra-defensive approach failing to work.

The Spurs boss’ selection decisions have also been questioned, with his decision to play five at the back and leave out the likes of Xavi Simons backfiring.

There was one other tactical tweak by Frank that left an experienced pundit speechless.

Alan Brazil bemused by Tottenham’s set-piece tactic against Arsenal

Former Tottenham forward and talkSPORT presenter Alan Brazil questioned the logic of why the away side were so deep while defending Arsenal’s indirect free kicks into the box.

The 66-year-old insisted that it was one of the most stupid things he had ever seen on a football pitch and suggested that it could have easily cost the away side.

Brazil told talkSPORT: “What about the free-kicks Arsenal put in, and Tottenham lined up just outside their own six-yard box.

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“How stupid is that. The second one just needs any sort of flick on. Why are they back there? Get out, get up there. Leave a bit of space for the keeper to make a decision to come or stay on his line. I’ve never seen anything so stupid in my life.”

Thomas Frank would have had his reasons for the free-kick tactic

There is no doubt that Frank and his coaching staff would have analysed Arsenal’s strengths in deadball situations.

They clearly came up with the plan to counter it and felt that having a deadline would be better, despite the risks involved with defending in that manner.

Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Guglielmo Vicario is not particularly comfortable coming off his line. Frank may have been worried Arsenal would take advantage of the Italian’s weakness.

Tottenham Hotspur’s creative issues once again came under the spotlight after their derby collapse, with Danny Murphy now taking aim at a Thomas Frank side that looked flat in every attacking phase.

Thomas Frank suffered his worst defeat as Tottenham Hotspur manager on Sunday afternoon against bitter rivals Arsenal.

An Eberechi Eze hat-trick was enough for the Gunners to secure all three points after having beaten Thomas Frank’s side 4-1 on the evening.

It was not just a horrid defensive display; it was also one of the worst creative performances by Frank’s team this season, and in the Premier League.

Danny Murphy criticises Tottenham and Thomas Frank over attacking output

Against Arsenal, Tottenham managed an xG of 0.07, the lowest of any Premier League side this term, and it is not a one-off, given several other low xG performances under the Dane so far this campaign.

Against Chelsea, Spurs had an xG of 0.1, and against Bournemouth, they had an xG of 0.19. This is a criticism that Frank has had to deal with for most of this season, with his pragmatism leaving fans frustrated.

Danny Murphy highlighted these concerns on the BBC’s Match of the Day, stressing how the lack of creativity has become a clear theme in recent weeks. He noted that it was not just the absence of fight but also a worrying lack of invention in the final third.

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“It is the lack of fight, but it is also the lack of creativity,” he told the BBC’s Match of the Day on 23 November.

“In the last couple of games, Arsenal and Chelsea at home, you can see here, the top two lowest in the last two games, and obviously they are one of the bottom three of the worst eight this season.

“Yes, you can hide behind Kulusevski, Solanke and Maddison not being there, but the players they have got in that squad are struggling. Really struggling to be brave enough, get on the ball, to make things happen.”

Mohammed Kudus gets a special mention

Murphy continued by singling out the frontline, stressing how only one player has shown any real spark in recent matches, and he suggested that fear and over-pragmatism have crept into the squad.

“You can argue only Kudus out of all their front players can hold his head up a little bit and say he has created stuff, that he has had a go. There is a lot of fear in that side, probably too much pragmatism,” Murphy continued.

“Frank is obviously new to it. He is working out who he can trust and who he can rely on. The reality is that they need to pick up soon because the level of performance in the past couple of games is causing discontent amongst the fans.”

Thomas Frank is facing the heat after a humiliating North London derby defeat and it is about to get worse – because the Nuno Espirito Santo comparisons are coming out!

Tottenham Hotspur supporters were left divided by the decision to sack Ange Postecoglou, but it was hoped Thomas Frank would bring unity and get the team back on track.

The Danish manager made a good first impression with Spurs supporters in his opening competitive fixtures. He almost masterminded a UEFA Super Cup victory against the champions of Europe and proceeded to record wins over Burnley and Manchester City.

What then followed was a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Bournemouth and that level of performance by Tottenham has gone on to be seen all too often under Frank.

Thomas Frank has a worse win percentage at Tottenham than Nuno Santo

Being the manager of Spurs is a position which comes with a lot of pressure and it does not usually take much for a struggling boss to be shown the door.

Nuno Santo was fired after just 17 matches, following a 3-0 defeat to Manchester United where his side failed to land a single shot on target. In total, the man who secured European football for Nottingham Forest last season won eight of his 17 matches at Tottenham.

This means he actually won a higher percentage of his matches at the club than Frank has up to this point. The current Spurs manager has won the same number of games as Santo did, but he has overseen two additional fixtures.

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Tottenham have suffered one fewer defeats in the Premier League under Frank, but trail league leaders Arsenal by 11 points. Santo’s team were only 10 points behind top of the table Chelsea when he was sacked.

Spurs are struggling in attack

Frank’s Tottenham team have scored 20 goals in 12 league matches, which is actually a decent tally. It is certainly superior to the nine goals scored in 10 fixtures under Santo.

However, chance creation is a big concern for Spurs and this is reflected by the xG metric. Tottenham recorded their lowest xG on record against Chelsea earlier this month and they managed to go even lower against Arsenal.

Of course, Santo had Harry Kane at his disposal, but Frank is shooting himself in the foot by choosing to continue with a midfield pairing of Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur. It is simply too negative and is keeping Spurs from getting the ball forwards.

Frank must make changes at Tottenham to survive

If Frank wishes to avoid suffering the same fate as Santo, he needs to try something different and change the mentality of his players. Giving him more time is only going to hurt Spurs in the long-run if the 52-year-old continues to stick with the same tactics.

Jamie Carragher believes that there is one big question that Thomas Frank has not yet answered in his first few months at Tottenham Hotspur.

When he took over at N17 in the summer, Frank made it clear that he would adapt his style at Tottenham, but fans have not seen much evidence of that so far.

Frank even said that he wants his Spurs side to be brave and aggressive, but those are the last two adjectives that would have to come to mind while watching the Lilywhites at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

The performance cannot be written off as a one-off either, as Tottenham fans have seen their side struggle to create chances time and again this season.

Jamie Carragher questions whether Thomas Frank can create chances at Tottenham

Carragher suggested that the Tottenham boss made a mistake by going with five at the back and leaving his midfield short of numbers at the Emirates.

However, he insisted that the bigger problem is Frank’s negative approach, questioning if the Dane is capable of setting up a team to create chances consistently.

Carragher told Sky Sports about Tottenham following their 4-1 loss to Arsenal: “They don’t play that system so often, and that is always the downfall of that system. That’s what we’ve been talking about for twelve months with Man United and Ruben Amorim.

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“When we talk about the back five, we always talk about the two central midfield players, and that’s the part of that system that will let you down.

“In terms of isolation, of just today tactically, yes, that caused him a big problem, but I think the bigger picture for Thomas Frank and Tottenham is, can he create chances? Can he score goals? Can he go and win games rather than stopping the opposition?”

Spurs fans’ patience with Frank is running out

Speaking a couple of days ago, Chris Hughton urged Tottenham fans to give Frank time to implement the right culture and tactical ideas at Spurs.

Reports indicate that Frank does have the backing of the Spurs hierarchy for now, but they will be just as alarmed as fans are by the recent performances against Chelsea and Arsenal.

The supporters are now clearly starting to turn on the 52-year-old, and unless he manages to turn things around soon, he might end up going the same way as Nuno Espirito Santo.

The pressure is now getting to Thomas Frank, and that is evident by some of his answers during the post-match press conference following his side’s defeat in the North London derby.

Tottenham failed to lay a glove on their North London rivals at the Emirates on Sunday, having fallen to a 4-1 defeat.

The away side’s only goal of the game came from nowhere, with Richarlison producing a moment of genius from close to their halfway line.

Apart from that moment, it was all Arsenal, with the Lilywhites showing no signs of even trying to get back into the game after going behind. The display was so bad that Guglielmo Vicario even apologised to Spurs fans after the game.

Thomas Frank dodges a question about Tottenham’s xG

What will worry Tottenham fans is that this performance is not a one-off, as their side also delivered a similar display just three weeks ago in another London derby.

Tottenham had an xG of just 0.05 against Chelsea when the Blues beat them 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the start of this month.

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It was the same story against the Gunners, with Spurs having just three shots on target and registering an xG of 0.07 at the Emirates.

Frank mentioned at the start of his press conferences that there were differences between Tottenham’s performance against Chelsea and the one they produced against Arsenal.

When the Dane was asked to explain what those differences were, given the poor xG that Spurs had in both matches, he responded (via Football.London): “I think it’s also fair to say I need to look this game back. I have more just fresh in mind.

“I’m very emotional and frustrated, of course, right now. So please ask me about that question next time we see each other.”

There is a disconnect between Frank’s words and his actions at Spurs

Thomas Frank has said that he wants Tottenham to play in a ‘brave’ and ‘offensive’ style, but even the former Brentford boss’s biggest fans will concede that we have seen the exact opposite from his side so far.

Frank has also spoken about adapting his style of play at Spurs compared to the tactics he used at Brentford, but once again, we have not seen any evidence of that.

The 52-year-old is evidently a very likeable character and has the charisma and leadership to get players to buy into his methods, but the reality is that he will lose the dressing room sooner rather than later if the results do not improve.

Tottenham legend Glenn Hoddle confessed that the North London derby went very differently than he anticipated.

Going into the big derby game at the Emirates, some Spurs fans were quietly confident, and they had good reason to be.

Tottenham had the best away record in the Premier League ahead of Sunday’s clash, having picked up 13 points from a possible 15 on offer.

However, not only did they suffer their first away loss of the season at the Emirates, but they were on the receiving end of a 4-1 drubbing and struggled to even lay a glove on Mikel Arteta’s side.

Glenn Hoddle says Tottenham were second best

Under Ange Postecoglou during the last two seasons, Spurs played a bold style of football at the Emirates, created chances and competed against their rivals.

However, Frank’s Spurs side lacked bravery and in the end, ended up conceding four goals despite parking the bus, with Hoddle admitting that the performance was ‘horrible’ to watch.

The former Spurs midfielder and manager told Premier League Productions about the Lilywhites’ 4-1 defeat: “It is a horrible feeling. Before the game, it is the anticipation that you could turn Arsenal over and win.

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“Spurs needed to be in this game with 20 minutes to go to build up the pressure, but it never ignited like that. Arsenal were better in every area of the pitch.”

Frank is now between a rock and a hard place at Spurs

Spurs fans are starting to turn on Frank for not walking the talk, with the Dane refusing to take the handbrake off despite playing lip service to playing aggressive, attacking football.

However, the reality is that the 52-year-old’s success at Brentford was built on these principles, and to change his approach now would be to abandon his identity.

There is also the risk that the Spurs players would start to doubt his acumen if he suddenly changes his messaging. Having said that, something has to change if Frank does not want to completely lose all Tottenham fans.