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Thomas Frank has spoken about the new challenges he faces at Tottenham Hotspur and his aims for exciting, offensive football.

Reports indicate that the Tottenham board are determined to show faith in Frank and give him time to turn things around at N17.

The Spurs head coach has previously warned that the team’s issues are not an easy fix, referencing the fact that the team finished in 17th place last season.

Many pundits are not convinced that the North London club are heading in the right direction, but the former Brentford boss has his sight firmly set on the end goal.

Thomas Frank reveals what Tottenham’s ambition is this season

The Lilywhites are now just four points away from Chelsea in fifth place following their win at Selhurst Park, and the Tottenham boss has now admitted that finishing in the top six is his objective this season.

While Frank hinted that the expectations at Spurs may not match where the team is currently, he made it clear that his challenge is to make the club competitive at the top end of the Premier League table consistently.

When asked if the scale of the challenge at Tottenham is bigger than what people think, the Dane told Sky Sports: “It depends on what people think. The perception of us, of course, is that we are a top six club, which is the aim. 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.

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“Also, playing every third or fourth day, how do 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.”

Frank has been criticised for his conservative approach at Tottenham and for failing to adapt to the demands of a big club since his summer move from Brentford.

However, the 52-year-old is confident that Spurs will play offensive football once the players adapt to his system and he has enough time on the training pitch with the squad.

When asked if building something solid at Tottenham is different to what he has done at Brentford and Brondby in the past, Frank responded: “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.”

“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.”

Thomas Frank remains bullish that he will turn things around at Tottenham Hotspur and get the club where they want to get to.

The Tottenham head coach has come out on the frontfoot over the last few weeks as speculation has intensified about his fit for the role.

Frank has admitted that Spurs’ form at home this season is ‘unacceptable’, but he is certainly not throwing the towel in.

There was plenty of excitement at N17 when he took over from Brenford in the summer, and the 52-year-old remains convinced that he is the right fit for the Lilywhites.

Thomas Frank is honoured to get Tottenham opportunity

The Dane has now admitted that he is proud to get the opportunity to manage one of the biggest clubs in the Premier League, but insists that he earned the right to do so.

Even though the Spurs are languishing in the bottom half of the table, he remains optimistic about the club’s trajectory and backs himself to turn things around.

Frank told Sky Sports: “I’m super happy to have 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.

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“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.”

Frank suggests Spurs may not be a Champions League club right now

The Lilywhites qualified for the Champions League through the back door by winning the Europa League club last season, but Frank suggests that they might not be a top four or five club at the moment.

He also referenced the fact that he has had to do without some of Tottenham’s best attacking players and suggested that the team is showing sings of improvement.

The former Brentford boss added: “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.”

Tottenham Hotspur’s gritty win over Crystal Palace has seen Opta’s Supercomputer revise its prediction on where the Lilywhites will finish this term.

Given how close the Premier League table is this season, one or two results could make a huge difference to a team’s position.

That is demonstrated by what has happened to Tottenham Hotspur, who picked up what was just their second win in their last nine Premier League outings on Sunday.

Their 1-0 win at Selhurst Park has seen them rise to 11th place in the Premier League table and has left them just four points behind Chelsea in fifth place.

Opta’s Supercomputer predicts where Tottenham will finish this season

Following Spurs’ 2-1 loss to Liverpool at home last week, Opta predicted that the Lilywhites would finish in 13th place in the Premier League table.

However, Opta’s Supercomputer has now revised its prediction after Archie Gray’s goal saw Thomas Frank’s men emerge with all three points against Palace.

Their algorithm now predicts that the North London club will finish the season in 11th place, with an expected 52.67 points.

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However, Opta give Spurs just a 2.06 per cent chance of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

Is Champions League qualification a realistic objective for Spurs?

However, most Spurs fans would concede that the team is not playing anything like a top-five side this season.

While Tottenham did show plenty of resilience at Selhurst Park, they once again looked short of ideas in the final third, and the creativity issue is not something Frank has managed to solve.

Archie Gray has just done something that has not been seen at Tottenham Hotspur for nearly 10 years.

The 19-year-old was the hero for the Lilywhites at Selhurst Park, heading in his first senior goal, which proved to be the difference between Spurs and Crystal Palace.

The teenager was beaming ear-to-ear after nodding the header into the back of the net before being mobbed by his teammates.

Gray admitted that it was an ‘incredible feeling’ to open his account in front of goal for Tottenham, 18 months after his switch from Leeds United.

According to OptaJoe, Gray became the youngest Englishman to score a Premier League goal for Tottenham in nearly 10 years.

The Leeds academy graduate was 19 years and 291 days old on Sunday, which makes him the youngest Englishman since Dele Alli (19 years and 287 days) to score in the competition for the Lilywhites.

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Interestingly, Dele’s goal also came against Palace and Selhurst Park, and it is a strike that most Spurs fans will remember.

Gray showed resilience to bounce back from mistake

It was only two weeks ago that Gray made a poor error against Nottingham Forest, and a moment like that could have shattered a young player’s confidence.

However, he has bounced back brilliantly from that and richly deserved his goal at Selhurst Park.

Tottenham were given a glimpse of what they have been missing with one bright cameo off the bench against Crystal Palace.

Thomas Frank saw his Tottenham Hotspur side get back to winning ways on Sunday evening when they secured a 1-0 win over London rivals Crystal Palace.

It was a hard-fought victory for Spurs, who had to dig deep as they defended their early first-half goal scored by 19-year-old Archie Gray.

Tottenham are now four points off fifth-placed Chelsea heading into the new year, and the expectation will be that they can carry on from here.

Wilson Odobert cameo stands out in Tottenham win

While three vital points were picked up, Spurs’ performance was far from convincing, especially in the first half, where they barely caused Crystal Palace problems.

However, in the second half, after a few changes, Spurs looked more threatening, particularly down the left when Wilson Odobert came on for Muani.

Despite featuring for just 27 minutes, Odobert was a standout performer for Tottenham, and his underlying numbers back this up.

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Odobert’s stats from the match were as follows:

Why Spurs may need Odobert from the start

Spurs need to find the right balance in the forward areas of the pitch if they are to remain an attacking threat.

Presently, the balance on the left is non-existent when Muani is used in that position with Djed Spence supporting him, as both players often look to cut inside, making the pitch too narrow for Spurs and rendering their attacks down that side predictable.

Lucas Bergvall picked up an injury against Crystal Palace, meaning Tottenham have been tasked with identifying an alternative to fill the void.

Tottenham Hotspur might not be experiencing an injury crisis on the same level as last season, but there are still a number of players who remain unavailable.

Lucas Bergvall is the latest to join this list after having to be subbed off during the 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace. This could be particularly problematic for Spurs because Pape Matar Sarr is away at AFCON and Xavi Simons is still suspended.

There are not many options left for Thomas Frank to call on, but here are three players who could step in to replace Bergvall.

Luca Williams-Barnett is the obvious choice to replace Bergvall

It is a shame that Luca Williams-Barnett has only played three minutes of football for the Tottenham senior team, because he appears to be a real talent.

The attacking midfielder would slot perfectly into the current team and possesses more natural attacking flair than Bergvall.

Williams-Barnett has registered 15 goals and seven assists in 16 appearances this season and now seems like the perfect time to give him his first taste of Premier League football.

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Callum Olusesi could be handed a Spurs promotion

It is only just over three months until Callum Olusesi celebrates his 19th birthday, so he will want to be getting some first-team chances at this point in his career.

The central midfielder, who can also play in a more attacking role, has only made the Spurs squad once this season. This was when he was an unused substitute during the 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle.

Olusesi is one of Tottenham’s most promising academy prospects and he has been particularly impressive in the UEFA Youth League. It would be good to see him given a chance, even if it is only for one or two matches.

Tottenham could recall Jamie Donley from his disastrous loan spell

It would not be surprising if Spurs recall Jamie Donley from Stoke City and send him on loan elsewhere. After all, the Northern Ireland international has been given very few minutes to impress at the Bet365 Stadium.

Before sending Donely away again, Tottenham could actually look to use him until the return of either Bergvall or Simons.

The 20-year-old did very well at Leyton Orient last season and with experience of senior football already under his belt, he could be the best option to fill Bergvall’s boots.

Tottenham Hotspur are approaching a defining run of fixtures as the Premier League season reaches its midpoint, with their upcoming schedule offering an interesting comparison against the division’s traditional heavyweights.

Tottenham Hotspur have managed to stay abreast of the top sides in the Premier League despite their inconsistency so far this season.

We are at the halfway stage of the current league campaign, and Spurs, who sit in 11th place, are just four points off the top five.

Thomas Frank has already come under external pressure this term, given Spurs’ poor run of form, but with the Tottenham board backing him, he looks set to lead the club into 2026.

Tottenham Hotspur fixtures compared to Big Six rivals

Spurs ended a two-game losing streak in the Premier League when they beat Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Sunday evening, and, following that win, Spurs Web has taken a look at Tottenham’s upcoming Premier League fixtures compared to their Big Six rivals.

Arsenal’s next five fixtures

Chelsea’s next five fixtures

Liverpool’s next five fixtures

Manchester City’s next five fixtures

Manchester United’s next five fixtures

Tottenham’s next five Premier League fixtures

Tottenham Hotspur’s narrow win over Crystal Palace may have eased some short-term pressure, but a closer look at the performance suggests deeper issues remain beneath the surface.

Many Tottenham Hotspur fans have consistently voiced their desire for the club to play front-foot attacking football.

However, under Thomas Frank, such displays have been hard to come by, even though Spurs have secured victories in several games already this season.

The Tottenham faithful remain unconvinced by the Dane, with many wondering if he is the right man to lead the club forward, given his pragmatic approach.

Stats highlight concerns after Tottenham win over Crystal Palace

Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace was more of the same from Tottenham, who were far from attacking in the first forty-five minutes.

In fact, Spurs failed to create a single chance from open play in the first half against Oliver Glasner’s side, with their only goal coming from a set piece.

Frank will take the win regardless, given the pressure and criticism he has received in recent months, but the underlying numbers show that the victory is merely papering over the cracks at Spurs.

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Why Spurs performances remain a concern despite results

Tottenham were still far from being the dominant attacking side that many fans are desperate to see.

Stats show that Spurs managed eight shots in the game against Crystal Palace, with four of those on target.

However, they created just one big chance against their London rivals, who were far more threatening in attack and could quite easily have beaten Spurs on another day.

Palace, on the other hand, recorded 15 shots, two on target, two big chances created and had an expected goals figure of 1.47, compared to Spurs’ xG of 0.88.

Tottenham Hotspur managed to pick up all three points against Crystal Palace on Sunday and the match became a special occasion for one player in particular.

Tottenham Hotspur had a good record away from home in the Premier League this season, but this has not been the case in recent weeks.

Thomas Frank has seen his team suffer 4-1 and 3-0 defeats against Arsenal and Nottingham Forest respectively and they were unable to get a win at Newcastle United.

However, Spurs are back in form on the road after defeating Crystal Palace by a single goal. Here are the three winners and losers from the closely contested victory.

Archie Gray was on target for Tottenham

Archie Gray has been nowhere to be seen for a large part of this season, but he has recently enjoyed a good run of matches in the first-team.

The young midfielder came under fire after his costly error against Nottingham Forest a fortnight ago, but he will remember his display against Crystal Palace for all the right reasons.

Gray scored what would go on to be Tottenham’s winning goal, heading the ball in from a corner. It was not the most difficult finish, but he got himself into the right place at the right time to become the hero for Spurs.

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Kevin Danso kept a clean sheet

Cristian Romero was ruled out of the Crystal Palace fixture after his moment of madness against Liverpool saw him shown a red card. This meant Kevin Danso had to step up, as he has already done this season.

The 27-year-old did not look at all out of place in the Tottenham team. In fact, he was one of their best players during the 1-0 victory.

Danso won 11 duels and made 16 clearances in what was a fine defensive display. He also looked to help Spurs launch attacks with his long balls.

Wilson Odobert looked lively off the Tottenham bench

Even though Wilson Odobert was not selected to start against Crystal Palace, he made his presence known on the pitch.

The winger entered the pitch shortly after the hour mark and almost found the net with a very good effort which bounced out off the inside of the post.

Odobert won all his duels and always looked to get forward when the ball was at his feet. He should definitely be on the pitch from the start against Brentford on Thursday.

Now let’s look at the three losers from Crystal Palace 0-1 Tottenham…

Lucas Bergvall has picked up an injury

Lucas Bergvall has found himself in a more attacking role this season and he has shown a lot of promise at certain moments.

However, the Swede failed to create chances against Crystal Palace and was one of the least effective players on the pitch.

Things got worse for Bergvall as he was substituted after getting injured, so he could not be looking at a spell on the sidelines.

Randal Kolo Muani was a waste on the left wing

Frank must surely understand after Sunday that there is no use in playing Randal Kolo Muani as a winger, because he did very little for Tottenham.

The France international failed to go on any successful dribbles and did nothing notable during the 63 minutes he spent on the pitch.

Richarlison might not have added to his goals tally against Palace, but he did have two efforts disallowed and an assist which counted. It certainly seems as though he will continue to start in the striker role ahead of Muani.

Pedro Porro is struggling at Tottenham

The award for the best Spurs assist this season goes to… Pedro Porro. Or at least it would have if offside goals counted, because his cross to Richarlison in the first half was simply outstanding.

Unfortunately, the right back’s crossing for the rest of the game was below his usual standards and he struggled to help Tottenham in attack.

Porro worked hard in defence, but there were times when he was dribbled past or failed to make tackles. Also, the 26 year old’s passing was really poor throughout the game, something which needs to change when he returns to action against Brentford.

Thomas Frank has suggested that Tottenham’s performances over the last couple of months have not been as bad as the results suggest.

Spurs emerged with a hard-fought 1-0 win from Selhurst Park on Sunday, which was just their second Premier League win in their last nine matches.

The result sees the move upto 11th place in the table, leaving the Lilywhites just four points off Chelsea in fifth place, which perhaps demonstrates how close the Premier League is this term.

The result also relieves Frank of a little pressure for the time being, with Spurs now boasting of the best away record in the division.

Thomas Frank believes Tottenham are moving in the right direction

The Tottenham head coach suggested that the consistency in his side’s performances of late has been better than the results suggest.

He pointed out that his side gave Liverpool a game last weekend despite playing with a numerical disadvantage for the majority of the encounter.

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When asked if Champions League qualification now seems achievable since Spurs are just four points behind fifth place, Frank responded (via Football.London): “I think, how can you say it, the consistency in these performances, before the game I said we had four out of five good performances, including the Liverpool one in many ways.

“This is another one in terms of consistently working hard. Not everything was perfect, but it’s a good step in the right direction. That’s what we need to keep working on. Then get a little bit more in form of the offensive players, and then step by step.”

Frank highlights Spurs’ set-piece edge

One area where Frank has undoubtedly improved Tottenham is in their effectiveness in set pieces.

Archie Gray’s goal against Crystal Palace is the ninth time the North Londoners have scored from set-pieces this season, and Frank admitted that he is delighted with the way the players have bought into that aspect of the game.

The 52-year-old added: “Every team needs to find an edge, and set-pieces is one hugely important area. We saw the Chelsea v Villa game yesterday, and two out of three goals were set-pieces, so it is hugely important we keep working on that and very happy the way the players have really brought into it.”