Wandsworth Times

Spurs were seconds away from only a fourth Premier League home win in 2025 when Mathys Tel and Richarlison struck late on to put them 2-1 up.

Richarlison’s inclusion on the left ahead of Wilson Odobert raised eyebrows after Odobert impressed in the 4-0 victory over Copenhagen while Frank went with a completely different option in Lucas Bergvall for the disappointing display in a 1-0 loss to Chelsea.

Frank has constantly tweaked his starting XI since his June arrival from Brentford, but largely stuck with a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Yet, with Xavi Simons more influential in the number 10 role in recent weeks and Randal Kolo Muani starting to gain sharpness up front, there are green shoots for Tottenham despite a lengthy list of absentees.

“We are searching to find the right balance up front and I think when we look at the game back, I think there was positive bits going forward,” Frank reflected.

“We constantly work on the relationship and try to improve it with the players and try to find what is exactly the right blend, but I think there were small steps in the right direction.

(Against United) we wanted two strikers, Kolo Muani and Richarlison, for the crosses, which we thought was an area where we potentially could hurt United.

“I think it worked perfectly with the first one (by Brennan Johnson), where Richarlison got a big chance, so that could have been an unbelievable, fantastic game plan from us.

“So that was part of it and we need different personalities and types for different games.”

Frank immediately improved Tottenham’s away form in the league, with impressive early wins over Manchester City, West Ham and Leeds, but arresting a longstanding poor record at home has been more tricky.

A lack of progressive passer in midfield and cutting-edge in attack has hampered Spurs in N17, but France Under-21 winger Odobert produced his latest eye-catching display on Saturday and has made a strong case to be a regular on the left.

Frank added: “Wilson, yeah, I think again he’s positive.

“I think he’s stepping up and doing things that look right.”

Tottenham captain Cristian Romero and Kolo Muani were forced off against United, but Frank played down concerns, with the latter’s unspecified issue described as “nothing big.”

On Romero, Frank said: “He was just done physically. He just came back from that injury. He’s fine.”

United lost Harry Maguire, Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko to injuries during the 2-2 draw.

On Sesko, Ruben Amorim revealed: “We have to check. He has something in his knee. Let’s see.”

Amorim continued: “Harry has to come out, Casemiro has to come out, Ben — then they score two goals again in a short period of time, but to manage to score again, so it’s a point.

“When you cannot win, you don’t lose the game, and once again, we managed to do that.”

Speculation over Postecoglou’s future has been rife for months following a difficult winter where 14th-placed Spurs slid down the Premier League table amid a hefty list of injuries.

It has left the Europa League as Tottenham’s only chance to salvage a difficult campaign and with Eintracht Frankfurt set to visit on Thursday in the quarter-final first leg, Postecoglou made reference to a national newspaper opinion piece which suggested even European glory may be too little, too late for him.

“I just think we’re in that position that the good stuff we may do is going to be turned into a glass half full rhetoric and from that perspective I don’t think that can be a driver in what we want to do. The lads are really keen to bring success to the club,” Postecoglou said.

“(Someone) wrote that even if we win it, I’m gone anyway. That’s not having a go at you, that’s just saying the general sentiment of people. So if you’re trying to use that as a motivation, you’re not going to win that anyway.

“I came to this club with a clear purpose and vision of what the club needed and what I could offer. That is to change the way the team plays, to obviously rejuvenate the squad because it was a squad that was coming towards the end of a cycle and to bring success.

“As long as I’m in this position, that’s always my focus, irrespective of whatever noise there is or what there may or not be in the future. I don’t see that that should diminish my burning ambition, my desire and my determination to make that happen.

“Anything you achieve in life usually comes with a struggle. Certainly everything I have achieved in my life has come with a struggle from a professional perspective.

“This is just another struggle, but never through this struggle have I lost the will to fight for what I think is the right thing to do and I’ll continue to do that.”

Spurs will be without key figure Dejan Kulusevski (foot) but have a largely fully-fit squad, with one of Postecoglou’s biggest decisions whether to start Brennan Johnson or Wilson Odobert on the right wing.

Johnson scored twice in Sunday’s 3-1 victory over Southampton to take his tally to 16 for the season but was denied a hat-trick after Mathys Tel was allowed to take a stoppage-time penalty over the Wales forward.

Tottenham vice-captain Cristian Romero handed the ball to Tel to squash any debate, but questions on the subject on Wednesday frustrated Postecoglou.

He added: “It’s incredible, it’s just literally turning gold into crap when it’s Tottenham. Seriously. If we’re 2-1 up tomorrow night and get a penalty in the last minute, I want the best penalty-taker to take it.

“I mean the one slight against this club is apparently it hasn’t been a winner. Well the winner’s mentality in the last minute of the game is to score a goal. We scored a goal and yet somehow in this ultimate universe where everything Tottenham does is wrong, that’s come out as a negative.”