Tottenham head coach Thomas Frank is looking to rectify Spurs’ home Premier League struggles when the Europa League winners host his former employers Brentford on Saturday afternoon
Thomas Frank admits he’s felt the weight of extra pressure since swapping Brentford for Tottenham. The Dane, who spent nine years bossing the Bees, knows only victory will do today against his former employers.
After almost six months in his new role in N17, he concedes the period of adaptation has not come without stress. Frank said: “Definitely, definitely I’ve felt that.
“It hasn’t surprised me because I knew that was the difference when I walked into it. But like anything else, you don’t know it before you’re standing in it. Like really know it. So now I know it’s ‘okay, it’s like this,’ and then we deal with it.”
The 52-year-old tactician has now won just eight of his opening 22 matches in the Tottenham hot-seat. Additionally, his side have picked up just one sole victory – on the first day of the season against Burnley – from seven Premier League home encounters.
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Frank actually boasted a better points-per-game ratio at both Brentford and Brondby and he’s now acknowledged that he’s still yet to determine his strongest Spurs XI.
When quizzed on whether that was the case, he replied: “Yes, I think it’s fair. I’ve got an idea of quite a few positions but I also think there’s competition so it’s not that easy all the time to say ‘okay, it’s just those 11’ because you need more than 11 players.
“Normally you see most teams find their strongest team and it will usually be those nine players all the time and then maybe change two, sometimes it’s 10.”
At Brentford, Frank was used to playing just once per week, occasionally twice but he would regularly oversee a full week of training.
Saturday’s contest will represent Tottenham’s fourth game in just 11 days and the gruelling festive schedule only gets tougher from here on in.
In his view, the fixture pile-up is the toughest challenge he’s had to navigate since moving across the capital.
He continued: “I think the biggest difference obviously now is the amount of games, I think that’s the biggest thing, the short turnaround.
“Of course I experienced it during Covid, we had 21 games in a row, that was Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Wednesday and so on. With a lot of travelling, that’s heavy.
“Nailing the message, nailing the team and all that bit, how you create a side that should be more and more in sync when you also need to rotate, that’s the challenge.”
Tottenham have no fresh injury concerns ahead of hosting Keith Andrews’ side after Destiny Udogie and Brennan Johnson both came through unscathed following small fitness worries at Newcastle.
Spurs are looking for their first win in six in all competitions. Only Wolves (one) have claimed fewer home points in the Premier League this term.
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