Thomas Frank is preparing for a huge Champions League tie, and a Tottenham selection call he made earlier in the season is now one he feels he got wrong.
Thomas Frank has 22 players registered for the league phase of the Champions League, which should, in theory, give Tottenham options on paper going into midweek football.
However, injuries to Dominic Solanke and Destiny Udogie mean he has twenty players available for the meeting with Slavia Praha, and the bench may look thinner than he would have liked.
Mathys Tel is fit and training, but remains unavailable for this phase of the competition after Frank left him out of his initial 22-man registration list back in the summer.
Thomas Frank reflects on Mathys Tel Champions League squad call
Of course, if Tottenham had enough club-trained players available, then Frank would have been allowed a full allocation of 25 for European selection, and that is where the complication stems from.
The manager has now opened up on the decision to leave Mathys Tel out, and made clear that with hindsight, he may have gone another way on the matter.
Speaking on the topic, Frank told football.london that he regretted the original call and feels he may have handled the selection differently had he been armed with more information at the time.
He said: “If I knew then what I know now I would have changed my decision, no doubt about it. I think there is some consideration with the players we have available to have the most possible weapons to fire with.”
Tottenham run the risk of losing Mathys Tel in January
Frank still has Tel as an option domestically in the Premier League, although the forward has not started any of Tottenham’s last eight matches in all competitions.
He is versatile enough to feature centrally or in wide areas, yet a place in the starting eleven remains out of reach at present, given the competition for places.
His lack of minutes has sparked interest in Europe, with AS Roma monitoring him ahead of a potential January loan move.