Thomas Frank has made an interesting admission about his best Tottenham team after experimenting with different combinations over the last few weeks.
The Tottenham boss has repeatedly spoken about the importance of managing player workload in order to avoid another injury crisis at the North London club this season.
He has certainly not been hesitant to rotate his squad over the last few weeks as the club’s schedule has got busier, but the Dane has had mixed success.
Many felt Frank made an error by starting Joao Palhinha with Rodrigo Bentancur against Wolves as the Lilywhites struggled to create chances.
Thomas Frank will continue rotating the Tottenham squad
Some may have felt that an away Champions League game was the sort of match where Tottenham needed Palhinha, but he was named on the bench against Bodo/Glimt.
Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson were given the nod to start out wide, with Mohammed Kudus also dropping to the bench.
The selection decisions did not work, and Spurs looked a lot better when the likes of Palhinha and Kudus came on, managing to fight back from 2-0 down to salvage a point.
When asked if he is struggling to find the right blend and balance in starting elevens, Frank responded (via Football.London): “I think that’s too early to judge, in my opinion. You can say we didn’t play our best first half today, but I think I made it very clear from the beginning that I have a big respect for Bodo, and everyone should have for what they do and what Kjetil Knutsen is doing.
“I think it’s also fair to say that we didn’t touch the ball in the first half last year either, and it was still 0-0 at that half. I think they were slightly better today in the first half, Bodo, so I think that’s more respect to them.
“I think it’s also fair to say that it went quite well against Wolves in the first half, so I know that’s a bigger perspective. I think it’s overall, you can say with a lot of games, that go-to starting XI you like to find at a certain stage, that’s something I’m looking into, which is normal. New coach, new players, and we still need to do a little bit of rotation.”
Why Frank’s answer will worry many Spurs fans
Frank’s suggestion that Tottenham’s first-half performances against Wolves and Bodo/Glimt were acceptable would worry Spurs supporters.
One can tell that when the Dane assesses performances, he primarily looks at defensive control rather than his side’s ability to create chances.
While that would have been acceptable at a club like Brentford, the reality is that he is going to come under pressure at Tottenham if performances like this continue and the results are not there to back it up.
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