What kind of team is Frank trying to build?
The sights in Monte Carlo are glamorous at the best of times. The same can’t be said for the Tottenham performance in Monaco on Wednesday night. The Lilywhites managed to grab a precious away point in Stade Louis II, but only thanks to some heroic saves from their keeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Toothless in attack
The Italian shot-stopper pulled off a string of saves and was presented a deserved man of the match award after the 90 minutes. He made four great saves in the first half, three from former Arsenal forward Folarin Balogun, then another clawed effort to deny Maghnes Akliouche.
The lack of attacking prowess will be alarming for Thomas Frank. Richarlison spent most of his hour on the pitch running around like a headless chicken, with the ball occasionally bouncing off him, as he lacked control. The Brazilian looked annoyed when he was subbed off in the second half, so who knows what game he was watching!
His replacement, Randal Kolo Muani, didn’t fair much better. Although there were flashes of pace and skill. He held the ball up and looked slightly better than his elusive striking teammate. The frenchman had only played 24 minutes in two substitute appearances this season, so he’s still getting up to speed with his new team.
Does anyone know the answer?
It’s hard to say what kind of team this group of players are trying to be. I hope an identity crisis isn’t on the cards, but this team certainly doesn’t have the forward thinking approach of Ange Postecoglou.On the flip side they don’t defend so high with a self destructive manner at the back. We need to continue to look at the positives. A draw in the Champions League away from home is a good result. A Postecoglou team could’ve easily crumbled under the pressure of all those Monaco attacks, but Frank’s team stood firm.
He’s already mentioned the positive mentality of the players and that mindset seems to be standing strong. There’s also the fact that injuries remain a problem for the team. Ten first team squad members were unavailable for the trip to France. Cristian Romero missed out again, after pulling out of the warmup before the defeat to Aston Villa. Destiny Udogie and Dominic Solanke are the other significant absentees. Then you have the longer term injuries of Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Radu Dragusin, all with knee problems. Once some of these key players are back we could see a more settled identity in the team.
Stat attack
I’m not sure if anyone has noticed, but I love to mention stats when writing before of after a match! Remarkably this was the first 0-0 scoreline Tottenham have recorded in 125 games (we’re not counting the July friendly against Luton Town)! That was also in the Champions League, against AC Milan in March 2023.
More positive statistics include the fact that Spurs are unbeaten in their first three games of the competition, with two being played away. They’ve only managed that once before and that was during the 2017-18 Champions League campaign, which was the peak of the Pochettino years.
The North London outfit currently sit 15th in this large European table and the next two fixtures are a home tie with FC Copenhagen and a tough away trip to PSG. If Tottenham play how they did Wednesday night at the Parc des Princes it’s unlikely they’ll escape with a point.
Everton preview
Next up in the Premier League is a trip to Everton. This will be the first time Tottenham have played in the new Hill Dickinson Stadium. Frank will be hoping that his team’s decent form on the road continues, after the 2-1 away win at Elland Road in their last outing.
Tottenham have the most away points in the Premier League this season (10: W3, D1) that’s 71% of their points so far (10/14) However, they haven’t had much luck in the blue area of Merseyside in recent years. Spurs are winless in their last six visits to the Toffees (D5, L1), losing this exact fixture 3-2 in January.
Although Everton ran out winners last time, they’ve not consecutively won against Tottenham since December 2012. This was during David Moyes’ first spell at the club. All these factors point towards a tantalising encounter on Sunday afternoon.
