Thomas Frank believes Tottenham Hotspur got increasingly poor as the Monaco game wore on
Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League draw away to Monaco was a tense and disciplined performance centred on goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario. The Italian’s outstanding display helped Thomas Frank’s side secure a 0-0 result at the Stade Louis, keeping them unbeaten in Europe. Yet, as the manager admitted afterwards, the match revealed deeper questions about focus and energy.
Monaco’s attacking trio, led by Folarin Balogun and Maghnes Akliouche, unsettled Tottenham’s attempts to build from the back. Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha struggled for space and were often forced into quick sideways passes. Young Archie Gray, starting at left back, endured a difficult opening spell but responded with calmness and awareness way beyond his age.
Tottenham’s first meaningful chance came after twenty minutes when Wilson Odobert’s cross found Micky van de Ven, whose header drifted just over the bar. That moment aside, Monaco grew stronger, and Vicario became the key figure. He denied Balogun three times before halftime, blocking low drives and reacting quickly to close-range efforts as the home side pressed forward. Second half was mostly the same, with Spurs getting the rare chance to counter, but without avail. Pressing visibly went down, as the Lilywhites could not make enough of their opposition and were really lucky to win the solitary point.
Speaking of the drop-offs in levels of pressure applied and intensity, here is what the boss had to say via the club’s official website:
“Good question. Maybe we need to think a little bit more about it and try to come up with an answer. There can be many, many things. It can be a combination of playing a good and very competitive game against Villa, I think we performed very well, then to go again. Some haven’t done that too much, some have. It can be just on the day you don’t get a top performance, and I think actually the first half was okay in that sense, but I think in the second half we lacked more.”
Take more risks!
The introduction of players like Pape Matar Sarr, Brennan Johnson and Xavi Simons 15-25 minutes into the second half also failed to produce anything worthwhile, as the drop-offs in levels was as glaring as it could get. Too many lateral passes, lack of creative output. At times, it also felt like there was only two lines of setup and no creative output. Just the backline and the attack.
There seems to be a rigidity in terms of structure under Frank. He has to adapt to the situation and remain as dynamic as possible instead of just sticking to one plan.
This is very similar to what went wrong with Ange Postecoglou (on the other end of the spectrum) as well. He attacked too often, and Frank is sitting his side in too often.
Thomas Frank believes Tottenham Hotspur got increasingly poor as the Monaco game wore on.
This is a squad with much greater potential than what we are seeing.
While results can come now or later, the process has to remain right, and there has to be that sense of realisation that things might go wrong with this setup. Hence, having alternative styles of play will surely help. Of course, keeping that attacking sense alive. With the fixtures now only getting tougher by the day, there has to come about a change, and an effective one at that. Else, the day’s going to turn out to be pretty long.