‘It’s over’ Frank Era Hanging by a Thread as Fans and Players Reel Amid Relegation Threat — Fixing the Crisis Will Require More Than Just Sacking the Manager
‘It’s over’ Frank Era Hanging by a Thread as Fans and Players Reel Amid Relegation Threat — Fixing the Crisis Will Require More Than Just Sacking the Manager
During and in the aftermath of last month’s damaging home defeat to a faltering West Ham side, the atmosphere inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium turned openly hostile. Sections of the Spurs support could be heard chanting “you’re getting sacked in the morning” at Thomas Frank, a stark reflection of how quickly patience has evaporated. It is difficult to recall a Tottenham head coach who has generated such widespread unpopularity in such a short space of time. Even George Graham, a man synonymous with Arsenal and deeply unpopular by default among Spurs fans, managed to ease tensions by delivering silverware in the form of a League Cup. Frank, by contrast, has offered neither results nor reassurance.
A lack of style and substance
Much of the concern surrounding Frank’s suitability for the Tottenham job initially centred on his tactical identity and how it would translate to a club that expects proactive, attacking football. At Brentford, particularly during their Championship years, Frank’s teams did play with ambition, intensity and a clear front-foot approach. However, that period now feels a long time ago, and even then there were legitimate doubts about whether those methods would be effective at Premier League level.
The problem is that Tottenham are not, and never have been, a club built to play that way. Under Frank, Spurs have failed to look like a reliable attacking force, regardless of the opposition or tactical setup. Whether facing teams at the top or bottom of the table, there has been little sense of cohesion, fluency or sustained threat in the final third.
If there is one area where Frank may feel some sympathy is in recruitment and squad construction. Brentford operated within a carefully designed model that prioritised smart recruitment, clear roles and gradual player development. Tottenham, by contrast, remain a high-pressure environment where mistakes are magnified and long-term planning has often been undermined by short-term thinking. The club’s attempt to rebuild an attack without Harry Kane, and now without a fully fit and firing Son Heung-min, has been messy at best.
Coaching has undoubtedly played a role in that decline, but so too has the personnel available. Season-long injuries to Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison have deprived Frank of his two most creative and influential playmakers, leaving Spurs without guile or imagination in central areas for large parts of the campaign. That context does matter.
Yet the problems extend far beyond the attacking line. Despite abandoning Ange Postecoglou’s aggressive high defensive line, Tottenham remain alarmingly easy to play through. Control in midfield is almost non-existent, largely because the available options are all variations of box-to-box profiles, with no natural tempo-setter capable of dictating games. As a result, Spurs are often reactive rather than authoritative.
Perhaps most concerning of all is the visible lack of confidence and clarity. Players appear hesitant to take risks they would have embraced just a year ago. At Brentford, Frank’s teams had well-drilled patterns, particularly in exploiting wide areas before cutting inside as attacks developed. At Tottenham, those automatisms are missing. Too often, players look uncertain of their roles, their movements disjointed and their decision-making rushed.