Spurs head past the Arctic Circle in search of added creativity

Thomas Frank said the difficulties Spurs have up front was because ‘we have more or less a new front four’. Photograph: Matthew Childs/Action Images/Reuters

No game is an island; every game is inevitably coloured by what has gone before. It is not quite five months since Tottenham last came north of the Arctic Circle and, for all that Thomas Frank insisted this is a “new situation”, that previous meeting with Bodø/Glimt in the semi-final of the Europa League can not but colour this one in the league phase of the Champions League.

There was an odd echo, too, in the buildup. Back then, the Glimt full-back Fredrik Sjøvold was dismissive of Tottenham’s pressing, which clearly riled Ange Postecoglou.