Thomas Frank has admitted he is still to decide on his best Tottenham team but promised his players would not panic should they concede another early goal in Saturday’s meeting with his former club Brentford.
Spurs suffered their record-equalling 10th home defeat of 2025 against Fulham last Saturday after going 2-0 down in the sixth minute and a section of supporters booed the goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario after his mistake for the second. But a spirited performance at Newcastle in midweek in which Cristian Romero equalised with an overhead kick in added time has lifted spirits after three successive losses.
Frank has increasingly tinkered with his lineup as he attempts to juggle the demands of two matches a week, with only Chelsea and Wolves having made more changes this season. In particular, he seems undecided over the left of his attack, having rotated between Brennan Johnson, Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert for most of the season. The £51m signing Xavi Simons has not started the past four matches.
Asked whether he was still searching for his best team, the head coach said: “Yes, I think it’s fair. I’ve got an idea of quite a few positions. I also think there’s competition so it’s not that easy all the time to say: ‘OK, it’s just those 11,’ because you need more than 11 players. It’s a combination also with the amount of games and that rotation, so definitely for the rest of the season if we do well in the Champions League there will be rotations. But it will be closer and closer until you see the main nine or 10 players that we go with.”
Frank spent nine years at Brentford before replacing Ange Postecoglou at Spurs in the summer and he insisted old friendships would be put on ice on Saturday. Keith Andrews’ side have lost six of their seven league away games but Tottenham’s only home league victory came against Burnley on the opening day. Frank is confident his players are not mentally scarred by their disastrous start against Fulham.
“It was a freak six minutes, but that of course happens when things are not perfect,” he said. “I think it’s about talking about it. You can’t run away from it … No matter what happens, stick to the plan. No matter what happens, be calm. And then encourage each other. And then like with everything, it’s one step at a time. Then we know every game you will have a bit of momentum. And then it’s about taking that.”
Mikkel Damsgaard was a key component of Frank’s Brentford side as a playmaker and Frank believes Simons has the quality to become as important for Tottenham. “That’s one of the reasons why we got him here. I think he’s got a very big potential to be that playmaker. I have a big belief that he’ll be very good for us … As long as the player trains well, keeps the right attitude, keeps doing the right thing, step by step, we will see him flourish. I’m not in doubt of that. We’re always so good to judge him now, but probably after a year or two: ‘Oh, how good is he?’ Now everyone is talking about Damsgaard. He did two seasons before he really flourished in the third one.”
