The Window Shuts, The Questions Remain

A fine outcome to the City game soothed our troubled emotions, a welcome relief from recent struggles. A point! A home point! Yes, it has come to this, but I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to get behind the team. The fans’ effort matched that of the players and most of the South Stand stayed to applaud them off. 

It was heartening to see spirit, guts and taking the game to our opponents pays dividends. Xavi arrives as proper Spurs. He’s taken stock, inhaled deeply and told himself, right, this is what the Premier League is all about and I’m up for it. I’m Xavi Simons and I will show them all how good I am. And he is. Solanke ran himself senseless for the team, he’s a focal point, target man and finisher. The whole shape looks better with him in the team. I like his close control and ability to nick a fraction ahead of his marker.

Gallagher I like a lot too. He drives the team forwards, makes himself available, is fearless and shows the others the way. His assist was a template for the games ahead, winning the ball through sheer determination then delivering a sweet centre. More please. 

The TOMM mantra is always enjoy a win, or in this case a vitally important comeback that hopefully injects some much needed momentum into the tricky games ahead.  Optimism has been in short supply lately so let’s take it where we can. However, let nobody pretend this addresses the chronic problems facing the club. My last piece articulated my assessment of the situation so I won’t go over well-trodden ground again but the relative inaction during the transfer window may provide further clues to the short-term future.

Thomas Frank came with a reputation for sound organisation, tactical nouse and as a man-motivator. We’ve seen none of this at Spurs, where he seems out of his depth. The Burnley match served as a further indictment of his methods. Once again, he took an overly cautious approach to a game against the bottom side but to be fair, three at the back doesn’t have to be negative and in the first half, it enabled us to get forward frequently. Once under pressure, however, the tactics crumbled and the defensive unit appeared to have not been introduced to each other, let alone work together. Frank’s adjustments to tactics don’t work because the side are not clear about their basic approach in the first place, unlike his time at Brentford where he had years to instil his methods into his players. 

To be fair to him, the injury toll would be nigh on impossible for any coach to manage. Much criticism has been directed at the medical staff, most recently by Romero at least by implication. Yet I thought we totally revamped this side of our operations this season. We will probably never know what’s been going on behind the scenes but the medics don’t work in isolation. They treat problems, caused variously by bad luck, over-playing and/or coming back too soon when not fully recovered from an injury. 

Which brings us back to the squad and the transfer window. If most players are fit, we can select a decent side but the lack of cover in certain areas, such as full-back, leads to overwork and the lack of alternatives creates real problems. Porro has been run into the ground. However, the window has brought little cover or comfort. The club appear unwilling to invest in premier league ready players at this point. They have been busy hoovering up teenage talent from other clubs, including Wilson from Hearts and youngsters from West Ham and Chelsea, but this neglects the here, now and next season for that matter. The club hierarchy stated their aim to be competing on all fronts but this laudable intention isn’t supported by the reality of our recruitment policy, in a context where our league position and form is dire. It feels like the hierarchy are in denial, pretending our lousy form is just a blip, not a structural fault.

Legitimate questions follow. One, why can’t our vaunted revamped recruitment team, stuffed with analysts high on data and led by Lange find any players? Two, why sell our top goalscorer without securing a replacement? Three, that £150m pumped into the club last year – what exactly is that for, because it does not seem to be available for players. History tells us the answer is that Tottenham owners first and foremost safeguard their investment. I hope I’m wrong.

And of course, four, how long can the manager stay in his position? Again, the team’s league position and form do not appear to be the key factors in this decision. My interpretation is the board, including the owners and Venai, counted on this season being one of consolidation. In this scenario, Frank is seen as a safe pair of hands, a force for stability, and maybe we’d get a decent run in the cups. By May 2026, the board would have a better idea of what they needed to do, their preference being to help Frank build his side gradually and allow him to come to terms with the demands of managing Spurs. Essentially this is how Venai approached his work at Arsenal, and look where they are now. 

But this is Tottenham. However much the board would wish to turn a deaf ear, the hoofbeats of history thunder up on the inside track and they have been overtaken by a series of unanticipated problems. The manager’s not up to it, the squad are weak in key areas and injuries have taken their toll. Team morale falls as fast as our league position. Players didn’t sign up for a relegation battle. The board are unprepared. If they wish to sack Frank, there are no ready made caretakers within the club or approachable outside candidates. Also, a sacking so soon after his appointment means the owners and CEO would lose face. Further, Lange and Frank are close, so there is a big investment there. 

I suspect their current plan is to see this through to the end of the season. They do not wish to invest large sums on players at this point because they are already thinking ahead to the summer and what a new man could bring, a summer when Pochettino, Alonso and Ariola, to name but three, could be available. Given our league form, there are inherent risks in that strategy that do not bear thinking about, except I do think about them, every time our defence evaporates, our keeper flaps or when Solanke or VDV go down injured. Fine margins protect us. 

And so we stagger on through another set of problems. Nothing changes, especially the promise of changes. Prefacing this with a big for what it’s worth, I saw Vivienne Lewis recently at a performance of The Ghost of White Hart Lane, a play by Martin Murphy intertwining the life of John White with his son’s search for his father’s character, based on the book by Rob White and Julie Welch. I didn’t speak with her, but a couple of fans who did, like me fellow sceptics, said she understood and valued the club’s history, and has a genuine feeling for the club. The previous regime would never have appeared in a small public gathering like this and sat chatting amongst the punters in a cosy bar. 

I try to remain optimistic, but like you, I remember the days, not so long along go, when we cut teams apart with two or three passes, just like City did in the first half. A world away now, as the best we can hope for is staggering on.