Thomas Frank will be looking for a response from his team in Wednesday night’s Champions League (Image: Getty)
Tottenham Hotspur are scheduled to face Monaco in the Champions League on Wednesday night, with manager Thomas Frank aiming to get his team back to winning ways. Spurs wasted a chance to move into second place in the Premier League with a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.
This is the second loss in the league since Frank was replaced by Ange Postecoglou at the beginning of this summer. Villa’s Morgan Rodgers and Emiliano Buendia erased Rodrigo Bentancur’s early goal, handing Spurs a surprise defeat. Despite their strong away form this season, fluctuations in home performance remain a major concern. They have won just three of their 18 home games in the Premier League, but Wednesday’s match will provide a brief respite before facing Monaco at the Stade Louis II.
In recent Spurs news, Troy Deeney shares his thoughts on why the team are struggling at home, while Micah Richards and Gary Lineker discuss tweaks Frank can make to get back to winning momentum. In addition, the Lewis family has made new appointments to the board of directors.
The billion pound question emerges
Deeney said Spurs’ state-of-the-art stadium, which cost more than £1bn to build, could be a factor in the team’s poor performance in north London. So far this season, Spurs have only celebrated one win at home, against Burnley on the opening weekend.
Since then they have lost 1-0 to Bournemouth, were held to a 1-1 draw by Wolves and most recently lost 2-1 against Villa, all at home. “Last year we were obviously focused on Europe and that was our excuse, but that’s starting to play into this year as well,” Deeney said.
Frank’s team are struggling at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (Image: 2025 Aston Villa FC)
“Now we’ve got to try to stem the flow and make it a fortress. The problem is, it’s such a great ground and everyone enjoys going there. So if there’s a moment where they put the ball in the box and create some tension, they’ve got to do that and they’ve got to crush teams.”
Asked about Spurs’ recent home struggles, Frank told the club’s official website: “I think it’s about looking at the performance. I think we performed well against Burnley and I think we performed well today. I thought we had a very good first half against Wolves and then we had a bad game against Bournemouth.”
Regarding the influence of the home fans, the Dane continued, “I think the fans were good. I think they did the best they could and I think there were moments where we looked exciting and there were moments where we could have done a little bit better.”
Frank said his relationship with Tell was wrong.
Leicester legend Lineker and former Manchester City defender Richards have suggested Frank is exploiting Matthijs Tell by using him as a striker. The 20-year-old joined on a permanent transfer from Bayern Munich during the summer window. This was after being loaned out under Postecoglou last season.
Matthijs Tell signs a permanent contract with Spurs this summer (Image: Offside via Getty)
Despite ending his wait for Spurs’ Premier League attack away at Leeds, Tell endured a tough afternoon against Villa. Lineker and Richards believe they understand the reason for that, suggesting Lineker is comfortable playing in a wide position.
Lineker said on the Stick to Football podcast: “I think Tell struggled a little bit to make an impact, but obviously that’s because I look at this side of the football, when they played a very high line, like Villa today, without putting so much pressure on the ball.”
“Like I said before, I don’t care when a player is offside, but he was going too fast. He wasn’t just offside, he was about five yards offside most of the time. He needs a little effort.”
“Watching him play there, I probably preferred him on the left wing. But he didn’t have the natural movement of a striker who understands how to exploit the offside trap. When a team plays on a line this high without putting pressure on the ball, that’s not that difficult.”
Frank hasn’t gotten the most out of Tell yet. (Image: Getty)
Tell has previously declared that he plays “somewhere between a number nine and a left winger”. Meanwhile, Richards agreed with Lineker.
“That’s exactly right. I agree with you. I like him better on the left,” he said. “But in terms of what Thomas Frank was trying to do, there are clips or images of them scoring goals – he was very happy with the way they pressed.
“He wants pace, he wants mobility. And as for Tell, he’s been good in recent weeks. But I don’t think he’s a natural number nine. It doesn’t look like that yet, but he’s very young and can learn.”
Tottenham confirm appointment
Spurs have announced the appointment of Dan Lewindon as the club’s new performance director. Sporting director Johan Lange said in a statement: “We are delighted that Dan is joining us as performance director.
Dan Lewindon appointed as Spurs’ new performance director (Image: Getty)
“He is an outstanding candidate who brings a wealth of experience working in high-performance environments with elite athletes and across a wide range of team and individual sports.
“Dan also has an excellent academic background and his expertise will be of great benefit to us as we drive this area of the club forward with innovative thinking. We are looking forward to Dan joining us.”
Lewindon will reportedly oversee all team medical, sports science, nutrition and psychology departments at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He was employed by City Football Group from 2022.
Previously, she was Head Physiotherapist at Northampton Saints Rugby Club, progressing to become Senior Physiotherapist. He also participates in the Lawn Tennis Association.
