Tottenham were beaten 4-0 by Bayern Munich in their final pre-season friendly before the UEFA Super Cup clash vs Paris Saint-Germain
Tottenham Hotspur were ripped apart to shreds by Bayern Munich in Thomas Frank’s final pre-season fixture on Thursday evening. Goals from Harry Kane, Kingsley Coman, Lennart Karl and Jonah Kusi-Asare helped the German champions beat Spurs 4-0 at the Allianz Arena.
With less than a week until the UEFA Super Cup clash with Paris Saint-Germain, the friendly vs Bayern Munich was the final opportunity for head coach Thomas Frank to name his strongest XI and build on the pre-season tour of Asia. The Lilywhites beat Arsenal in the first-ever north London derby on foreign shores, before drawing 1-1 with Newcastle United during the pre-season tour of Asia.
Despite missing several key players, Tottenham had gone into the game in Germany confident of putting in a strong display. However, that was not the case as Bayern bullied Spurs in every department on the pitch and could have easily scored more on another day.
Thomas Frank gives his verdict on Tottenham’s display vs Bayern
Former Tottenham defender Michael Dawson slammed the Frank-managed team’s display against Bayern, stating they just were “not good enough” on the day. After the game, the Danish tactician was asked to shed light on it and he told Football London:
“I think we played a very good Bayern team that performed very well tonight. We obviously didn’t perform as good, so that was a bad combination, and I think we lacked energy, and we can’t play without energy against a team like Bayern.
“I don’t think it’s because the players didn’t want to do it. We’ve seen it with plenty of energy against Arsenal and Newcastle, for example, especially with the Arsenal performance, which was a good one. So, I think it’s definitely a game we’ll learn a lot from. It’s a team that will compete for the Champions League title that we played today. There are bits we’ll definitely learn from this game.
“I think we played a game where there were a lot of factors already, so I think right now we’ll watch it back calmly, while not making too many conclusions now. But we learn every every day on the training pitch. Every match. we learn. So, we definitely learned today. We’re not at a top consistency yet. Hopefully that’s what we will build towards.”
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Indeed, Frank and Co. must not make many conclusions from the Bayern thrashing. We have to remember it was just the 51-year-old’s sixth game in charge of the Lilywhites, so fans cannot and must not expect the entire house to be in order. There is still a lot of surgery left for the squad to undergo, which demands patience and support from the club’s key decision-makers and the supporters.
Nonetheless, Thursday’s performance should worry Frank ahead of next week’s UEFA Super Cup clash against Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain. The loss would certainly have felt like a reality check for even the most optimistic of Tottenham fans, and keeping that in mind, expectations would be altered heading into the big clash against PSG.