Thomas Frank opens up on Tottenham’s intense fixture schedule and how it can impact his coaching.
Recent weeks have seen Tottenham Hotspur’s results turn sour. Thomas Frank has been under pressure, and the 2-1 defeat to Fulham on Saturday intensified that.
Not only the Lilywhites’ attacking outlet is a big problem now, but also their defence has been leaking goals left, right and centre. Spurs have conceded 13 goals in their last four games, highlighting their defensive deficiencies of late.
Fulham were all over them in the opening six minutes of the contest, scoring two early goals at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Guglielmo Vicario was at fault for the second goal, leaving his goal wide open from distance for Harry Wilson to curl home from long range after the Tottenham No.1 made a blunder by coming out of his box and passing it straight to a Fulham player.
Tottenham do not have time to dwell on the Fulham defeat and must compose themselves down quickly. They travel to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United on Tuesday evening, with Spurs viewed as underdogs on paper. Thomas Bramall has been appointed as the referee for the game.
Thomas Frank opens up on limited days for training between games
The festive fixture schedule has begun for Premier League clubs. Tottenham have faced Arsenal, PSG and Fulham in a span of just seven days. They will lock horns with Newcastle United on Tuesday, before hosting Brentford and Slavia Prague on Saturday (December 6) and Tuesday (December 9), respectively.
This means less recovery period, limited days for training and more chances of players getting injured. When facing the media in his pre-match press conference, Thomas Frank was asked about the impact, the limited days for training between games has on his squad. The Spurs boss explained:
“Extremely and even if you have that extra day, it gives you a day more to recover but with two-two-two (days between games), it’s very minimal what you can coach because it’s just mainly recovery but it’s just the way it is and we need to find a way.”
Squad depth crucial at this stage for Tottenham
It is going to be a mental test for the Tottenham squad to cope with the demands of playing twice in four/five days from now on under Frank. The north Londoners have plenty of games to cover this month, and Frank would need his entire squad to be ready for the challenge. It is during this period that teams generally pick up injuries as the recovery phase between games is very less.
The upcoming games against Newcastle, Brentford, Slavia Prague and Nottingham Forest will test Spurs’ squad depth. Frank cannot afford to lose any player due to injury but he has no control over it.
Rotating the squad and keeping the players fit and fresh would be extremely important in this crucial juncture, while picking up points and climbing the table. That said, the return of injured stars such as Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski and Radu Dragusin cannot come any sooner.