Thomas Frank was backed into a corner on every level, including team selection. The Tottenham manager had next-to-no options, only 11 established outfield players for the Champions League home game against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.
The expectation was for an either/or choice between Djed Spence and Destiny Udogie at left-back. But when the teamsheets dropped, it turned out Frank had picked them both and left Randal Kolo Muani on the bench. It was the latest low point for Kolo Muani, who has to be regretting his decision to join on a season-long loan from Paris Saint-Germain.
So, it would surely be Spence on the left wing in a 4-2-3-1 system. Everything looked clear when Spurs warmed up on the pitch with a back four of Pedro Porro, Kevin Danso, Cristian Romero and Udogie; the quartet went through a heading drill close to halfway. The Dortmund analysts in the stands took note.
It was a ruse. Frank appeared to have no surprise cards to play. But when the match kicked off, it was evident he had gone for a 3-4-2-1 formation, with Udogie as the left-sided centre-half and Spence at left wing-back.
Everybody thought they had seen the last of Frank playing with three centre-halves after what happened at Arsenal towards the end of November. That day, he started in a 5-4-1 and it was a disaster. When he went back to 4-3-3 for the second half, his team were 2-0 down. They barely laid a glove on their rivals en route to a 4-1 defeat. Now, at a moment of great personal crisis, with his job in the balance after the toxicity of Saturday’s 2-1 home loss to West Ham, Frank had rolled the dice.
Imagine the optics if it had not worked out, if it had been a similar story to the Arsenal game – a cautious approach, an insipid defeat. Actually, it would not have needed a vivid imagination. But it did work out. Spectacularly so. True bravery is the showing of conviction at the darkest hour – no matter the external perceptions. And if Frank has lived to fight another day after a 2-0 win, it may just be that he has found a formula with which to move forward.
Frank has pulled the warm-up deception before. When he took his team to PSG in the Champions League after the Arsenal game, a major talking point concerned whether he would stick with the back five. Spurs would go through a pre-match defensive drill on the Parc des Princes pitch in a five, with Archie Gray as the right-sided centre-half. Frank, though, would set up in a 4-4-2 diamond with Gray at the tip, albeit he dropped deeper out of possession.
It was a man-for-man approach in midfield and it worked to an extent. Spurs were good for the first 50 minutes. They led 2-1 before they subsided to an eventual 5-3 defeat. Against Dortmund, it worked completely. The team that sits second in the Bundesliga looked surprised in the early running. They could not deal with Spence’s forward thrusts while Wilson Odobert and Xavi Simons were dangerous in the No 10 roles.
Spurs played with tempo and incision. The first half was an ordeal for Dortmund and not only because they had Daniel Svensson sent off in the 26th minute for catching Odobert. Niko Kovac went from 3-4-2-1 to 4-4-1 after the red card for the remainder of the period. When he switched back to three centre-halves and what was essentially 3-5-1 for the second half, Spurs were 2-0 up. Kovac’s team stabilised after the interval but the damage was done.
Frank had started with three centre-backs on one other occasion – the European Super Cup against PSG in August. He called it a “special operation” for his first game in charge, having only had six weeks to work with the players, the inference being that he would settle into a theoretically more front-footed 4-3-3/4-2-3-1. It was 5-3-2 that night against PSG and Spurs looked good, eventually losing on penalties.
The three centre-halves might not be a vote-winner among the Spurs fanbase – too negative, too Frank. But the Dortmund game did show off its upsides. It gets Porro into good areas from right wing-back for his crosses and provides more cover for Spence, who has struggled with tracking back. Odobert and Simons were liberated, eager to run in behind – which has been an issue for Spurs – and then there was Dominic Solanke.
The centre-forward has endured a nightmare season, a complicated ankle injury torpedoing the first five months for him. “It’s been one of the hardest moments of my life,” he said. “It got to a point where I didn’t quite know when I was going to be back. I didn’t have that clarity, which was probably the hardest part.” Solanke is now back, making his first start of the season against Dortmund, scoring his first goal, as well, with a fortuitous finish for 2-0. He brings pressing at the top of the formation, a real focal point for the team to play off, not to mention goal threat.
Spurs have to be better in the Premier League, beginning at Burnley on Saturday. The road ahead continues to look precarious for Frank. But as with his predecessor, Ange Postecoglou, he does have Europe. If Frank can win at Eintracht Frankfurt next Wednesday in the final round of the league phase, his team would advance directly to the last 16. Could that be a kind of shield for him, at least until mid-March when the two legs of those ties are played? Spurs are guaranteed at least a playoff, which would be played in mid-to-late February.
It was the case for Postecoglou last season, his progress in the Europa League keeping him in the job until the end of it as the team’s domestic form unravelled. Postecoglou won at Frankfurt in the second leg of the quarter-final, a Solanke penalty proving the difference. Frank wants to do more than merely survive. At the moment, though, he will sign up for that.
