Spurs: Deep Into the Cycle of Doom and It’s Only December

December’s only just begun, and Spurs fans are already deep into the crushingly familiar manager doom cycle.

It begins with hope and expectation as the new man comes in, tinged with either relief or anger depending on your assessment of the last guy. There follows optimism, usually, as results pick up or at least there’s a glimmer of progress. Maybe there’s a period where results are good without being spectacular, but the TOMM mantra is always enjoy the good times, so looking back we can remember these times fondly.

Then, characteristically Spurs plateau or regress, and fans enter the phases of questioning and tolerance (although many skip this one completely), which turns to doubt, then disillusion and finally despondency. Frank has gone through the cycle at a record rate, rivalling Nuno. It’s an achievement in itself.

Struggling to string some words together to sum up Saturday’s defeat, I’m left with just this: what the f**k are they doing? Regular readers have come to expect more from me but that does the job, I think. I’ve watched football for 60 odd years, and I see a performance like this and wonder what on earth is going on. I feel for fellow Spurs podcasters and writers. How can you analyse something so bad it was virtually beyond rational consideration.

We are the drunks of the PL, staggering around, incoherent and incomprehensible, all the while believing that we just need a little air and we’ll be fine. On Saturday, Spurs failed in every department, save for a 10 minute flourish after Kudus’s goal lead to the revelation that if we could pass and move, we might score another goal. That soon faded, though, and instead of going eyeballs out for an equaliser, we were stuck in the far corner after a series of throw-ins where only one player, Sarr, appeared willing to receive the ball.  

Thomas Frank brings with him the reputation of a focussed, tactically aware manager able to motivate his players and find the formation that gets the best from them. Unhappily, on Saturday there was no evidence that any of this was true. In possession we had no discernible plan or patterns to progress the ball, unless you count Muani and Richie running upfield and waiting for a long ball which the Fulham defence dutifully intercepted. Or belatedly get some crosses in, heading practice for centrebacks. This week alone we’ve conceded, I don’t intend to make myself feel even worse by checking, four or five goals from shots at the edge of the box. Two minutes gone and there’s another one, preceded by missed tackles and an absence of defence cover.

If your keeper is shaky, it spreads like a virus. More than a cock-up for the ages, Vic’s howler betrays a deeper uncertainty and indecision within the whole team. At Brentford, Frank was renowned for getting the best from his players and being tactically astute and adaptable. With all due respect to the Bees, coming to Spurs is different. Expectations are higher and so, I hope, is the quality of many of the players. Plus, to repeat myself, Frank has to carry the burden of decades of frustrated ambition and failings by the board. So far, it’s not working for him.

Frank began the season with his policy of two defending midfielders and three up front with two wide men. Lately, he’s altered this to do away first with no wide players (PSG) then one on Saturday and try to enable us to pass better out of defence. I get this but the problem is that the manager is not getting through to his players. In fact, they seem confused and unsure as to what to do and where to be. This is compounded by the suspicion that Frank doesn’t know what to do with our summer signings. Muani is easier for defenders to handle if his basic role is chasing the ball and Frank can’t fit Simons in at all. What a waste.

We’ve reached the place where everyone is confused and uncertain, one thing players and supporters have in common. Modern footballers expect to be coached. They express their skills and individuality within the coach’s pattern. Our players aren’t sure about what they are supposed to be doing. This is not an excuse for their lack of effort and application or their apparent inability to problem-solve on the field, but it is obvious that Frank is not getting through to them. The arch motivator is demotivating, the wily tactician is being outmanoeuvred by his opponents.

At Brentford, Frank built his team and tactics over several seasons. Working closely with the recruitment staff, he bought players that suited his systems. Players could adapt to tweaks based on his assessment of opponents. The owners valued progress over the long-term, and they and fans alike tolerated the blips that are only to be expected.

Like I said, it’s different here. Our squad was recruited under six managers, including Frank, with contrasting styles and preferences. There’s no long-term strategy, and that’s down to a board incapable of grasping the realities of the modern game. The players have adjusted from Angeball to Frank’s more conservative approach, and now Frank has gone to three differing approaches in the space of a few weeks. The players have not dealt with this at all well. To repeat myself, most definitely not an excuse but it has left them confused and is a reason why Frank’s tinkering is ineffective.

I missed out a phase in the manager doom cycle – having a go at the fans. I detest the booing of individual players. I am an inveterate mutterer – it does me some good to express myself and my swearing doesn’t offend because it’s inaudible. Like many around me, I stood up and told those booing Vic to shut up. Not that it had any impact, but still.

Then Frank comes out with the ‘not real fans’ line. This after criticizing the atmosphere earlier in the season. The people booing, like those cheering and singing, are real fans. I don’t agree with what they did but I feel their deep pent-up frustration. They turn up every week. They pay some of the highest prices in the country to see Spurs lose 10 home games in 2025, one home league win this season. They want to see good football, with coach and players committed and they know when they don’t get that. They were there long before Frank arrived and will be here long after he’s gone.

The club’s history of disappointment and unrealised expectations is not Frank’s fault but he’s made no effort to put himself in our shoes. How about, “Booing an individual doesn’t help him or the team. I don’t like it but I understand it comes from supporters’ frustrations. We’re just as frustrated. We didn’t play well, we’re working as hard as we can to put things right and I thank fans for coming home and away to support us.” Not hard, is it?

There’s an underlying long-term problem here where the club does not fully understand supporters, and I have more thoughts on this for later in the week. For now, Saturday was awful, last Sunday was dire and we’re in a mess. The worst thing? To quote an increasing number of opposition fans, we were battered and it’s happened. Tottenham Hotspur are a club incapable of getting it right.