I don’t even know what to say. Four days after Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank saved his job by running roughshod over Dortmund at home in the Champions League, this same Spurs side came to Turf Moor to play relegation-threatened Burnley and again were unable to come away with a win. Spurs opened up the scoring in the first half with a strike by Micky van de Ven off of a corner kick, but couldn’t keep the lead, letting Axel Tuanzebe equalize on a defensive mistake just before halftime. Spurs then capitulated in the second half courtesy of a Lyall Foster go-ahead goal before Cuti Romero pulled back the equalizer from a late header.
Thomas Frank made a tactical tweak for this match, bringing Kevin Danso into the side and playing three at the back with Djed Spence and Pedro Porro as advanced wingbacks. That worked pretty well with Spurs having the majority of possession in the opening 45 minutes, though Spurs wasted numerous opportunities in and around Burnley’s box to take what could’ve been a commanding lead. At halftime, Frank fulled Pedro Porro for Destiny Udogie as Spurs locked into a 3-4-3 that turned out to be mostly ineffective. Spurs’ passing was woeful, their offense worse, and Burnley keeper Martin Dubravka had nine saves for the Clarets. Things got interesting late after Mathys Tel forced another good stop from a diving Dubravka and Xavi Simons clanked a rocket off the bar.
But in the end, it the match ended as another disappointing result against a team that Spurs really should be beating. Tottenham have now dropped points to all three teams in the relegation zone and are now only eight points above the drop zone with a brutal stretch of matches upcoming.
Here are my match reactions. Spoiler: I’m pretty mad.
