After an impressive start, Thomas Frank is experiencing his first tricky period as Tottenham Hotspur head coach.
A run of three consecutive draws in the Premier League and Champions League is not terrible, particularly as Frank is still getting to grips with a new squad, and Tottenham’s ability to fight back from deficits to rescue a point indicates a resilience and determination that was not always evident last season under Ange Postecoglou. Still, Spurs can ill afford it to be much more than a momentary blip if they are to realise their ambitions to be a genuine force in elite competitions this season.
Ominously, there is an odd quirk that Frank has inherited from Postecoglou’s reign that indicates this short winless run could be about to get worse.
Starting with the 2-1 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 2023 and continuing until the 1-0 home defeat by Bournemouth in September, Tottenham have lost seven consecutive matches directly before the start of the international break. At some point, oddities like these deserve to be taken seriously, and we’ve decided seven is the arbitrary threshold. So, The Athletic has analysed this stretch to explore why and how Tottenham always lose just before their players jet off around the world to play for their national teams.
In hindsight, the defeat at Molineux signalled the end of Postecoglou’s excellent start in north London. Tottenham’s 10-match unbeaten run to begin the 2023-24 season had ended the game before in the 4-1 home defeat against Chelsea, but that match felt like an aberration. After opening the scoring, red cards for Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie before Chelsea took the lead made the task nearly impossible for Spurs, though Postecoglou’s insistence on keeping the high line is no longer viewed in such a positive light.
Eric Dier reacts as Spurs blow their lead at Wolves in November 2023 (Daniel Chesterton/Getty Images)
However, Tottenham were thoroughly outplayed by Wolves in the 2-1 loss, having led for most of the match thanks to Brennan Johnson’s early goal, before conceding twice in stoppage time. Postecoglou was without Udogie and Romero due to their red cards, as well as Micky van de Ven and James Maddison, who would both miss long periods to coincide with a slump in results. It was undoubtedly a weakened side, and perhaps the result was not much of a surprise for that reason, but it slowed their momentum, with Tottenham going winless for their next three matches.
But if the result at Wolves can be explained away, the following defeat of the stretch — their second of this seven-match run — makes very little sense at all. Having steadied the ship and brought some consistency back after the winter wobble, Spurs headed into the final months of the season as favourites to finish inside the Champions League positions. Another 2-1 defeat against Wolves in February was a step backwards, but comfortable 3-1 and 4-0 wins against Crystal Palace and Aston Villa put Spurs on track. That’s what makes the 3-0 away defeat at Fulham that followed even stranger — the first time Spurs had failed to score in the league under Postecoglou.
Spurs’ pre-international break losses
MonthOpponentScore
Nov 23
Wolves (a)
1-2
Mar 24
Fulham (a)
0-3
Sep 24
Newcastle (a)
1-2
Oct 24
Brighton (a)
2-3
Nov 24
Ipswich (h)
1-2
Mar 25
Fulham (a)
0-2
Sep 25
Bournemouth (h)
0-1
With the chance to go fourth, it was a below-par performance all-round, one of the strangest of Postecoglou’s tenure. Aside from Van de Ven, who was absent due to an injury sustained in the Villa game, it was largely the same side that went to Villa Park and won comfortably. It wouldn’t prove to be the end of Tottenham’s top four hopes (that would be the four-game losing streak across April and May), but it would be fair to say Spurs’ form never properly recovered after that point — in the 10 league games following that defeat, Spurs won four times and three were against relegated sides.
Having finished fifth in the 2023-24 season, Spurs started the following campaign in decent form, taking four points from their opening two matches — including a 4-0 home win against Everton in their second game. However, losing 2-1 against Newcastle United the next week extended the streak to three. It marked the first time Tottenham had lost a game directly before the September international in the 2020s.
Then, having won the following two matches after the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal after the international break, Tottenham lost 3-2 away at Brighton & Hove Albion. Before the winter injury crisis and severe loss of form, a 3-2 away defeat against Brighton may not seem catastrophic, but Spurs had led 2-0 at half-time before crumbling after the break.
Dominic Solanke during the October 2024 defeat at Brighton (Rob Newell/Getty Images)
Perhaps the worst result under Postecoglou occurred before the November break — a 2-1 home defeat against Ipswich Town. Despite the run, Tottenham have often had full or near-full strength line-ups throughout this period, and the Ipswich loss was no exception. Aside from Romero, who sustained a foot injury during the international break with Argentina, Postecoglou followed up the Ipswich result with a 4-0 win against Manchester City with the same complement of players available.
With Postecoglou prioritising the Europa League, Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat away at Fulham in March, their sixth of the stretch, was less of a surprise. It was their first of a 10-match run, during which they won once (against relegated Southampton) and lost eight, with a rotated side well beaten in west London.
After continuing the run with a 1-0 defeat against Bournemouth at home — a performance where the team lacked inspiration in Frank’s adaptation period at the helm — it’s up to the new head coach to prove the run is an odd aberration on Saturday against tricky Leeds United.
“I really, really do hope we win tomorrow, so we don’t need to speak too much about it in the future,” Frank said in his Friday press conference for the Leeds match.
“It’s like a weird thing last year, and not just thinking stats. Last year at Brentford, we couldn’t win away from home the first six or seven months or more than half of the season, for whatever reason. Then suddenly we are the best away team, nine games in a row after that. With these stats, it’s up to us to treat it like a game where we are extremely focused, we are aware of the game plan. We show fantastic mentality, and we do what we can to win the game. It’s all about a good performance.
“I’ve mentioned it to the players. I actually said you guys will most likely ask me, so please make sure we win.”
(Top photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
