When Spurs appointed Frank from Brentford last summer, they believed they were buying stability and structure.
Instead, by mid-February and after a predictable 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle on Tuesday, they are sitting 16th in the Premier League on 29 points, an increasingly uncomfortable five clear of the relegation zone, with a style of football that leeched the life out of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, turning what should have been a cauldron into a doctor's waiting room.
Across 26 Premier League matches, Tottenham won seven, drew eight and lost 11. That return of 1.12 points per game projects to 43 points over a full season, a total that in recent campaigns has left clubs peering anxiously over their shoulders rather than glancing upwards.
Spurs in a survival scrap
Since the start of November, the decline has been sharper: 11 points from 15 league fixtures, or 0.73 per match. Sustained over 38 games, that is 28 points. That is survival scrap territory.
The numbers offer little comfort. Spurs have scored 36 league goals, an average of 1.38 per match, placing them near the bottom half for attacking output. Their expected goals figure stands at 1.28 per game, suggesting chance creation has been middling rather than catastrophic. Yet they have conceded 37 goals, leaving a negative goal difference and too many matches defined by chasing rather than by controlling.
Home form has been the most damaging strand of the narrative. Just two wins from their last 10 league matches in north London, with only nine points collected in that spell. Tottenham have conceded first in seven of those games.
The pattern has been depressingly familiar: sterile possession, a lapse, then a scramble. The boos that greeted half-time deficits were less about fury and more about downright fatigue.
The stylistic regression has also been glaringly obvious. Spurs are averaging 10.6 shots per league match, down significantly on last season's 14.2. Their touches in the opposition penalty area have dropped by close to 20 per cent year on year. Possession often drifted sideways across the back line without penetration, the tempo measured but rarely - if ever - menacing.
For a squad containing established international forwards, the drop in attacking incision has been stark.
Injuries no excuse
Injuries have undeniably complicated the picture. James Maddison's ruptured ACL removed a creative fulcrum who had averaged 2.4 key passes per 90 minutes last season. Dejan Kulusevski has also endured prolonged absences, limiting continuity and width. Continuity was a luxury Frank rarely enjoyed.
However, the collective downturn cannot be attributed solely to availability, especially given that funds seem readily available to reinforce.
Club captain Cristian Romero's campaign has encapsulated the unease. His stats have declined from last season: his aerial duel success rate has fallen from 68 per cent last season to 61 per cent this term, while his interceptions per game have dipped from 1.9 to 1.3 as Spurs have been forced to defend deeper with slower reactions.
Romero's social media messages in December and January, calling for higher standards and clarity, were carefully worded yet telling in their timing. They hinted at frustration without crossing into open rebellion, coming off defeats in which his side may have expected to get something from the game.
Then there were the public displays of disengagement from key players. Remember when Micky Van de Ven and Djed Spence refused to acknowledge their manager while walking off the pitch having lost 1-0 - at home, of course - to London rivals Chelsea in November?
Let's be frank, the Dane apparently lost the dressing room some time ago.
'Lads, it's Tottenham'
Tactically, the shift has been pronounced. Tottenham are allowing 13.8 passes per defensive action, compared to 11.2 last season, indicating a softer press and less aggressive engagement. The result has been a side caught between identities: not compact enough to absorb pressure comfortably, not assertive enough to impose themselves. It's giving: 'Lads, it's Tottenham'.
What makes the league position more alarming is the broader context. Tottenham's wage bill remains among the division's top eight. They have progressed to the Champions League last 16, evidence that the squad possesses quality and resilience on certain nights.
Yet domestically, consistency has evaporated, and a two-leg European tie against any other remaining side in the last 16 looks like a tall order for this group of players as it stands.
Frank's tenure will not be remembered for a single implosion. It will be remembered for a steady erosion of belief, almost from the get-go. Leads felt fragile, and usually were.
Home matches felt tense. Even routine passages of play carried an undercurrent of uncertainty that the opposition could easily exploit with a counterattack.
New board, same approach
This marks Spurs' sixth permanent managerial exit in seven seasons. Continuity was the promise last summer. Instead, Tottenham have defaulted once again to their reflex solution: change in the hope of a cure.
Frank was appointed under Daniel Levy's watch. He was not the new regime's gamble but the final managerial call of the previous era. That context matters somewhat.
However, responsibility does not evaporate with a change at the top. The current hierarchy inherited Frank, chose to retain him, publicly backed him, and reinforced his staff during a difficult winter. If they believed in the project, as they repeatedly stated, they have now abandoned it within months. That's snakey, untrustworthy, unreliable at the very least.
And if they did not, they waited too long to act. Neither interpretation reflects particularly well on strategic clarity.
Since Levy's departure, Spurs have spoken about a cultural reset and long-term alignment. Yet the optics remain familiar: a squad assembled across multiple managerial visions, another mid-season dismissal, and a club once again searching for coherence.
Stability is not achieved by simply changing the faces in the boardroom. It requires conviction when results wobble and a clear articulation of what Tottenham are meant to be on the pitch.
The next head coach inherits a squad that is better than 16th but is currently performing at that level. With 12 league matches remaining and the relegation line uncomfortably close, Tottenham have chosen urgency over patience. Whether that urgency is finally matched by a bit of clarity, freedom and confidence on the pitch will define the rest of their season.
From trophy to trepidation
Spurs must now confront a reality that stretches far beyond Frank's dismissal. A club that lifted a long-awaited European trophy last season now finds itself with 29 points from 26 league matches and glancing anxiously at the bottom three. That slide is not merely tactical. It is structural. A deteriorating home record, a softening press and a negative goal difference point towards a side that has drifted from any clear on-field identity.
Changing the head coach may buy breathing space. It will not, on its own, restore direction.
The greater responsibility rests with those shaping recruitment, defining culture, and setting the football strategy. Tottenham cannot afford to keep reaching for the managerial eject button whenever turbulence hits.
What they require is a coherent blueprint strong enough to outlast poor runs and loud atmospheres alike. Until that foundation is laid, each new appointment will feel less like renewal and more like the next turn of a very familiar wheel.
