Frank is at Tottenham’s crisis point – but was he doomed from the start?

The club hierarchy is aware of the current disconnect between Frank and Tottenham fans, which has arguably been exacerbated by his high-risk strategy of publicly airing criticism after booing goalkeeper Gugliemo Vicario, then cheering, ironically, for a foul in the return leg at home to Fulham at the end of November.

Frank described Vicario’s treatment as “unacceptable” and not the actions of “true Tottenham supporters”. Bold – but an approach that rarely works or ends well.

The fact that the discontent was so public made Frank’s upset all the more intense, with traveling fans making their feelings loudly known in Monaco after the goalless Champions League draw, in a fierce reaction to another goalless draw with his former club Brentford, and then again when Tottenham fell to Bournemouth.

Van de Ven and other players appeared to confront fans at the Vitality Stadium after Antoine Semenyu’s late winner, with Romero later launching his public criticism at the club.

Frank defended Romero, saying he was a “young captain”, while the Argentine – who is often in charge of discipline and play – is 27 years old and has won a World Cup with his country.

He appeared to treat Romero with little gloves when a harsher punishment could easily have been meted out, adding to the impression, publicly at least, that Frank is struggling to impose himself on his players.

At the heart of it all is a sluggish style of play that has not won enough games, or won the support of Tottenham fans.

The timid five-man defense employed by Frank in the 4-1 north London derby win over Arsenal on 23 November was another point of intense contention, while Tottenham still show no signs of real identity.

Tottenham – as a club and fanbase – is currently a sad place.

They are placed reasonably well in 11th in the Champions League table, with a chance of reaching the top eight to automatically qualify for the knockout stage, but there has been no improvement in the Premier League.

The team currently ranks 14th with 27 points, while it finished 13th after 21 matches last season with 24 points under Postecoglou’s leadership.

Frank’s Brentford played long and fast to put the opposition under pressure with the quality of strikers Ivan Toney, Brian Mbeumo and Johan Wessa successfully executing the game plan. Frank’s communications and strategy were clear.

None of that happened at Tottenham, pushing Frank to crisis point ahead of the FA Cup tie with Villa.