Thomas Frank sees progress at Tottenham despite late setback against Man Utd | OneFootball

Thomas Frank is still searching for the right balance in Tottenham’s attack, but felt they made “small steps” in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United.

Spurs were seconds away from only a fourth Premier League home win in 2025 when Mathys Tel and Richarlison struck late on to put them 2-1 up.

Richarlison’s inclusion on the left ahead of Wilson Odobert raised eyebrows after Odobert impressed in the 4-0 victory over Copenhagen while Frank went with a completely different option in Lucas Bergvall for the disappointing display in a 1-0 loss to Chelsea.

Frank has constantly tweaked his starting XI since his June arrival from Brentford, but largely stuck with a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Yet, with Xavi Simons more influential in the number 10 role in recent weeks and Randal Kolo Muani starting to gain sharpness up front, there are green shoots for Tottenham despite a lengthy list of absentees.

“We are searching to find the right balance up front and I think when we look at the game back, I think there was positive bits going forward,” Frank reflected.

“We constantly work on the relationship and try to improve it with the players and try to find what is exactly the right blend, but I think there were small steps in the right direction.

(Against United) we wanted two strikers, Kolo Muani and Richarlison, for the crosses, which we thought was an area where we potentially could hurt United.

“I think it worked perfectly with the first one (by Brennan Johnson), where Richarlison got a big chance, so that could have been an unbelievable, fantastic game plan from us.

“So that was part of it and we need different personalities and types for different games.”

Frank immediately improved Tottenham’s away form in the league, with impressive early wins over Manchester City, West Ham and Leeds, but arresting a longstanding poor record at home has been more tricky.

A lack of progressive passer in midfield and cutting-edge in attack has hampered Spurs in N17, but France Under-21 winger Odobert produced his latest eye-catching display on Saturday and has made a strong case to be a regular on the left.

Frank added: “Wilson, yeah, I think again he’s positive.

“I think he’s stepping up and doing things that look right.”

Tottenham captain Cristian Romero and Kolo Muani were forced off against United, but Frank played down concerns, with the latter’s unspecified issue described as “nothing big.”

On Romero, Frank said: “He was just done physically. He just came back from that injury. He’s fine.”

United lost Harry Maguire, Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko to injuries during the 2-2 draw.

On Sesko, Ruben Amorim revealed: “We have to check. He has something in his knee. Let’s see.”

Amorim continued: “Harry has to come out, Casemiro has to come out, Ben — then they score two goals again in a short period of time, but to manage to score again, so it’s a point.

“When you cannot win, you don’t lose the game, and once again, we managed to do that.”