Tottenham: Thomas Frank knows what must change if Spurs are to avoid another Newcastle hiding | OneFootball

Spurs have lost their defensive stability after an impressive start to the season

The trees are going up around the country and Christmas music is hard to escape, but Thomas Frank can be forgiven for not feeling too much festive cheer.

As the pressure mounts and with headlines honing in on a strained relationship with the Tottenham supporters, a second trip to Newcastle in a little over a month is unlikely to have been high up on Frank's Christmas list.

Spurs were beaten at St James' Park in the Carabao Cup at the end of October and now return in the Premier League, looking to improve on a run of three wins in 13 matches.

There has been plenty of talk about Spurs' astonishingly poor home record this season and Frank is fully aware it stands in stark contrast to that of Newcastle's.

"Speaking about having a good home record - that's a difficult place to go to," Frank said of St James' Park at his press conference on Monday.

"Everyone knows that. I think they have won their last six home games, so perfect timing. Good but not unbeatable."

The first seven games of the season resulted in five clean sheets, in 13 matches since, Spurs have kept three

Spurs have been far from good and eminently beatable in recent weeks. A trip to a stadium they have not won at since 2021 is a daunting one. The last three seasons have brought 6-1 and 4-0 defeats to make October's 2-0 Carabao Cup exit look fairly positive.

If Spurs are to defy form and history to get a result, the team simply must rediscover the defensive solidity that characterised the early weeks of the season.

The first seven games of the season in all competitions resulted in five clean sheets for Spurs. In 13 matches since, they have kept three.

Last week alone they conceded 11 goals and while they will be boosted at St James' Park by the return of Cristian Romero from suspension, he was in the side when Spurs conceded four to Arsenal and five to Paris Saint-Germain.

"You can say the four goals we conceded against Man Utd and Fulham is some of the goals I would like to avoid a bit more," Frank offered as an explanation of his side's defensive struggles.

"Also those two games, if you can see at the actual amount of shots we conceded, I think we conceded five shots and seven shots. It's very low.

"If you can see at the xG, you can see those games are very low, so the other stats behind it was good."

Spurs have lost their defensive solidity

Bradley Collyer/PA Wire

Bringing up xG and shot stats does not feel like Frank's best bet of a convincing argument, considering the conversations it would lead to over Spurs' attacking output.

The eye test was also enough to suggest that the Fulham match was not a good defensive performance, regardless of the underlying data.

The two goals were avoidable from a Spurs perspective but Fulham could have been three or four up at half-time. Samuel Chukwueze hit the post and only two brilliant last-ditch Micky van de Ven challenges prevented a really ugly scoreline.

A midfield that changes in terms of personnel and even system nearly every match cannot help the defence, while Guglielmo Vicario's form has just dipped after a brilliant run of performances earlier in the season.

Unsurprisingly, the drop in defensive security has coincided with Spurs' away record slipping too. It is still much better than the dismal home run, but Spurs have won only two of their last eight on the road.

There is seemingly no sign of Spurs' woes on home soil coming to an end, and so the pressure is on Frank's side to get the steel back on their travels, where talk of booing and irritated supporters can be largely pushed to one side.

The need for the defence to sort itself out again is urgent. With the attack struggling as it is, Spurs otherwise have no clear path to positive results.