Why Thomas Frank will not be showing us his ‘balls’ after Spurs avert disaster

So all Thomas Frank had to do to rediscover himself and settle into his new place was invite his ex round for a little chat.

Brentford have long since moved on with someone they’d known for years, but even though Frank forced the end of a near decade-long happy marriage, it was he who had struggled most to adjust and acclimatise.

Perhaps simply seeing up close and personal how well Brentford seemed to be doing triggered something in the minds of Spurs and Frank, who produced arguably their best performance of the season and certainly their strongest at home this year to end a damaging winless run.

Anything less than victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against one of the weakest away teams in the division would have been absurdly difficult for the manager to overcome, even before adding the context of this specific opponent making the short trip.

Brentford sitting level on points with Spurs in the table before kick off was embarrassing enough for the vultures who had swooped to pick at what seemed increasingly like a doomed carcass in the summer; letting them double the amount of sides from whom they have taken points on their travels this season would have been humiliating and very possibly sack-inducing.

This response, then, was stirring. Spurs were direct in attack, solid in defence and purposeful everywhere in between.

Their first 13 shots elicited just one in kind from the visitors, who were overwhelmed by the sort of energy, thrust and conviction which Frank had summarily failed to manifest in this squad across his last six months on the sidelines.

And Spurs wholly earned only a fifth clean sheet of the campaign. Every outfield starter bar Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence made at least one tackle – much like every other outfield starter bar Pedro Porro and Archie Gray had at least one shot – while 59 ball recoveries is their most in a Premier League match since last September.

As The Narrative dictates, that was obviously in a win over Frank’s Brentford.

“We struggled with their intensity and pressure,” the Dane said that day of his beaten Bees, adding: “But they have a stand that’s bigger than our stadium, and that needs to be put into perspective.”

It certainly would have had Spurs not won here. His position would have felt untenable, with Ramon Vega’s weird demand that Frank resigns “if they lose at home to Brentford” because “that would show me he has balls” hanging over a manager patently promoted well above his station.

These 90 minutes suggested he can make this work, that Xavi Simons was worth the £52m hassle, that Richarlison can score without immediately whipping his top off.

The goals alone were ample evidence: the first was created by one phenomenal ball over the top and a simple centre to finish as Spurs scored within two touches of entering the opposition half; the second somehow morphed out of a heavy Simons touch when facing his own goal in the centre circle, which prompted two tackles, a searing run and a pinpoint finish, all from the previously floundering Dutchman.

A reunion which could have backfired miserably and evoked a far quicker and less clean divorce has at least bought Frank more time to figure out the myriad matrimonial problems.

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