Warped expectations have prevented Tottenham from facing up to the reality of their situation.
This is a club in a deep malaise, one that predates Thomas Frank, and one that will take time to fix - as per the Dane’s assertions.
Micky van de Ven, speaking to the Overlap this week, was never going to downplay Tottenham’s aspirations for the season, but in harbouring dreams of Champions League qualification, he touched on a crucial point of contention.
The expectation for Tottenham each year is to qualify for the Champions League, yet not since the 2021/22 season have they finished inside the top four. That is four seasons and four managers ago, counting Ryan Mason’s brief stint.
Spurs are, by virtue of their Europa League win, a Champions League team and, to their credit, on course to qualify for the knockout stages.
Frank, though, admits that in reality the club has not been in a position to compete for Champions League qualification for some time.
The Dane mused ahead of hosting Liverpool at Hotspur Stadium: “So, what is the potential of Tottenham?
“They would like to win trophies, we would like to compete with the best clubs in the country, and hopefully win the championship one day. I think that's what all Spurs fans are dreaming about, that's what I'm dreaming about.
“But how do we get that? Reality is if we finish eighth with Champions League, then we finish 5th with no European contest, then we finish 17th with Europa League, and now we're in the fourth season, and then there's been some players through the systems and so on, so that's the reality.”
A promising run of performances had provided hope that Tottenham were turning a corner under Frank, but a harrowing defeat away to Nottingham Forest has seen the pressure intensify ahead of a crunch fixture at home to Liverpool this weekend.
Spurs were comprehensively beaten at the City Ground, and again, it was the manner of the performance more so than the result that caused concern.
Frank has now won just six of his opening 16 league games as Spurs boss, but with a full, undisrupted week of training, the 52-year-old is confident they can take the game to a resurgent Liverpool side.
“A full week definitely helps a lot. (I would) be very surprised if we don't have the energy.
“I think it's quite normal. No one wants to speak about it. But when you play in Europe and in the Premier League at the same time, it's just a massive physical and mental load.
“No excuses. That's what we want. That's what we want to do. But being able to produce every third day, that's also a development in individual players' mentality and physicality. And there's not many in this squad that have been used to do it every third day.”
Tottenham are a team developing under Frank, but they are also a side he acknowledges are underperforming, with the Lilywhites languishing in 11th.
Three points at home could change the narrative again in a season of marked inconsistency up and down the league, and Frank believes Spurs need to become more resilient.
“I think that's probably a fair comment (that Tottenham are underperforming), and I think the best teams, they create a stamina where they are very resilient to setbacks. That's something we're working very hard on.
“But it is not a quick fix.”
Spurs have been poor, particularly at home, under Frank, but the truncated nature of the league table means they remain just six points off the top four.
A victory against Liverpool would act as a timely statement of intent, but a unified performance would do much more to spark Frank’s reign back to life.
