Tottenham 1-1 Sunderland: Why Thomas Frank is trapped in a gilded cage at joyless Spurs

Deprived of the comfort of victory, Frank Spurs played 10 league matches at home, winning only two, losing five and drawing three.

Spurs weren’t bad. They were dull, dull, sparkless and wasteful.

Therein lies Frank’s problem with establishing any kind of connection with Spurs fans. In modern parlance, the majority do not have it. Once fans have made up their mind, reversing those feelings is often an impossible task.

In Frank’s defence, he is unlikely to take over the winning machine from the sacked Ange Postecoglou, at least in the Premier League context. Spurs won the Europa League, but 22 defeats and a 17th-place finish in the Premier League is a more realistic measure.

Frank’s first task was to win over fans who were skeptical that he came from the simpler environment of Brentford, but he failed to provide any consistency, identity and – much more importantly – excitement and wins.

There have been no injuries to key creators Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison this season. Dominic Solanke barely caught on as he lost Mohammed Kudus after just 19 minutes there.

Brennan Johnson was of course also sold to Crystal Palace for £35 million. Frank was willing to lose the Wales forward, but he may have cursed that decision as Kudus limped away dejectedly with what appeared to be a muscle injury.

The harsh nature of the fee offered by Spurs under Frank is demonstrated by the fact that they have drawn six of their 20 Premier League games this season, as many draws as in their last 53 league games under Postecoglou.

However, those who still support the manager point out that only Arsenal has a better away performance than Spurs, and Frank’s 27 points from 20 games is quite good compared to his predecessor’s 38 points last season.