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The under-fire Tottenham Hotspur boss has a big decision to make over two of his players for the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund
As if things were not difficult enough for Thomas Frank at Tottenham this week, the Dane must also decide whether Dominic Solanke or Mathys Tel miss out on the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.
The Spurs boss is under huge pressure with the fanbase calling for his sacking amid a dreadful run of eight defeats in 14 matches. The club's hierarchy are considering their options and in the mean time Frank must somehow pick a Tottenham team from an injury-ravaged squad, with Micky van de Ven also suspended, to face a Dortmund side that have lost just once in the Bundesliga this season.
As if his player options were not already few and far between, Frank must also decide whether Solanke or Tel get a place in the matchday squad after the decision was made to bring in the Frenchman for the previous encounter when the England international was out injured.
Spurs made use of a UEFA rule that allows a team to bring in a squad substitute if a player has been ill or injured for 60 days, but it could only be done up until the sixth game of the group phase, which fell with the game against Slavia Prague.
The UEFA rule states that Solanke can come straight back in for Tel when fit, which he now is, and football.london understands that Frank must make the decision whether to swap Solanke back in or not by the end of Monday evening.
The problem for the Tottenham boss, other than only being able to use one of two fit attackers, is that Solanke may still not be sharp enough yet to start a match after playing half an hour of Saturday's defeat to West Ham, but is the club's best striker. On the other hand Tel has been one of Frank's brighter players in recent weeks and improves the team's tempo with his work rate and running on and off the ball. It is a decision in a difficult time that Frank could have done without.
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