10 hours ago
24
Spurs kick off their Premier League campaign with the visit of Burnley and Thomas Frank has plenty of decisions to make for his home debut at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The north London side will welcome Scott Parker's promoted Clarets side after having only returned to England just over 48 hours previously following their penalty shoot-out defeat to PSG in the UEFA Super Cup in Udine on Wednesday night following a 2-2 draw against the Champions League winners.
Frank must decide how many members of that Tottenham team are ready to go again so soon after the gruelling game in Italy and indicated on Friday that many have recovered well.
"The physical demands in every area were big and also mentality in the heat and so on, but the players are very professional, they have recovered well, they have a good team behind them, the staff, that will help them. Of course it's always in this situation how much do I fresh up?" said the Dane.
"Of course I'm thinking about that, but that can be from the start, that can also be during the game. I'm a big believer of when needed, use five subs to bring that energy and freshness on the pitch, but I’m also a big believer it’s the third game that is more tricky than the second."
Spurs will also need to be more dominant with the ball at home against Burnley and that could mean a return to a back four after the trio of centre-backs used against the French side.
"We'll be more offensive tomorrow. We have to and we want to," said Frank. "That's probably, to be completely honest, that's the area where we are probably not fully firing yet for various reasons. We will have a plan and we'll be very ready for tomorrow, but I think all that added together, to do that consistently every game, probably that will not just be fully firing (yet). Hopefully tomorrow will be very good and then it can be the next three games and be a dip and then we go again."
Frank suggested that Micky van de Ven will start again but indicated it might be too early for Dominic Solanke to come into the line-up after his ankle injury, meaning Richarlison may need to play again despite his own injury history.
There could be a start for Mathys Tel after the young Frenchman's minutes in Italy in midweek ended with a penalty shoot-out miss. The 20-year-old received racist abuse online after the game that was condemned by both the club and his team-mates.
Here's the team we reckon Frank might select to face Burnley:
(4-2-3-1) Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Spence; Bentancur, Sarr; Kudus, Bergvall, Tel; Richarlison.
English (US) ·