Thomas Frank, heed this warning! Tottenham boss faces premature sacking unless he follows eight-point checklist to save Spurs’ season

Frank switched to a 5-4-1 against Arsenal, only for his gameplan to be thrown on the fire once the Gunners found the net twice before the half-time whistle. Carragher again took aim at Frank for such a switch.

“They don’t play that system so often. That is always the fall-down of that system. That’s what we’ve been talking about for 12 months with Man United and Ruben Amorim,” he said. “When we talk about the back five we always talk about the two central midfield players. That’s the part of that system that will let you down.

“In terms of isolation today tactically, yes that caused them a big problem, but I think the bigger picture for Thomas Frank and Tottenham is – they are missing some really good attacking players – but the big thing for any manager making that jump is can he create chances, can he score goals, can he go win games rather than stop the opposition.”

It was a call questioned in Frank’s press conference, too. “I’m a very big believer that no matter what system you play you can be successful,” was his retort. “I completely understand the question and I will always take the full responsibility. The full responsibility will always be on me today when we didn’t perform.

“I picked a team that played 5-4-1, changed it at half-time, very clever one minute into it they scored, 3-0. Then the rest is history after that. What I would say is that no matter if we played another system we needed to be more aggressive and better in the duels. That doesn’t matter to the system, but I need to take responsibility for everything today.”

To a certain extent, Frank’s right. The system is immaterial if you can’t do the basics, but playing one basic way may be Spurs’ best route to productivity again. Jumbling the forward line every three days is clearly impacting chemistry, too. Tottenham need one identity before they can even begin to think of mastering Frank’s trademark chameleon circuit of formations and styles.