Thomas Frank feels that the Tottenham midfield is fulfilling his present demands.
Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha have attracted frustration from fans as a conservative pairing in the middle of the park. Results have started to mirror concerns about the lack of balance in this unit as Spurs suffered a 2-1 defeat against Aston Villa last week and luckily earned a 0-0 draw at Monaco.
The likes of Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, and Pape Matar Sarr will wonder what they need to do to earn more minutes, but it seems that Frank is eager to build foundations from the back in this side.
That decision might also be part of the reason he is giving grace to £51 million man Xavi Simons.
“In general, I’ve been overall happy with Joao and Rodri, in what I’m looking at, people can look at different things. There’s also how we construct the front four, that’s a part of how creative we’ve been and that can be, they are finding their feet and I still think that’s positives from a lot of them.
“Both are more than capable to help the team and one thing is that part of the game, the other part is of course how we can make sure we are strong and solid enough if we are in a spell where we may be.
“It’s not as free flowing as we want it to be because of new players getting, how can you say, gelled together, getting it more smooth, more free. How can we make sure that, if that does not work, how can we make sure we are super solid and still building? So, that’s part of the puzzle.
“I think we rested Pape, maybe as a minor precaution. It’s just competition, other players have done well, decisions from me but in general I am happy with Pape. I said that before, he was one of the players that impressed me the most in the beginning of the season and he is a very good player.
“Xavi has been with us for seven or eight weeks, something like that, which is a very short time in football, but in a way also a long time. He is adapting every day. I liked his personality, the way he played the first 60 minutes against Aston Villa and I think he tired a little bit.
“It’s part of the learning coming into a much more intense league. I think my demands and our demands to him is more intensity in general. He is a player I believe in. I think he’s got the pass, I think he’s got the vision. He has just been out there, we have been training and he trained very well.”
