Frank likens challenges at Spurs to running a marathon

Tottenham booed off after goalless draw at Brentford

Thomas Frank has admitted he is not enjoying his job at Tottenham. The head coach is dealing with numerous problems as he navigates what always stood to be a transitional season, the most insistent being his team’s lack of creativity.

Spurs were booed off after Thursday’s 0-0 draw at Brentford by the travelling support, who also chanted “boring, boring Tottenham”. But Frank is confident he will come to look back on the first half of his debut campaign more fondly once – and not if – his squad emerges on the other side, stronger and wiser for the suffering. Tottenham are 12th in the Premier League – their next game is at home to Sunderland on Sunday and Frank leant into a marathon-running analogy when he was asked whether he was enjoying the challenge to which he has signed up.

“When you need to put in a big, big shift and it’s not smooth and it’s tough, it’s probably difficult to enjoy it,” he said. “If I run hard I don’t enjoy that moment but I know I need to keep my head down and run hard to get through it. We are in a situation where you need to run hard, to stay in it. When we look back on this spell or maybe this first year when it was tough, you’ll think: ‘What a learning, what an experience, it made us so much better for the future.’