Mathys Tel has become a favorite for many Tottenham Hotspur fans, and even though his young teammate Archie Gray has been the one to truly step into the spotlight over the last couple of weeks, the young Frenchman has been a real bright spot, too, benefiting from the switch in manager from Thomas Frank to Igor Tudor.
Unlike Frank, Tudor has actually consistently been giving Tel chances, and the 20 year old left winger is now stapling a regular spot in the Spurs starting lineup under the interim coach. Tel has predictably been excellent since getting that blessing from the coach, registering the opening assist with a gorgeous cross to Randal Kolo Muani in a 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
Tel shining under Tudor is a reminder of just how horrendous of a manager Frank was. Not only was he losing a ton of games, but he also set Tottenham up so negatively that they could not help but lose, even against clearly inferior opposition. Tel would be great in games off the bench and even score important goals, but Frank would not reward him with starts, possibly because the French youth international dared to commit the unforgivable sin of actually trying to score goals.
Mathys Tel has earned these minutes
Tudor at least embraces Tel's goal scoring instincts and verve to drive the ball into the box and shoot. Tel has not quit rewarded himself in front of goal under the Italian coach, but everything else, including the explosiveness and underrated creativity, are clearly there. The last remaining doubters in Tel are slowly starting to become believers, too, and the assist for Kolo Muani vs. the Rojiblancos likely helped.
Firing Frank was a decision that should have come months earlier, in all honesty, and while nobody will sit there and call Tudor the second coming of Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp, he looks a lot better than Frank. And what Tel is doing in the lineup for Spurs under Tudor's tutelage is only serving to galvanize the fan sentiment that Frank should have been done with a whole lot sooner by the Tottenham brass.
At the time, Spurs supporters knew Frank was ghastly and one of the worst managers they had seen. But now watching Mathys Tel play at a high level against some pretty big opponents with regular minutes, it really serves to show that Frank may have been even worse than they thought.