Tottenham's international break forces Thomas Frank to confront a bizarre truth

Thomas Frank's Tottenham are in a pretty good place at the November international break, but the Dane knows that there is plenty of room for improvement.

There have been injury issues and tactical concerns, but the most pressing problem is arguably the club's dire home form. Frank is merely the latest Spurs boss to struggle in front of the Lilywhite faithful, with our swanky new home yet to garner fortress status.

The managers who surfaced post-Mauricio Pochettino have each laid out their intentions of building a team that can dominate on home soil, but all, well, apart from Antonio Conte for the first few months of his reign, have come up short.

Our current woes pale in comparison to the end of our stint with the glorious White Hart Lane. In 2016/17, the finest Tottenham side I've ever seen (I'm 24) went through the entire Premier League campaign unbeaten at home.

Our humble and intimate ground facilitated a strong connection between players and supporters, especially when Poch's side veered into flow state. The victories over both Manchester clubs, as well as Chelsea and Arsenal that season, were special occasions. The Lane often rocked and roared, with the atmosphere undoubtedly boosted by the ground's mortality. The idea was for that feeling of imperious unity to be replicated on a grander scale at its state-of-the-art successor.

And while the potential of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has been teased, it has not yet been fulfilled.

Tottenham are one of the Premier League's worst teams at home

The dire 1-0 defeat to Chelsea two weeks ago was our 41st Premier League defeat at the new stadium since its opening in 2019. That's just five fewer than how many Arsenal have succumbed to at the Emirates, which opened in 2006.

We've also won just three of our previous 20 home league games, and currently sit 19th in the Premier League's home table with a meagre five points from six outings. In stark contrast, Frank's side have amassed the most points on the road in the division, having triumphed at Man City, West Ham, Leeds United and Everton.

Frank's current framework is better suited to playing away from home, when we can afford to be less efficient with the ball and lean more on intangibles such as 'grit', 'desire', and 'resilience'. In N17, there's a greater onus on the players to entertain a crowd that, without trying to alienate every single one of you reading this, is becoming increasingly entitled. The ticket prices are absurd, I know, but when has booing ever helped a group of players?

The necessary "cohesion" Frank has noted between players and fans, which was so distinct at the Lane in 2016/17, has seldom manifested at the new place. Perhaps there needs to be an acceptance of the team in its current state. There is a playing style which seemingly must be adhered to, although supporters were quick to turn on the ultimate idealist in Ange Postecoglou when the "entertaining" football facilitated a spate of injuries and a dire downturn in form.

A little bit of patience from those in attendance wouldn't go amiss at times, but English supporters are fairly unique in that they're almost solely reliant on action to generate atmosphere. We're not like the relentlessly chanting Europeans. Instead, we celebrate corners like goals and groan when a throw-in decision doesn't go our way.

We're a reactive bunch that craves incident. Frank's football so far hasn't yet supplied the necessary events for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to emerge as a daunting place to visit, with stylistic evolution and discovering a balance Postecoglou neglected likely the keys to improving Spurs' dreadful home form.

If all else fails, we could just stop playing domestic football and exclusively compete in Europe. Timo Werner was the goalscorer the last time we were beaten on home soil in the continental sphere, with RB Leipzig claiming a 1-0 victory over a José Mourinho-led Spurs in February 2020.