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The chants from the travelling fans towards Thomas Frank were constant throughout much of this latest disappointing Tottenham result.

They began in the first half with the popular recent ditty "sideways and backwards, everywhere we go". Then after Micky van de Ven blasted Spurs into the lead in the 38th minute the fans belted out "we are staying up, we are staying up".

Then Tottenham somehow managed to make defending look difficult with five defenders on the pitch. First they allowed former Spurs man Kyle Walker all the time in the world to pick out the completely unmarked Axel Tuanzebe to fire home his first ever Premier League goal.

Then the away defence parted down the middle to allow Lyle Foster to roll a shot over the line as Guglielmo Vicario and Destiny Udogie contrived to combine to help it on its way.

The chants then came thick and fast. "We want Frank out, we want Frank out" was swiftly followed by "You're getting sacked in the morning, sacked in the morning".

There was also the colourful "Thomas Frank, your football is..." Well you can guess the next word.

The travelling fans also sang for former loves. The first half brought the Dele Alli chant but the second half delivered a more damaging one for Frank as that old favourite "Mauricio Pochettino, he's magic you know" resounded from the away stand.

Even Cristian Romero's90th minute goal, which broke Burnley hearts, did not save Frank from the fans' wrath.

If anything, the vitriol towards the Dane has shielded the players who once again were applauded, the captain in particular, who had booted an advertising hoarding after powering home his header.

He had to come off soon after. Frank told football.london that it was cramp after the game. It would surely have been too on brand for Tottenham's captain to reinjure his old problematic toe by kicking something in a rage-fuelled celebration.

Frank, to his credit, still applauded the supporters as he walked off while hearing what was coming back in his direction.

His relationship with the fans seems irretrievable and if that's the case, it's difficult to see how much longer Tottenham can continue along his path.

"First and foremost, I want to thank them for travelling and supporting the team throughout the game, which they do. I'm sure they can recognise and acknowledge especially the first half, and the improvement we've done there, and could and should have put it out of sight," Frank told football.london.

"But also acknowledge the will power and character of the team that keeps running, keep fighting, to the end. We just need to keep going. We do so many things right. But there's no doubt, that when it's not dropping so easy for us, the consistent performances we've done, which I think I said that many times, they actually are in an OK level.

"But apparently because of where we are now, we need to do more, to make sure we get the wins over the line. Especially in the Premier League. And one of the bits is to play every third or fourth day, to perform, that demands a lot of mentality.

"We have a few injuries, that doesn't help, but that's part of it. Never any complaints from me, that's reality. But that's where we need to be strong enough as a team to keep performing every third or fourth day."

The Tottenham fans don't want to hear that performances have been consistent when the team has picked up just two wins from their past 14 Premier League matches and they have taken only three points from their recent five league games against Brentford, Sunderland, Bournemouth, West Ham and Burnley.

Some of those teams have been woefully out of form but Spurs have been the ones who looked nervy and crumbled. That's a huge mentality issue both on and off the pitch.

If that's how they play against the strugglers, then what hope do they have of taking anything from the next four Premier League games against Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle and Arsenal?

Frank was asked about that after the game but refused to look further ahead than the trip to Frankfurt next week as Tottenham look to secure their spot in the Champions League last 16. The question is whether he will get the chance to look beyond that match in Germany or even to it.

The irony is that Tottenham created enough on Saturday to have easily won this match and if they had then the noise would have simmered rather than boiled this week.

Martin Dubravka made nine saves, one of them a remarkable flying stop from Mathys Tel's effort. Xavi Simons cannoned a strike off the crossbar and in all Spurs had 18 shots at goal with 11 on target. Burnley had four shots on target and scored twice.

It's not like Spurs struggled to open the door, it's more that the attackers were incapable of walking through it. Dominic Solanke's hold-up play was good but he's rusty in front of goal, as shown by his header at Dubravka from a couple of yards out when sending it anywhere else would have put them into the lead.

Wilson Odobert grabbed another assist and looked threatening when he ran with the ball, but he is not a goalscorer. Xavi's shooting is as inconsistent as his passing. The Dutchman is as capable of dropping the ball on a sixpence for another player as he is to hit it nowhere near them and his shooting is similarly wild.

"Dubravka was man of the match, he was that for a reason. That means we did a lot of things right offensively," Frank told football.london. "I think we came here, took some of the confidence from the game against Dortmund into this.

"I think first half we were good. I think actually we were very good, dominating the game, on top of the game, scoring 1-0 goal, creating a lot of chances, opportunities, could have done the 2-0, more or less if not out of sight, then definitely in a very good way to try to win a football match.

"And we concede a chance... we give nothing away first half, except a goal at the end of the first half, that we can never, ever, ever concede that goal. Because it just changed a little bit the momentum going into half-time.

"Then the second half, we're coming out, we're not as dominant. But I still think we are ok on top. We've got a big chance to Dominic Solanke to go 2-1 up. And then we concede another goal that we can never, ever, ever concede.

"That makes it difficult for us, but big praise to the players for showing the character and running power and will-power to keep going. We created big chances to match, to Xavi and I think there was one more. And then the goal. So did more than enough to get the equaliser. And over the game I think did more than enough to win it, but unfortunately not."

On Saturday it was left to two defenders once again to score the goals for Spurs as Van de Ven and Romero stepped up again.

football.london put it to Frank that while it's good that the two centre-backs contribute at the other end, it's telling that only the currently injured Richarlison has scored more than Romero and Van de Ven this season.

"Yeah, it's fantastic, two defenders scoring again. That is very positive, but of course you need more from your offensive players," he said. "They know it. They work very hard on it. It's not that they don't want it, but of course we need that. The day we add that together, plus defending a tiny bit better, then we will win."

The question for many is when exactly is that day because the fans would rather spend their money on that game?

The players have certainly not downed tools but it's tough to find evidence of Frank picking them up and motivating them during games. Inferior second half performances are commonplace which does not bode well for whatever is being relayed at half-time.

Saturday brought a late leveller but that again had little to do with tactical changes and more Romero once again deciding to play as a centre forward.

There has been little so far to suggest that Frank has worked out how to tackle the step up and what is required to coach Tottenham rather than Brentford with the vastly increased standards, expectations and scrutiny.

Other than Micky van de Ven's availability and goal tally, it's difficult to pick out much that has improved about Frank's Spurs at this point.

Tottenham have been trying to take a long-term view in a club notorious for doing anything but when it comes to managers. There's little question that had Daniel Levy still been in place as chairman, Frank would likely not still be in situ.

It's admirable to want to do something different at a club that has failed for years by constantly chopping and changing, but there needs to be green shoots that the fans can see could grow into something worthy of their time and money.

It's difficult to think of any manager who has enraged this fanbase quite as much as the mild-mannered Frank.

Every time he looks for the positives in defeats or disappointing draws, so he angers them further. In truth, what else can he say? He needs to mount a public defence of his work, not point to the drawer where the P45s are kept. Also, if he criticises his players then he loses them completely as well as the fans.

"I think the message to the fans, as I've said the whole time, is that we're working very hard to make sure everything is going in the right direction and we'll keep doing that," he said.

That direction looks downwards right now. Fail to take points from the nightmarish quartet of matches ahead and Spurs will be in a perilous place in the Premier League table.

Ange Postecoglou felt he could divert his best efforts to the Europa League last season because the club were never in any danger of the drop. This time around, with West Ham having won back-to-back matches and the gap currently only eight points, a disastrous points haul from the next four matches could see that vanish even if Nuno Espirito Santo's side have a mixed bag of fixtures.

The question continues to remain though, if not Frank then who right now? The summer is a different beast with a variety of managers likely to be on the market, but what about the coming months?

That's the question that will be in the back, and perhaps forefront, of the minds of the Tottenham hierarchy. There needs to be a plan in place if the fans were to get their way when it comes to Frank.

Many of the interim options barely raise much hope of a quick turnaround, and for those that do they all carry plenty of risks of their own.

Even with the longer term options there are risks. For example, there is an admiration from some within Tottenham for Bournemouth's Andoni Iraola, with similarities seen with Mauricio Pochettino's all-action, aggressive style.

Bournemouth are certainly one of the more entertaining sides in the Premier League but their recent 11-game winless run - ended of course by Tottenham - and defensive struggles do not count in his favour and the Cherries are only two points better off than Spurs.

The Spaniard could point towards having to completely rebuild his defence this season and now losing Antoine Semenyo from his attack, yet still improving results in recent weeks including Saturday's last-gasp victory against Liverpool.

But will Frank's struggles thus far in stepping up from a smaller club cause Tottenham to fear that approach again, with a wariness of the players needing a big personality to grab their attention and respect?

Take Romero for instance. Under Antonio Conte the Argentine was a quieter, more withdrawn member of the squad, his friend Giovani Lo Celso the more dominant compatriot.

In recent years, Romero has grown hugely behind the scenes and is now seen as a powerful figure within the club's walls. That has been reflected in him getting a big new contract and the captain's armband this season even if he is not a vocal leader in the traditional sense.

Watch the team talks on the pitch before matches and Romero only takes them some of the time. Others like Vicario and Van de Ven will take their turns in speaking to the group.

One strand of keeping the Tottenham players onside though is to keep Romero onside and that is something Postecoglou did well, although a few inside the club feel the player was and continues to occasionally be given too much leeway behind the scenes. Do that too much and others will expect it to be the case for them as well.

The World Cup winner was there for Tottenham and Frank though again on Saturday. Frank will hope that the Argentine's late goal will help him remain the best plan for the present for long enough to turn things around, but that's an increasingly difficult sell to those supporters coming through the turnstiles.

The Dane will point to the improvement in possession and chances created, mainly achieved through having both Xavi and Solanke in the team, and he will point to the need for help in a once-again injury-ravaged Tottenham squad that Postecoglou did not get a year ago.

Frank and the club want to inject experience and a stronger mentality into the club, hence the move for Gallagher and also Andy Robertson. Arne Slot made it clear publicly on Saturday that he wants the Scottish left-back to remain at Liverpool until the end of the season and any chance of a move would need a strong case to be made by Robertson and Tottenham.

Frank needs more than an experienced left-back though if he is to turn around this Tottenham super tanker as he called it. The club needs goals, they need a cutting edge and they need to bring a ready-made attacker or two through the door to provide that.

This is not just a Frank problem, although he must take a healthy portion of the blame. It is a club problem. There's a completely different look to the top of the Spurs power pyramid and thus far few of their decisions concerning on-pitch matters have panned out.

The argument will be that large scale change does not produce instant success and must be built for the longer term. The problem is that Tottenham fans have been sold the club's long term plan for a long time and right now it's looking as distant on the horizon as it ever has.