Thomas Frank ‘pulling his hair out’ after what Tottenham star did vs Newcastle United
Thomas Frank will be stressed for his future in North London after Tottenham fell to another defeat against Newcastle United on Tuesday.
A lot has been made about the club’s current manager situation, with Frank under huge pressure to turn his fortunes around, but calls for his sacking have only grown.
In fact, Tottenham fans were chanting Mauricio Pochettino’s name around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and the former Brentford figure should be fearing the worst after facing the Magpies.
Spurs were handed another blow when Wilson Odobert picked up an injury, with Mathys Tel coming on in his place, and the young Frenchman clearly caused more problems than he solved on 10 February.
Mathys Tel leaves Thomas Frank frustrated vs Newcastle
Tel has just six Premier League starts to his name, with just three goals in the 2025-26 campaign, and his lack of minutes certainly showed during the disappointing defeat to the Magpies.
Reporting via BBC Sport (10 February), journalist Ciaran Kelly said: “You can imagine Thomas Frank pulling his hair out at times with Mathys Tel. The Tottenham manager had his hands on his head after that miss.
“But Spurs have at least given the home support some encouragement in the last few minutes.”
It became quite clear why Frank doesn’t put his faith in the winger, and by looking at social media, the majority of supporters appear to agree with the manager’s decision.
Tel’s full stats are a cause for concern for Tottenham
After coming on in the 35th minute, Tel had 38 touches, missed one big chance, failed to get any of his six shots on target, was dispossessed four times, and won just 42 per cent of his ground duels [FotMob].
In addition to that, he has won just 25 per cent of his aerial duels, created an Expected Assists (xA) of 0.07, and barely had a positive impact on the game, with Spurs sinking to 16th in the league table.
With James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison, and Mohammed Kudus all sidelined for Tottenham, Frank is running out of options in the final third, meaning that Tel is going to get minutes.
Especially with the Lilywhites playing in the Champions League, there is really no other option but to trust the Frenchman with minutes on the pitch, but it is not ideal given his lack of output.
He is still young, so there’s the potential for him to improve exponentially, but fans have seen very little to believe that this will happen anytime soon.