Looking back at everything, many Tottenham Hotspur fans believe that it is not necessary to wait until now to realize that Thomas Frank is not the right choice for the team.
After a relatively positive start to the season, Spurs have fallen free on the Premier League table. Only winning 2 in the last 13 rounds, the North London team is currently down to 14th place - a result that is a big disappointment compared to the early season expectations.
The atmosphere at Tottenham Hotspur became gloomy. Fans yelled at both players and coaches even before the ball rolled. Conflicts between fans and players appeared more and more. More alarmingly, more than 10,000 empty seats appeared in the victory against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
The 2-0 victory over Dortmund brought a rare moment for Spurs and fans to breathe a sigh of relief. In the context of a seriously damaged squad due to injury, Tottenham showed their best performance since Frank took over.
Although the match was affected by Daniel Svensson's red card in the 26th minute, Spurs still completely controlled the game, led, played solidly and deserved to win all 3 points.
That is the best football that Tottenham has ever performed under Frank, helping them rise to fourth place in the Champions League table and almost put one foot in the round of 16.
However, just like last season - when Spurs won the Europa League but only ranked 17th in the Premier League - European achievements cannot hide serious problems in the domestic league.
The victory over Dortmund brought hope, but the reality in the Premier League is completely opposite. Since the 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at the end of December last year, Spurs have gone through a 5-match winning streak.
They dropped the early lead over Sunderland and Bournemouth, lost to teams in crisis form like West Ham and were eliminated from the FA Cup after a disastrous first half against Aston Villa. Spurs also performed one of the most boring matches in Premier League history recently when drawing with Brentford without a goal.
This series of matches has completely collapsed most of the remaining beliefs among fans. Comparing with Arsenal is clearly just an illusion. The belief that Frank needs more time partly stems from Arsenal's example under Mikel Arteta.
Arteta had a difficult first 18 months, two consecutive seasons in eighth place and at one point Arsenal ranked 15th in the rankings. But the important difference lies in the fact that Arsenal at that time still showed clear signs of progress and especially the FA Cup championship right in the first season.
Tottenham is not. Apart from 80 minutes of good play against PSG in the European Super Cup and the victory against Man City in August, Frank's past 6 months have hardly provided any practical basis for optimism.
The numbers say it all. Tottenham only won the "xG battle" in 8/22 Premier League matches. Only Burnley, Fulham and West Ham have worse xG records than them. 36.2% of Spurs' goals come from set-piece situations - the highest in the league. In other words, the "Roosters" almost did not create quality opportunities in the opening match.
More notably, most of their high xG matches appeared when they were led and the opponent actively retreated deep - which made the statistics deviate from the actual developments.
Tottenham's board of directors can continue to be patient, hoping history will repeat the way Arteta did at Arsenal. If Frank can turn the tide, they will be praised for their resilience in the face of public pressure.
But with what the numbers are pointing out, it is an extremely risky gamble. And very possibly, that patience will make Tottenham pay a heavy price.
