The Spurs head in front of the Arctic Circle in search of an added creativity | Champions League

No game is an island; Each game is inevitably colored by what happened before. It is not entirely five months since Tottenham came for the last time to the north of the Arctic circle and, for all that Thomas Frank insisted that it is a “new situation”, that the previous meeting with Bodø / Glimt in the semi-finals of the Europa League cannot color it in the league phase of the Champions League.

There was also a strange echo in accumulation. At the time, the rear Glimt Fredrik Sjøvold was disdainful of the pressing of Tottenham, which clearly annoyed Angel Postcoglou.

Frank is not someone who is rolled up, but he seemed surprised by a (non -critical) commentary by the goalkeeper of Bodø Nikita Haikin expressing the surprise of the way the focused spurs place on long throws and games. A third of goals come from framework platforms, said Frank; Why would Spurs not try to use them? “The sets are extremely important.”

Creativity, however, was a problem for Tottenham because their flight starting gave in to a slightly more difficult phase. They are fourth in the table, but are ninth in the Premier League for the creation of chance.

“Last year,” said Frank, “most of the matches was [Dejan] Lukevki, [James] Maddison, Sonny [Heung-min] and dom[inic Solanke] who played. Now we have more or less a new front and they are doing very well. Maybe we create more likely, dominating a little more. All good signs are there. »»

It will take a while before Solanke is available. He suffered an ankle injury in summer and was limited to two league substitute matches this season. An injection during the last international break did not solve the problem, so he will have what Frank called “a small procedure” which will probably hold him for a few more weeks. Cristian Romero has not traveled for precautionary reasons, while Randal Kolo Muani only overcome a dead leg.

The artificial height of Bodø, inevitably, attracted a large part of the attention, but Frank was determined to play its meaning. “It’s the same thing in Denmark, when I was a Brøndby coach, we were facing Nordjylland at that time. It was also a different surface. It’s the same today. It’s good. They are good here, they are very good at home.

“There are a lot of discussion on the field. I rather want to rent the team, the Bodø team and their coach, which they do. Because they do it quite coherent, at home and outside, the way they play.”

Frank refused the opportunity to have his train next to the field. “If we have training here and want to do some tactical work, with all the respect I owe you, it would be a little more obvious what we would do. This is the thing we like to keep for ourselves.

“If we train here, how long are we allowed, 45 minutes??

Even in this short film, it is difficult to understand how this game last season seemed tense at the time. The Spurs led 3-1 from the first step, but, largely because they conceded seven minutes of time, when it was apparently in total control, there was a fear that they could somehow spoil.

The story of Tottenham and Angelball were a powerful cock. Or rather the memory of angel, because Postcoglou had long abandoned its ultra-attacked principles for something more orthodox and more efficient. A disjointed match was established by Solanke and Pedro Porro goals in the space of six minutes halfway through the second half. It was a functional way of winning, but it was the penultimate stage of the trip to triumph over Bilbao, so it is part of a glorious story.

For Frank, an outside match of the Champions League against the same opponents is less important and will probably be more harsh, but no team will rebound by finishing 17th in the Premier League directly at the Highlands Sunlit.