Tottenham remain a work in progress under head coach Thomas Frank, explains Standard Sport’s Matt Verri, as the former Brentford boss prepares for his first game against his old club on Saturday (3pm kick-off GMT).

The Premier League game against the Bees is viewed as an important one for the Dane, with his side sitting 11th in the table and still looking to offer more of a threat going forward.

Tottenham Hotspur are 11th in the Premier League ahead of Saturday’s game. What have you made of their start to the season?

Tottenham started the season pretty well in terms of results.

They beat Manchester City away on the second weekend of the season and there was a fair bit of positivity around the idea that Thomas Frank was going to change, tactically, match to match, Spurs were going to be versatile, and that was a big change from what they were doing under Ange Postecoglou.

But even in the first couple of months, while results were decent, the performances were a bit of a concern. They were relying heavily on set-pieces, Guglielmo Vicario was having a lot of good games, and a lot of the underlying data suggests that they were overperforming a lot, which has caught up with them in the last month or so.

The main problem is the attack - they really struggle to create chances. At the time of speaking, they are 17th in the Premier League for the amount of shots taken per game.

And the defence, which was the strength earlier in the season, has got worse, so you combine those two things and it has been a pretty tough run.

The fans are very frustrated with the style of play: Frank is pretty pragmatic, very cautious, and it has not been very entertaining to watch.

When you lose to Chelsea and Arsenal - Tottenham's biggest rivals - that piles the pressure on as well.

Thomas Frank has been in the headlines over the last week, with his response to boos aimed at Vicario after his mistake against Fulham. How much pressure is he currently under and how much time is he likely to be given?

I think, for now, a lot of the pressure is fairly external in terms of coming from the fans. The club are still pretty calm about the situation.

There was a pretty long process to appoint him in the summer: they interviewed a lot of candidates and they were convinced he was the one.

There has been a lot of change behind the scenes as well. Daniel Levy has gone now and there is a new structure in place, and Tottenham do want Frank to be the man at the centre of that, so I think there is a lot of goodwill towards him.

There comes a point, though, where the noise from the fans gets too much and clubs are often forced into action.

Like I said, the style of play is his big problem, and the home form is another - Spurs have not won at home in the Premier League since the first weekend of the season.

That is not just his problem, as they won three times there in the last 12 months, so it does predate him, but it is his problem at the moment.

The Fulham match last weekend was a disaster and, if he now lost to Brentford, I think he would be under huge pressure from the fans and that would start to be something the club and the board would probably listen to.

This is very much being billed as a game he has to win this weekend.

Do you think that external pressure and frustration was already there from last season, there is just a new target now?

Like I said, the home form has been terrible for a long time, so that has carried over.

I guess he was in a tough situation in the summer, in that there was a decent chunk of Tottenham fans who did not want Postecoglou to go. He had given Spurs their best night in a long time, having won a first trophy in 17 years. During the trophy parade, the fanbase was so united.

Certainly, with distance now, the fact that they finished 17th has been forgotten to an extent. The fans are just remembering the trophy and the entertaining football, even though there was plenty under Postecoglou that was not particularly entertaining.

So, you have a chunk of the fans who did not particularly want Frank, and the fact that his style of play is fairly cautious has not helped.

There is also an element of Levy not being there as the lightning rod for it, so a lot of the anger has carried over in terms of fans being unhappy with how the club has been run and, now they do not have Levy's name to chant or him to focus on, Frank is the one who is taking it at the moment.

Which player should Brentford be keeping an eye out for on Saturday?

For good and bad, a lot of Tottenham's play goes through Mohammed Kudus.

Brentford fans will know Frank loves crossing; that is a key part of his game, that is where he focuses, and that has carried on at Tottenham.

Pretty much all of their attacks at the moment go down that right wing. There is a lot of times when Kudus is isolated and the pressure is on him to beat two or three men and get a cross in, but he has got six assists in the Premier League this season and has carried that attack a lot.

That said, he is a player who frustrates fans and sometimes he tries to do too much but, because he is in a situation where he keeps getting the ball and is having to make it all happen by himself, that is pretty inevitable.

So, assuming he starts, Kudus will be the one a lot of Tottenham's play goes through.

What should Keith Andrews’ men expect in terms of shape and style?

That is a difficult one to predict because I think he has changed the system and he has changed the line-up pretty much every match!

In general, I think the most common one has been a 4-2-3-1, with at least one of João Palhinha or Rodrigo Bentancur as the defensive midfielders.

Randal Kolo Muani will probably be starting up front as he has been in really impressive form.

Then there is Xavi Simons, who has not started any of the last three Premier League matches. There is a big debate over how much Frank trusts him.

Whatever system Tottenham play, it will be very direct. They are going to be trying to win set-pieces as much as possible, with a focus on corners and trying to get it wide as much as possible.

In terms of who the actual personnel will be, that is changing so much from game to game.

What’s your score prediction?

At some point, Tottenham do have to win at home. I have thought that a lot, but I think they will just about get over the line.

I will go 2-1, but I think it will be fairly nervy and unconvincing. This is just such a must-win game for Tottenham.