Like Ange last season, tonight's performance had caveats, as our top 4 creative players were unavailable. However, the lack of ambition from a club ranked 9th richest in the world is a pattern this season which is hard to accept. We're not fucking Brentford mate.

With the resources we have, we should be an ambitious club. Our DNA is attacking, exciting football. Time wasting against Brentford at 0-0 is fucking embarrassing. You just know that Frank is going to claim that it's a good point.

Many fans were calling for more pragmatism, you can't argue we haven't got that.

With a better squad, I'm 99% sure season 3 Ange would have been better than this.

It wasn't that bad by the very low bar so far this season. We had 4 shots and generated almost 0.5xg which by recent standards is decent. Add to that the context that our 4 main creative players are all unavailable and it's understandable. It's still pretty bad though.

It's like when we went a whole season unbeaten at WHL and then knocked it down.

I don't think I'm being revisionist personally. I wrote this at the time: birdyspurs.co.uk/was-sacking-...

I don't think we saw the best of Ange given the general pattern of his career, but clearly, we’ll never know.

We had 0 xG from open play after 70 minutes. We're not in a massive injury crisis like this time last season. Yes, we have injuries to key attacking players, but we're way better than what we’re showing. The “hoof it long and hope” has been our primary tactic all season. Not good enough.

Ange was forced to play Gray out of position, but I take the point. He's still finding his feet and should probably be a rotation option right now. Frank has arguably inherited an unbalanced squad, but not one that justifies how we’re playing this season IMO.

No one would have said that Wharton or Anderson, for example, were CL players when they were signed but their managers got the most out of them. Yes, they're slightly older but their reputations were lower than Gray or Bergvall. I think we have a top 8 team but we don't play like one.

We were told that was one of his biggest strengths. I refuse to believe that Ange wouldn't be doing a better job with this squad.

We're clearly not a CL side, but we're definitely better than what we’re showing. They aren't just 2 random 19-year-olds on midfield, they're 2 of the hottest prospects around. The problem is the ambition. These aren't the stats of a team with top 6 ambitions.

It's not a sustainable approach for a team with our ambitions. We play like underdogs in almost every game. Not just underdogs, we play like lower league opposition against a big team in the cup. I hate it.

I don’t like the method though. Hanging on as if you're lower league opposition isn't really a sustainable game plan for a club with Spurs’ ambitions. That was almost as bad as Forest, only Palace couldn't take their chances. We looked ok after the subs, but I put that down to Palace tiring.

He has the attributes we need on the left. He can beat a man, go inside or outside, and has good technical ability. He needs some confidence…which he won't get sitting on the bench. Another conservative choice.

Completely agree. Too many games, we've looked like a lower-league team clinging on against much bigger and better opponents.

I can see the logic but it shows how low our aspirations are at the moment. We're clinging on like plucky underdogs from several leagues below in the cup. Any decent top half side goes for a second in this situation.