What Thomas Frank has asked of Lange and Levy in the final days of Tottenham's transfer window

Thomas Frank gestures on the touchline during the Premier League match between Spurs and Bournemouth at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

As certain as the passing of the seasons and the sun and moon rising in the sky is the fact that Tottenham will lose before an international break.

Spurs might have put in three impressive performances, starting the Premier League season with five goals and two clean sheets, including a win at the Etihad Stadium, but just whisper in someone's ear that it's time for international football and the north London club will crumble.

Tottenham have now lost their past seven Premier League games on the matchday before an international break. It never used to be that way, they had gone unbeaten in the previous 13 before that, winning 10 of those but something shifted a couple of years ago.

Perhaps it's just coincidence, perhaps players are mindful of getting injured or perhaps they just lack the ability to focus on the present.

Either way, this was a dismal affair reminiscent of much of what was served up in the Premier League last season with Spurs as open to counter attacks as they were back then despite Thomas Frank's new defensive structure and that's what annoyed him even more than the lack of creativity

"We knew exactly what they came with and we trained for it. We just didn’t handle it well enough in terms of the balls in behind, the second balls, duels in the middle of the park.

"That’s the defensive side and on the offensive side we struggled to find good enough solutions to get through phase one and two so we could get up there and put a bit of pressure on them. We only did that in the last 15 where we put on good pressure and could have equalised. I think over the game it was fair that Bournemouth won."

Tottenham were missing that bit of magic and the man who can provide that was only able to step on to the pitch to say hello to the fans inside his new home.

Xavi Simons , Spurs' new £52million signing, who put pen to paper on a five-year contract with an option for another two, came out onto the turf five minutes before the supporters had been told, catching out a few who hadn't reached their seats yet.

He waved and applauded all the stands and showed off his phone goal celebration, which came about because he was always ringing his brother when he first moved to PSG and they decided on it while playing FIFA together and saw a similar celebration.

Spurs could have done with Xavi being signed before the Friday deadline and having magically been awarded his work permit in record time. For everything that the 22-year-old Dutchman brings to the table was needed against the Cherries.

"Sometimes you need a player that can do something (clicks his fingers) a little bit out of nothing, go past the player, produce a cross, a shot, a pass, with that extra quality that you need on the day, and that's what I think he can bring," said Frank of his new signing .

Xavi's arrival certainly brought a buzz inside Hotspur Way on the day he was being signed with players excited about the transfer and some asking staff whether it was done yet at points around training.

For the Barcelona product is a statement signing and he's got all the elements to become a star in this Tottenham side. The club shop on Saturday had so many fans looking to get number seven shirts with his name on it that the wait for printing reached more than an hour at one point.

The youngster watched the game from a box in the west stand, complete with a big entourage which will no doubt slim down as he settles in. He was taken down inside the stadium with about 10 minutes to go of the match.

The problem with Sunday's defeat is that it showed how Spurs can be without creativity and with the running and pressing game below what was required. They had 61.4% of the possession but an XG of just 0.17 compared to Bournemouth's 1.45. In simpler terms, the visitors had 20 shots to Tottenham's five, in their own backyard.

So what happens if Xavi misses matches against teams that are tougher to break down and double up on the wide men?

Spurs' original plan was to sign Morgan Gibbs-White to compete with and play alongside James Maddison, only for the latter to suffer that ACL injury and ruled out for much of the campaign. So it is risky to go into a busy campaign with just Xavi as a true number 10, although he can also play down the left.

"It’s fair to say we didn’t defend as well as we should do and we have done in the first three games. That I am quite confident we will come back to defend well again but that could have helped massively," he said.

"The creativity, yes, that’s why we signed Simons to have an extra offensive player but I also think on the day with all due respect to our offensive players none of them hit a high level and that happens sometimes. I’m very aware. I don’t want to say it’s okay but it’s natural."

Spurs have less than 48 hours remaining of the transfer window which closes on Monday at 7pm.

What will make these final days all the more interesting is that Frank has made it clear to Tottenham both privately and publicly that he doesn't want extra numbers just for the sake of it and wants only to bring in the quality of player that can continue to improve the starting XI.

Despite a hugely frustrating transfer window at times, one of the major positives has been that in Mohammed Kudus , Joao Palhinha and Xavi, Spurs have brought in three starters, which in turn naturally strengthens the rest of the squad. Contrast that to last summer when Tottenham signed just a single starter in Dominic Solanke alongside a group of teenagers.

If Spurs are to compete across all four competitions, including that Champions League return, then the signings must be ready for the biggest of games.

So Frank is believed to have made it clear that he would rather wait for a top drawer player if a similar level candidate is not available right now. For instance, the Dane has Manchester City's Savinho right up at the top of his wanted list and if a winger of a similar ready-made level is not available in the remaining time of this window then he would prefer to wait for the Brazilian if he is expected to be available in a future window rather than in the final hours of this one.

The question that of course raises is why Spurs have not managed to do as much by this point as other clubs. Depending on your point of view it either puts pressure on technical director Johan Lange and chairman Daniel Levy to deliver another high level player for Frank in the remaining hours or it eases the need to panic buy just anyone to bolster numbers.

The lack of creativity aside from Xavi will be an issue if someone else does not come in until Dejan Kulusevski returns, which is not expected to be any time in the near future.

The Spurs boss also made it clear that he does not want another striker at this stage despite Solanke feeling some discomfort in the ankle that had bothered him all summer and missing Saturday's match.

"No. I would say not particularly. To have three strikers in the squad can also cause a problem as you can only play one at a time," he said. "It’s a fine balance. I’m not saying we will never go for another striker at another time but I’m happy with Dom and Richarlison."

Frank wants another winger/10 and a centre-back although the latter brings with it an age-old Tottenham problem that rarely seems to exist at other clubs.

The north London club used to struggle to attract top level strikers because their targets knew they would not play with Harry Kane in the building.

Now when it comes to centre-backs, Spurs are finding that some similar level defenders they have targeted believe Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven's partnership will render them as a back-up.

The truth is that the duo's availability last season, 26 and 22 games played respectively from Tottenham's 60, shows the odds favour someone coming in and getting game time.

Even someone like City's Manuel Akanji. How do you sell swapping Pep Guardiola's bench for Frank's bench to the 30-year-old? It can only be done through the hope of Champions League football and games aplenty to share out.

Frank played down the need for another centre-back when asked on Friday ahead of the game.

"We have right now three centre-backs: Micky, Romero, Danso. Ben can play there if necessary," he said. " We have Kota the young central defender we bought this summer and is running now and training with the team next week, or training with the ball. There’s not many left behind, and then Dragusin is coming back in a couple of months so that should be enough. Not as it stands, no [we don't need another]."

Frank's requirement for quality rather than simply numbers is going to ensure the final days of the transfer window will see Spurs very much going big or going home. The outcome could dictate just how successful this season is.

Frank also experienced something for the first time as a Spurs manager on Saturday - the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium anxiety levels.

So far the Dane has only experienced the club's home at its most positive. Against Bournemouth, he got to see the excitement before the game over Xavi's unveiling, the early buzz of the opening minutes with an early Pape Matar Sarr run and low cross pushed out by the keeper and then what came next.

What came next was a performance from Spurs that gave the majority of the 61,250 supporters very little to cheer. When that happens the frustration grows inside the huge stadium.

Brennan Johnson found himself on the end of that. The 24-year-old actually started the game really brightly with a couple of good runs and one exquisite spinning flick into the path of Djed Spence's run.

Then he made a few bad decisions with the ball and the groans grew. It's noticeable that other players can misplace a pass or struggle with their end product but they don't receive the reaction last season's top scorer does.

When Johnson eventually came off there were cheers for his substitution, despite the fact that this was a player who had scored key goals in both of the two previous games.

It was made all the more awkward by the fact that he had to then walk past three of the stands as he came off on the other side of the pitch. He understandably kept his eyes on the game the whole time.

The truth as well is that few others were any better on the day, perhaps only Guglielmo Vicario and Van de Ven coming out of the encounter with any real credit as they kept the defeat from being a heavy one.

Pedro Porro had a nightmare, as many others have had, in dealing with Antoine Semenyo. The Spaniard became so concerned about getting left exposed in a foot race with the Ghana international that he would sometimes tuck inside behind Romero, on one occasion causing the Argentine to bellow at him as he provided no passing option when he had strode out of defence with the ball.

Porro was taken off in the 71st minute, something that was rarely seen last season, but it said a lot about his impact.

Djed Spence, after his first England call-up, was simply okay on the whole other than playing Evanilson onside by a distance as the back four tried to step out, allowing the Brazilian, who had peeled off Romero to score with a deflected effort.

Rodrigo Bentancur, Palhinha and Sarr were hard-working without having the guile to open up Bournemouth. This was a game when Sarr as a number 10 just did not work.

Richarlison put in a performance up top that had none of the highlights of recent weeks as his hold-up play was poor and so was his distribution.

On his right, Kudus tried to make things happen but often did his best Lucas Moura impression of either beating one man and running into another as Bournemouth doubled up on him or getting into good positions only to deliver a poor final ball.

Of the substitutes, Wilson Odobert continues to look lightweight and tentative in his decision-making at times, firing over a decent chance from inside the Cherries' box when unmarked. Lucas Bergvall was brighter and grabbed hold of the midfield play when he could, while Destiny Udogie's return showed the balance he can bring down the left and he flashed a last-gasp header wide.

Mathys Tel only came on for the final minutes but could have scored a wonderful goal had his acrobatic volley from Spence's cross flown the other side of the left-hand post.

At the final whistle came the boos, as they had to a lesser degree at half-time. There was definitely some aimed towards the officials, who had let some of Bournemouth's more physical play go unpunished.

However, those final whistle boos came after a rare period without any gripes at the referee Simon Hooper. They were about the performance of the Spurs players. It was only when the officials walked off and down the tunnel that they got their own separate and loud boos.

"I prefer them not to boo, but I understand," said Frank afterwards. "It was not a good performance today and they have high expectations, which is absolutely fair. I think let's say if we perform even better and still lose the football match today, I don't think we hit the level we should.

"I think the players gave everything and then that's the foundation and put the heart out there, but football-wise we didn't hit our top level today."

The international break is now upon us and the Spurs players will scatter off around the world. For some, we may not see them at the north London club again.

Bryan Gil has not been spotted at Tottenham anyway this summer thanks to his knee injury recovery and it would seem miraculous if no exit emerges for him before Monday ends.

Yves Bissouma celebrated his 29th birthday on Saturday out of the squad with his knee injury. Galatasaray had previously held discussions over trying to sign the midfielder and others could well try in the coming days but it all depends on the player and what level he believes is befitting of him.

Manor Solomon was back on the bench in Solanke's absence, but barring a remarkable turnaround it seems a difficult route for the 26-year-old to get into Frank's thinking. The sheer number of players the Dane has to squeeze into 22 spots in his Champions League squad next week suggests Solomon will not be among them.

It's going to be a fascinating final two days of the transfer window at Tottenham. The club turned their business around with the statement signing of Xavi only for the defeat to Bournemouth to show more is needed.

Frank wants only those who can make a big contribution right away rather than simply fill gaps. Are such players available so late in the window and if so, will Tottenham make their clubs an offer they simply cannot refuse?