That behind-closed doors Tottenham friendly and Thomas Frank's five big positives from the break

International breaks are normally a worrying time for Premier League managers as they await the return of the majority of their players and pray for no injuries and Thomas Frank will be no different.

Frank had to watch 15 Tottenham players called up for senior international duty with Djed Spence making his first start for England along with call-ups for Micky van de Ven and Xavi Simons for the Netherlands, Ben Davies and Brennan Johnson for Wales, Guglielmo Vicario and Destiny Udogie for Italy, Cristian Romero for Argentina, Mohammed Kudus for Ghana, Pedro Porro for Spain, Lucas Bergvall for Sweden, Joao Palhinha for Portugal, Richarlison for Brazil and Pape Matar Sarr for Senegal.

Yves Bissouma is back from a knee injury and joined up with Mali's squad for their second match against Madagascar after some work at Hotspur Way earlier in the break. Frank also has some younger first team players on international duty with a trio of U21 call-ups with Archie Gray with England and Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert on French duty.

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Here are five positives from this international break so far for the Spurs head coach:

Kolo Muani return

Spurs welcomed Watford in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Hotspur Way on Friday. Watford brought a strong side and duly ran out 2-1 winners on the day against a home team mostly containing young players.

However, this was more about getting some game time into the legs of some players, including summer arrival Randal Kolo Muani. The France international arrived on deadline day in a loan move from PSG and has thus far only made a 13-minute substitute appearance from the bench in the Champions League win against Villarreal.

That's because in a training session soon after, the 26-year-old was involved in a collision with midfielder Pape Matar Sarr, which left him with a dead leg that did not heal quickly and kept him out for the next month. Now Kolo Muani is back in training and played 45 minutes in the behind-closed-doors friendly as he stepped up his fitness.

The other two first team squad members involved were striker Dane Scarlett, who has been playing for the U21s in recent games, as well as goalkeeper Brandon Austin.

Good displays

One benefit to the international break is the confidence boost it can give some players. Spence has plenty of confidence right now but it would have further stoked by his first start for England and a solid showing against Wales.

Porro also continues to be Spain's go-to right back and in the 2-0 win over Georgia, he drew a top drawer save out of Liverpool goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili in the first half before hitting the left-hand post in the second period. Romero also captained Argentina to victory against Venezuela with the winning goal coming from former Spurs midfielder Giovani Lo Celso.

Odobert scored twice and Tel once as France beat the Faroe Islands 6-0 to open their European Under-21 Championship qualification campaign with a bang.

Archie Gray and Ashley Phillips, currently on loan at Stoke, also enjoyed a big away win as England U21s beat Moldova 4-0, with the former playing the full 90 minutes and the latter coming on 12 minutes from time.

Lucas Bergvall had the positive of making his first start for Sweden but did miss an open goal as he misconnected with the ball in front of goal in the 2-0 home defeat to Switzerland.

Pape Matar Sarr also started and played the full game as Senegal romped to a 5-0 win in South Sudan to put them on the verge of a World Cup spot.

Helpful minutes

There was also the benefit of much-needed minutes for various Spurs players that Frank will want to get sharp as the fixtures return thick and fast after the break.

Kevin Danso helped make Austrian football history with their 10-0 win over San Marino for his country's biggest-ever victory in international football. The centre-back grabbed an assist with his flick on for Stefan Posch to turn home the fifth goal of the night. Every Austrian outfield player had a goal contribution in the game.

Gray got his 90 minutes as did Tel for France U21s and Odobert was given 63 minutes. Wales internationals Brennan Johnson and Ben Davies, who both needed the minutes, got 75 and 65 if them respectively in the defeat to England. Sarr's 90 minutes will also help top up his legs after his recent return from a thigh problem.

Mikey Moore boost

While this doesn't directly affect Frank in the short-term, he will have been delighted to see teenager Mikey Moore hit a hat-trick and get a smile back on his face.

It was the 18-year-old's first treble for England U19s as they won 4-1 against Belgium in Marbella. He started the game with fellow Spurs youngster Callum Olusesi before the duo were both taken off with 23 minutes of the game remaining.

The hat-trick was much-needed for Moore after a tough time at struggling Rangers. The Glasgow side will have a new manager as the Russell Martin era at the Glasgow club finally came to an end after a disastrous start to the season with Rangers eighth in the Scottish Premiership table with just one win, five draws and a defeat as well as four consecutive European losses.

Danny Rohl and Derek McInnes have both been linked to the Rangers job after Steven Gerrard turned down a potential return to Ibrox. Moore will be hoping a new manager revives his and the team's fortunes and Spurs will be watching closely with a potential January recall if matters do not improve.

Some rest

It's not all about minutes and goals as sometimes it's just good to pause and take a breath after a frantic start to the 2025/26 season. That goes for Frank himself who will have had some days off during this international break.

Some of his Tottenham players will not play the full 180 minutes throughout this fortnight either, which should leave them more refreshed for the mass of Spurs games ahead.

Guglielmo Vicario and Destiny Udogie were unused substitutes for Italy in their first game, as was Joao Palhinha for Portugal, while Richarlison came on late for Brazil as they beat former Tottenham captain Son Heung-min's South Korea 5-0 in a friendly in Seoul. Son became South Korea's most-capped player with the game, his 137th appearance surpassing the record he had jointly-held with Cha Bum-kun and his current head coach Hong Myung-bo.

Xavi Simons also came off the bench late on for the Netherlands but Micky van de Ven played 90 minutes as they won 4-0 in Malta.

Rodrigo Bentancur is getting a fortnight off after Marcelo Bielsa named a young Uruguay squad for friendlies in Asia in order to look at some new faces.

Frank will now be looking to see what happens with his other Tottenham players in their second international games in the coming days and keeping his fingers crossed for only more positives.