Thomas Frank is the new Spurs manager. So how do his teams play?

New York Times

21 hours ago

Tottenham Hotspur's switch from Ange Postecoglou to Thomas Frank is a move towards the pragmatic end of the coaching scale.
In his four Premier League seasons as Brentford's head coach, Frank has demonstrated his ability to have teams play in different styles depending on the composition of their squad and who the opponents are.
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The first two seasons after Brentford's 2021 promotion are generally remembered for defensive organisation, innovative set pieces, and long balls to striker Ivan Toney. However, that is a reductive summation: Frank's side also pressed aggressively and knew how to attack in wide areas.
It wasn't all 5-3-2, deep blocks and hitting it long, but the intention was to establish Brentford as a Premier League team before adding layers to their game. Frank started the process of introducing that greater variety at the beginning of 2023-24, but injuries hindered their evolution.
'We talked about Brentford 2.0,' Frank told The Athletic last year. 'We wanted to add layers to our style. We wanted more control and to be more dominant on the ball, to create chances. I didn't want a thousand passes before we scored a goal.
'All of our offensive statistics went up from the beginning of the season until the 12th game — possession, passes, crosses, number of players in the box, xG (expected goals), goals… and then the injuries hit us. We tried to still go down that route for the next couple of games but we had too many players out.'
So the evolution didn't really kick into gear until last season, with Frank still playing to the strengths of Brentford's individuals, especially Mikkel Damsgaard, Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo (they sold Toney to Saudi Arabia's Al Ahli at the end of August).
'I always wanted to play offensive football, (but) it's a combination of what is best for the players we got,' Frank told the BBC in January. 'We have this style, but what kind of players, because I can't pick all the best players in the world.'
Frank mainly used a back four last season, and Brentford's shape in possession changed depending on what they wanted to achieve, who was available and how their opponents set up. Brentford played in different variations of 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3. From Wissa dropping in the half-space to form a 4-2-2-2 shape on the ball…
… to Damsgaard starting as a left-winger but roaming infield to play as a second attacking midfielder, with Keane Lewis-Potter providing the width.
Using Lewis-Potter as a left-back empowered their wing-play because of his attacking profile. His ability to occupy the width on his own and knowledge of how to attack the space offered more solutions down the Brentford left, where he can momentarily exchange positions with Kevin Schade or allow their German left-winger to be closer to the goal.
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In this example, against Leicester City in November, Damsgaard's positioning drags Wout Faes up the pitch, with James Justin and Conor Coady marking Lewis-Potter and Schade respectively.
As Damsgaard plays the ball to left-side centre-back Ethan Pinnock…
… Lewis-Potter and Schade start swapping positions and Damsgaard drops deeper still, with Faes unsure whether to follow him all that way.
By taking Faes out of the equation, Lewis-Potter and Schade are left in a two-on-two scenario. Damsgaard is under no pressure.
Lewis-Potter starts his run first to move Coady away from the touchline and isolate Schade against Justin, where the pace of the German gives him the upper hand.
Damsgaard manages to find Schade's run behind the defence…
… and the latter plays the ball across goal for Wissa, who scores.
Those wide combinations were a staple of Brentford's possession game last season, and an important tool to help them play through the opponent's press.
Mbeumo's first goal in their 4-2 win against Brighton & Hove Albion in April is one example of how Frank's side constantly wanted to tempt their opponents up the pitch, before cutting through them with quick passing.
Brentford's passing combinations in wide areas were a variation on the swift build-ups which have been on the rise across the Premier League. These are defined as short goal-kick sequences that reach the height of the opponent's penalty area, or end in a shot, within 30 seconds.
Looking at the rate of quick build-ups per 100 goal kicks in the Premier League, Brentford's rate of 4.6 last season was double that of their first year after promotion, showing how Frank has integrated this into the team after establishing them in the top flight.
Another feature of Frank's team was their focus on shot location and 'making each chance bigger'. Across their four seasons in the Premier League, Brentford's average shot distance of 14.5 metres was the lowest in the division, while the average quality of their shots was its highest.
Last season, Brentford's xG per non-penalty shot (0.13) was the best in the Premier League, leading to a conversion rate of 14 per cent.
Wide combinations from quick-build-up situations was one way of regularly creating high-quality chances. But against deeper blocks, Frank's side focused on crosses and passing combinations to find third-man runs.
In this example below, against Wolverhampton Wanderers in October, Christian Norgaard attacks the space vacated by Rayan Ait-Nouri and Mario Lemina, who are attracted to Mbeumo, and the Danish midfielder's off-ball movement allows Brentford to combine through the defence, before he slots a finish into the bottom corner.
In another example, from the 4-3 victory against Manchester United in May, Brentford are attacking down the right side when Mbeumo dribbles infield in an attempt to break down the opponent's block. This movement creates space for Brentford's right-back, Michael Kayode, to attack, with the position Damsgaard takes up pinning United's left centre-back, Leny Yoro.
Meanwhile, Wissa is positioned between United's right wing-back and centre-back, and Mathias Jensen is looking to attack the space behind midfielders Christian Eriksen and Manuel Ugarte…
… who move up towards Mbeumo.
The Cameroon forward then finds Jensen between the lines…
… which forces Tyler Fredricson to move and leave Amad in a one-versus-two situation against Wissa and Lewis-Potter, who is playing as a left-winger here and arcs his run to attack the space created in United's defence.
In an attempt to defend this move, Harry Maguire takes a couple of steps to the right to cover Wissa, but Jensen plays the ball through the gap between him and Yoro. Kayode's initial movement puts him in a position to run into the space behind the United defence from the blindside, and he connects with Jensen's pass…
… before playing the ball across goal…
… for Wissa to score into an empty net.
It's details like Wissa's initial position between United's right wing-back and right centre-back that have distinguished Brentford under Frank. The centre-forward's awareness was the main driver in that example, but Brentford forwards positioning themselves in the correct spaces when attacking the opponents' defensive line has been a common trait.
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'We work a lot on making the chance big, but also work a lot on crosses and having enough players in the box,' Frank told Sky Sports in October. 'In the last four or five years, I have been big and big on crosses. I think that's such an important thing and we work on different ways to work it.
'We either create one-v-ones (down the wing) — classic (winger) going on the outside or inside cut and the in-swinging (cross) — give and go, or runs in the half-space (and) ball is played under.
'In the box, we need to hit the gaps — that's the biggest thing for me on the last line.'
Schade's second goal of that victory against United is an example of how focused Brentford were on attacking crosses from the right positions and with the correct movement.
Kayode's position puts Mbeumo in a one-versus-one against Harry Amass and moves Yoro away from defensive colleagues Maguire and Fredricson. Meanwhile, Wissa occupies United's right centre-back and enables the overload at the far post with Lewis-Potter supporting Schade.
As Mbeumo crosses the ball towards the far post, Wissa fakes a run to that zone before attacking the near post. His movement prevents Fredricson from committing to the far post, which allows Schade and Lewis-Potter to attack that space freely, with Amad being late to arrive.
Schade connects with the cross and puts the ball into the net, but note Brentford's left-back, Lewis-Potter, is also there to be a secondary option.
In another example, from the 2-2 draw at home against Manchester City in January, Lewis-Potter is in a right-back role towards the end of the match and crosses the ball into the penalty area, where there's a four-versus-three situation with Rico Henry arriving late to the far post.
Henry doesn't impact this attack, but it's the movement of Wissa and Schade in the centre which isolates Norgaard against Manuel Akanji. Wissa attacks the near post and Schade the far, attracting Nathan Ake and Matheus Nunes respectively…
… and creating a bigger space in the middle of the penalty area, where Norgaard is in a one-v-one. The Denmark midfielder beats Akanji to the ball and heads it in for a stoppage-time equaliser.
The ability to attack crosses in open play was complemented by Brentford's set-piece skill. The club had focused on set pieces long before Frank's arrival, when they were in the second-tier Championship in 2016, but the Danish head coach is an advocate of the dead balls and knows their importance.
In 2024-25, Brentford's effectiveness from attacking corners took a hit — scoring only five times — but their clever throw-ins maintained their set-piece reputation, with six goals from long throws.
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Looking at the rate of goals for and against per 100 set pieces — which creates a fair and level playing field across all 20 Premier League clubs, as one team might face or have more set-piece opportunities than another — Brentford's 4.0 goals per 100 sits in the middle of pack, but their xG-per-100-set-pieces rate (4.8) was fourth-best in the division last season.
Defensively, Frank's team were by far the best set-piece side in the 2024-25 Premier League, conceding both its lowest xG (3.1) and goals (1.0) per 100 set pieces.
Adding new layers didn't mean that Brentford neglected the strengths that had kept them in the Premier League in the first place. They were still able to set up in a strong defensive block, defending mainly in a 4-4-2 with Norgaard or Vitaly Janelt dropping to fill the gaps or make it a back five if needed.
In terms of their high press, Brentford continued their approach of locking on man-to-man with their opponents, with initial positions and angles of the press differing from one match to another. In addition, there were instances last season when Frank's side took a more hybrid approach to their pressing.
Brentford's aggressive nature without the ball meant that they won possession in the attacking third 190 times in the Premier League — behind only Manchester United and Bournemouth.
The important question for new employers Tottenham is whether these ideas can translate to their squad and how the club want to play post-Postecoglou.
Another issue is how Frank will adapt to a tighter schedule with less time on the training pitch, having not coached in a European competition apart from the preliminary qualifying rounds of the Europa League when he was with Brondby in his homeland more than a decade ago.
On top of all that, the pressure to deliver at Spurs is much different from Brentford.
These are valid concerns, but as Frank himself says: 'If you don't take a risk, you also take a risk.'
There is no doubt about the 51-year-old's coaching ability, and his adaptability will be an important asset at Tottenham.