Tottenham Hotspur sacked Thomas Frank after just under eight months in charge, following recent defeats against Manchester United and Newcastle United.
Spurs now sit 16th in the Premier League after 26 games, just five points above the relegation zone.
With the mood extremely low around the club and the prospect of being dragged into a relegation battle, Tottenham have acted, looking to hit the reset button and save their season.
In this article, we’ll cover
Turbulent Tottenham
When looking to understand what exactly went wrong for Frank at Tottenham, you only have to look as far as the numbers to get an idea.
Spurs have generated just 27.40 Expected Goals this season. Only Wolverhampton Wanderers, Sunderland and Burnley have created less in the Premier League.
Frank’s side were also producing the fourth-lowest xG per shot (0.10 xG) per shot, with only Burnley, Nottingham Forest and Sunderland managing a lower value.
There has been a change in Tottenham’s controlling of games too. Last season they averaged 54.8% possession across the campaign, which was the fifth-highest in the Premier League. Now, they average 50.7% which is 10th across the league.
One thing that hasn’t helped is Tottenham’s injury list. Spurs have had 10+ players on that list for the majority of the season, including key players such as James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and now Mohammed Kudus.
Build up issues
Since Frank arrived in the summer, Tottenham have struggled to progress the ball through the middle of the pitch. They often resort to play down either side, or direct play which aims to gain territory via the ability to win second balls.
Building out from the back, Tottenham would often neglect the midfield, with their No.8s pushing up, ready to win the second ball from a direct pass forwards. But this made it one dimensional and easy for the opposition to read.
Teams have found it easy to stop Tottenham from moving the ball centrally. Spurs’ striker is often isolated without much support in close proximity.
This often saw Tottenham going long into the channel, looking to win a two-on-two or two-on-one and generate attacks from this point.
Low possession vs high possession
Frank was successful at Brentford, earning his chance to take over at Tottenham and attempt to scale up his ideas.
However, Frank tried to utilise similar principles of play at Tottenham. And that comes with a catch.
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At Brentford, Frank’s side could often sit off and have less possession, as their expectations were not to win every single game. It allowed them to play possum and hurt teams in transition.
Tottenham, however, were expected to be the protagonist in most games. So there was more expectation to win certain games and deliver a higher quality of football against so-called weaker teams.
Frank’s methods often levelled the playing field. It put less emphasis on Tottenham playing through the thirds with their technical quality and more onus on physical traits, looking to play direct and win second balls.
With the Premier League currently trending towards teams using physicality to level the playing field, Frank often played into other teams strengths, while still highlighting their own weaknesses.
What next?
There are two main options to replace Frank at Tottenham, and they would bring different things to the club.
Roberto De Zerbi would be more aligned to focusing on the technical and tactical aspects at Tottenham. He’d look to imrpove the build up patterns and allow Spurs to dominate games utilising their technical qualities, rather than focusing on their physical ones.
Mauricio Pochettino, on the other hand, does have a high octane system which has big demands physically. But many Tottenham fans would be happy to see him return, which could bring a feel good factor to the club and see them rally together.
Either way, Tottenham need to focus on the short term problems to avoid being dragged into a relegation fight, before thinking more towards the long term. So perhaps an interim manager is the route they will take instead.