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Thomas Frank has been quizzed on his defensive midfield choices after Tottenham’s draw with Wolves, and the Dane’s response offered an insight into how he approaches team selection and reflection.
It is still early days for Tottenham Hotspur under new manager Thomas Frank, who has made an excellent start to life in N17.
The Dane currently has Tottenham sitting in third place on the Premier League table, which marks a huge improvement on Spurs’ 17th-place finish last season.
However, while there has been clear progress in terms of results, there are still details to refine if further strides are to be made.
Thomas Frank explains Tottenham midfield choices against Wolves
Tottenham were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw against bottom-of-the-table Wolves, a side that had yet to register a single point before the weekend.
It was very much Spurs’ game to lose, but their performance echoed some of their struggles from last season, particularly against deep defensive setups where they often found it difficult to break down compact low blocks.
After the game, Frank was asked about his choice of midfield pairing against Wolves and whether it was something he would reconsider in the future.
When pressed on his use of Joao Palhinha alongside Rodrigo Bentancur, Frank told football.london:
“I will always look back at it but a good, old coach told me once that the line-up you picked, you did that for a reason and you do not know what would happen if you pick the other one.
“Maybe you would have lost 2-0. So, I need to go with what I believe in of course. That is not to say I am not watching the game back and not reflecting and thinking about hmm, could we, should we, you never know?
“I actually think first half was quite good and we created enough. We would like to create a bit more, yes but actually after I took Rodri out, you could say it did not work because we lost the structure, so who knows? One thing is for sure, we need to do a little bit better in the second half.”
Spurs creativity concerns under Frank
Spurs have often struggled for creativity this season, although at times they have looked excellent, even with a midfield pairing built on two pivots.
Ironically, one of those pivots has chipped in with vital goals of late, as Palhinha netted the opener against Doncaster and then struck the equaliser against Wolves.
There will, however, be fixtures where Tottenham need to release the handbrake, focus more on pushing numbers into advanced areas, and show greater attacking creativity.
Frank rarely had to deal with low defensive blocks during his time at Brentford, and now at Tottenham, it is one of the challenges he will have to solve.
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