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Danny Murphy believes that one moment in the second half of Tottenham’s win over Copenhagen may cause Thomas Frank to revisit the formation that he is using.
Tottenham managed to beat Copenhagen comprehensively to move up to 10th place in the Champions League table, with the Lilywhites now just a point away from the top eight, which will give them automatic passage to the Round of 16.
It was a much-needed performance and win for Spurs, given that the critics of Thomas Frank’s tactics were growing increasingly louder before the game.
Tuesday’s clash will be remembered for Micky van de Ven’s astounding solo goal, which is a contender for the Puskas Award, and one pundit has suggested a change in formation could get more out of the Dutchman.
Thomas Frank told to change Tottenham formation to help Micky van de Ven
This is not the first time that the Dutchman has produced those lung-busting runs from the edge of his own box, which have ended up with the ball in the back of the net.
Van de Ven produced similar runs against both Man United and Everton last season, with the 24-year-old setting up Brennan Johnson and Heung-min Son, respectively, with easy finishes after carrying the ball the length of the pitch on both occasions.
Danny Murphy has now suggested that Frank may be thinking about shifting to a back three from a back four so that the former Wolfsburg man has more freedom to bomb forward.
The pundit said on talkSPORT Daily: “It’s an unbelievable goal, honestly. And actually, I was looking at it thinking, maybe we’d see this more often if he plays in a three [at the back].
“Maybe that’s something Thomas Frank’s thinking about, because we saw Brentford play in a three many times, didn’t we? And that will give him the license to go and do this type of thing. It’s just a beautiful, wonderful goal.”
Frank has been hesitant to play a back three
Until the 2023-24 season, we saw Frank use a back three a lot. However, he rarely did so at Brentford last season and has been hesitant to do that so far at Tottenham.
The Super Cup final against PSG is the only game where the Dane set up with a back three from the start, and even though his tactics worked well in that game, he has not gone back to that.
Pedro Porro may also be a lot more effective going forward as a wing-back, which is the role where he made his name at Sporting Lisbon, and the position he was signed to play under Antonio Conte.
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