Thomas Frank

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Thomas Frank

Tottenham fans don't know what they want.

When they are playing attractive football and getting beaten regularly, they pine for someone more pragmatic.

Then when they have someone who gets better results but the football isn't great to watch, they start banging on about how it isn't "The Tottenham Way" (whatever that means).

They are mugs and Thomas should stay well clear but money always talks.
 

Thomas Frank

upnorthbee said:
Not what i've heard mate. I think the majority would take Poch football back over the Conte brand they're now seeing.
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All day long, there is a belief that Conte is a proven winner and that is the priority but if they end up without any trophy and outside of UCL they will revolt and want him gone. They hated Mourinho but tolerated him initially because his record in his first season regardless of the style won trophies, he broke the mould at Spurs.
 

Thomas Frank

I'm not a manager but TF has to take some of the blame here, right?

Never ever plays Ghoddos, then brings him on for our best player at the time.
 

Thomas Frank

sakurameng said:
Taking down Jensen changed the game today in the end, although he doesn’t have a strong squad today.
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He was having a great game. But he was starting to look spent and who knows what stats his sports bra was sending back to the bench. If taking him off prevented him picking up an injury that could take weeks...then it would ultimately be the right decision. These are tough calls to make and the data shows trends but doesn't give definitive answers. Everything is a judgement call for Thomas & Co. This would be a no conversation item if the whistle blew 30 secs earlier of if Mee had got to the ball a hundredth of a second earlier. Tiny tiny margins.
 

Thomas Frank

Frank has his favourites. Some might say his team selections are rather wierd.
 

Thomas Frank

Hampshire Bee 2018 said:
Nothing wrong with his team selection. Ghoddos coming on for Jensen unbalanced us for the last 10 minutes but aside from that I’m not sure what TF did wrong.
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Retrospectively looking at the first half performance, you could question Janelt and Da Silva starting ahead of Onyeka and Damsgaard. I think the subs were mainly to help take the clock down later on. Not criticising as none of those midfielders is consistent if they get picked.

TF wasn't the reason we let in a last-gasp goal though.
 

Thomas Frank

Brentford77 said:
He was having a great game. But he was starting to look spent and who knows what stats his sports bra was sending back to the bench. If taking him off prevented him picking up an injury that could take weeks...then it would ultimately be the right decision. These are tough calls to make and the data shows trends but doesn't give definitive answers. Everything is a judgement call for Thomas & Co. This would be a no conversation item if the whistle blew 30 secs earlier of if Mee had got to the ball a hundredth of a second earlier. Tiny tiny margins.
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I would have agreed normally, but We are couple of months away from next meaningful game (I am writing off Man City game). If a few minutes can make some players pick up injuries so be it, professional footballers pick up injuries all the time lol.

Anyone watching the game could see the change in pattern in the last minutes, we were on the track to concede since we lost control to the midfield. Please don’t say me should have saved that one, he had done enough.
 

Thomas Frank

Hippobee said:
Retrospectively looking at the first half performance, you could question Janelt and Da Silva starting ahead of Onyeka and Damsgaard. I think the subs were mainly to help take the clock down later on. Not criticising as none of those midfielders is consistent if they get picked.

TF wasn't the reason we let in a last-gasp goal though.
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Damsgaard would have been eaten alive in that first half if he started in central midfield
 

Thomas Frank

I love the fact he isn’t afraid to change things when they are not working, but not sure we have to make 4-5 subs every single game.
 

Thomas Frank

sakurameng said:
I would have agreed normally, but We are couple of months away from next meaningful game (I am writing off Man City game). If a few minutes can make some players pick up injuries so be it, professional footballers pick up injuries all the time lol.

Anyone watching the game could see the change in pattern in the last minutes, we were on the track to concede since we lost control to the midfield. Please don’t say me should have saved that one, he had done enough.
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Not saying he should have saved it. He made a valiant effort and has - as ever - put in a colossal performance
 

Thomas Frank

Some thoughts after Forest (A)…

Taking some flack for his trust in Roerslev after some unconvincing displays. But with Ajer and Hickey out in particular, his alternatives were limited there.

That said, I’m not sure his selection was 100%… in hindsight I feel Canós might have been a better choice to start over KLP wide left. Easy to say in hindsight, but certainly when KLP was subbed off, was clear to me that Sergi would have been a better replacement for him than Damsgaard was - especially for that type of role in that type of game.

In the end we had Onyeka holding with Damsgaard and Ghoddos making up the midfield three. Recipe for disaster really, we ended up losing control completely. But I guess Frank probably felt that neither Jensen or Janelt were able to continue beyond the minutes they got so would argue that the change was enforced.
 

Thomas Frank

Owlsmoor_Bee said:
To bring Damsgaard on for KLP seemed utterly absurd. Completely neutralised our left hand side. Why not bring Sergi on to play there instead ??
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Yes it was odd. Damsgaard struggled to get into the game out wide. Sergi looked lively up top but would have been better employed in that left hand channel.
 

Thomas Frank

To be honest I don't blame him for going 3 at the back, we weren't exactly in control and generally we dealt with most of what they threw at us. The big issue was obviously that we couldn't keep hold of the ball at all so it kept coming back.. Main issue I have with Frank today was his first half tactics. Janelt and JDS sat deep again being given the run around by a lively, mobile Forest midfield and front three and our attacking play consisting enitrely of continuously punting the ball long to Henry in the left channel. He battled manfully against a v tough opponent in Aurier but it was a depressingly ineffective tactic. When we pushed up and played more quickly with the ball to feet in the second half we looked a different proposition. Sadly the main instigators of that ran out of steam and we ended up clinging on.
 

Thomas Frank

LingfieldBee said:
What would you have done? They'll have Jensen running stats and fitness probably felt needed fresh legs in there.
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They were targeting him for roughing up , just as Wolves did, and he was up against the thug Yates which was I think why he started on the right until it was clear JDS wasn’t up to that battle. Swapping him out for a more robust player made some sense. If we’re looking to play against City rather than just turn up for a heavy beating we need Jensen.
 

Thomas Frank

Isleworth_Bee said:
Can someone please tell him he doesn’t need to use 5 subs!!!!Cost is the win in the end. Unsettled the team and shape.

In fact I don’t think more then 3 were warranted.

Very frustrating
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It was the Zanka and ghoddos ones for me
 

Thomas Frank

Mr Cynical said:
To be honest I don't blame him for going 3 at the back, we weren't exactly in control and generally we dealt with most of what they threw at us. The big issue was obviously that we couldn't keep hold of the ball at all so it kept coming back.. Main issue I have with Frank today was his first half tactics. Janelt and JDS sat deep again being given the run around by a lively, mobile Forest midfield and front three and our attacking play consisting enitrely of continuously punting the ball long to Henry in the left channel. He battled manfully against a v tough opponent in Aurier but it was a depressingly ineffective tactic. When we pushed up and played more quickly with the ball to feet in the second half we looked a different proposition. Sadly the main instigators of that ran out of steam and we ended up clinging on.
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Agree with that, Forest's equaliser was just one of those unlucky scrambles, Forest were just throwing it into the proverbial mixer & even if we'd have pressed higher their tactics would have been the same. It's more the first half that concerned me I don't understand JDS sitting deep, he's not the greatest defensively & so much better breaking forward with the ball. He did push forward 2nd half & he & Jensen looked different players. We also targeted overloads on our left first half with some success but Rico & KLP kept making the same run, KLP needed to cut inside & support Wissa more with Rico running the outside. Fairplay to TF addressing the issues second half though we were so much better.
 

Thomas Frank

Balders Bee said:
Agree with that, Forest's equaliser was just one of those unlucky scrambles, Forest were just throwing it into the proverbial mixer & even if we'd have pressed higher their tactics would have been the same. It's more the first half that concerned me I don't understand JDS sitting deep, he's not the greatest defensively & so much better breaking forward with the ball. He did push forward 2nd half & he & Jensen looked different players. We also targeted overloads on our left first half with some success but Rico & KLP kept making the same run, KLP needed to cut inside & support Wissa more with Rico running the outside. Fairplay to TF addressing the issues second half though we were so much better.
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JDS was being asked to defend because Janelt is suffering some ailment and hasn’t played well for a little while. The second half improvement came from FTT replacing him. TF had also I think switched JDS and Jensen’s sides first half to give Jensen space from Yates’s agricultural embrace but JDS struggled with him so they switched back to their more natural sides.

I think we also in the first half focused on the long ball out from Mee to Henry so much because Mee’s left footed and while his passing is vastly improving he’s not yet up to pinging them both ways. Which meant despite Mbeumo making good runs and playing well he didn’t get that much service. Second half Raya was tasked with passing out more and was able to do it as Forest had stopped pressing so much.

Lots of interesting tactical tweaks through the game.
 

Thomas Frank

AB said:
JDS was being asked to defend because Janelt is suffering some ailment and hasn’t played well for a little while. The second half improvement came from FTT replacing him. TF had also I think switched JDS and Jensen’s sides first half to give Jensen space from Yates’s agricultural embrace but JDS struggled with him so they switched back to their more natural sides.

I think we also in the first half focused on the long ball out from Mee to Henry so much because Mee’s left footed and while his passing is vastly improving he’s not yet up to pinging them both ways. Which meant despite Mbeumo making good runs and playing well he didn’t get that much service. Second half Raya was tasked with passing out more and was able to do it as Forest had stopped pressing so much.

Lots of interesting tactical tweaks through the game.
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Some interesting observations. We know Janelt isn't a Premier League CDM at this stage in his career he's a better box to box player but he's done a job in CN's absence. As to the JDS playing deeper because of this mysterious ailment TF alluded to I'm a bit perplexed. JDS has been asked to play deeper in several matches not just this one & why was Janelt playing if he wasn't a 100% haven't we learnt from a virus hit Ican
 

Thomas Frank

AB said:
JDS was being asked to defend because Janelt is suffering some ailment and hasn’t played well for a little while.
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What? Another one?

Similar "not fit" stories re Rico, Janelt (cf. TF post match interview) too

So fit players that can play 90 mins are

Raya/Cox
Mads R, Mee, Pinnock*
JDS

*just returned

So 6 players, 2 of which are keepers.
 

Thomas Frank

AB said:
JDS was being asked to defend because Janelt is suffering some ailment and hasn’t played well for a little while. The second half improvement came from FTT replacing him. TF had also I think switched JDS and Jensen’s sides first half to give Jensen space from Yates’s agricultural embrace but JDS struggled with him so they switched back to their more natural sides.

I think we also in the first half focused on the long ball out from Mee to Henry so much because Mee’s left footed and while his passing is vastly improving he’s not yet up to pinging them both ways. Which meant despite Mbeumo making good runs and playing well he didn’t get that much service. Second half Raya was tasked with passing out more and was able to do it as Forest had stopped pressing so much.

Lots of interesting tactical tweaks through the game.
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Some interesting observations. We know Janelt isn't a Premier League CDM at this stage in his career he's a better box to box player but he's done a job in CN's absence. As to the JDS playing deeper because of this mysterious ailment TF alluded to I'm a bit perplexed. JDS has been asked to play deeper in several matches not just this one & why was Janelt playing if he wasn't a 100% haven't we learnt from a virus hit Ivan last week?

FTT allowed JDS & Jensen to find more forward positions & we were able to find far more momentum. Wissa who had been so isolated In the first half had more support & Jensen found his passing mojo.
 

Thomas Frank

Balders Bee said:
Some interesting observations. We know Janelt isn't a Premier League CDM at this stage in his career he's a better box to box player but he's done a job in CN's absence. As to the JDS playing deeper because of this mysterious ailment TF alluded to I'm a bit perplexed. JDS has been asked to play deeper in several matches not just this one & why was Janelt playing if he wasn't a 100% haven't we learnt from a virus hit Ican
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Squad is down to its bare bones so players are having to put a shift into positions and roles that the team needs even if not their ideal ones. The four subs who didn’t come on , Cox, Crama, Trevitt and Yarmoliuk are 18-20 and have I think, no competitive first team appearances for us or anyone else. If Jensen had got crocked today one of those might be looking at coming off the bench at the Etihad. And Jensen has probably been our most consistent performer across midfield roles this season.

That said I think JDS being asked to do more defensive work is also probably an intended part of his broader development and TF played Baptiste in a surprisingly defensive role earlier in the season likely for the same reason.

We need to get through to the World Cup break but TF will want to be as competitive as possible. So I think we’ll still play a strong starting line up against Gillingham and approach City as a winnable game.
 

Thomas Frank

Balders Bee said:
It's more the first half that concerned me I don't understand JDS sitting deep, he's not the greatest defensively & so much better breaking forward with the ball.
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Some will point to caution, others will point to injuries, but it's been a clearly deliberate ploy and perennial problem away from home that concerns me. Yet again, the home side could have been out of sight by half time, as we invite pressure and show little attacking content of our own. If we can't show it against 20th place, then when can we.

it's not just Villa and Newcastle. Leicester, Fulham and Palace were all games where this happened, although like yesterday, a change in the 2nd half resulted in comebacks. It just seems daft to give the oppo a goal of two's start. Our 'goals against' column suggests we're not great at soaking up pressure.
 

Thomas Frank

I never liked the idea of a winter World Cup, particularly when hosted on the back of a wholly corrupt bidding process where the hosts basically bought it. But looking at our injury list, it couldn’t come at a better time. I think next week we have to regard as a free hit much is it pains me to say so, and the focus should be on goal difference and keeping it relatively tight if that’s even possible with the players we have available at our disposal right now. And then hopefully come Christmas. We can have the majority of the first team squad available although I don’t we’re going to see much more of Ajer this season.
 

Thomas Frank

sakurameng said:
I would have agreed normally, but We are couple of months away from next meaningful game (I am writing off Man City game). If a few minutes can make some players pick up injuries so be it, professional footballers pick up injuries all the time lol.

Anyone watching the game could see the change in pattern in the last minutes, we were on the track to concede since we lost control to the midfield. Please don’t say me should have saved that one, he had done enough.
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No game should ever be written off, and it may be a good time to take them on.
 

Thomas Frank

I'm beginning to have some concerns that Frank has been making some poor choices lately. I hope he takes the WC break to address some of the following.

1) The over-reliance on subs, even though our team is depleted is concerning. We saw the issue last weekend where Frank stuck to his guns on planned subs, even though we were missing five players from the rotation. Taking out one of our key players (Jensen over the weekend, Norgaard today) has been very detrimental. Even though our bench is much improved, we are not deep enough to be using five subs when we've already got five guys out.

2) Thomas switches systems mid-match even when a system is working. Seen it a number of times this season. Taking Norgaard out at the half was like switching to a different system. And replacing Norgaard with JDS (who is, to put it nicely, poor at defense) is nuts. If you were "planning" to take Norgaard out at the half, FTT should have been saved to go like-for-like.

3) Player health - Jay Harris has discussed how Frank has very intense training sessions and a number of the knocks our players have picked up have been from training. There are American Football clubs that have gone through spells of being seriously injury prone, and sometimes the culprit are a poor physio staff or strength trainers pushing too hard. Do we need a different set of trainers? Do some adjustments need to be made?

4) Favortism - Frank has let his personal love for for certain players get in the way of an honest assessment of their performances. JDS seems like a huge blind-spot for him (in my opinion most of Josh's performances have been disastrous this season, for example).

Obviously it's not time to panic, and we all love Thomas, but there have been a number of real head scratchers of late and I hope he has the ability to reflect and address them.
 

Thomas Frank

stevendamico said:
I'm beginning to have some concerns that Frank has been making some poor choices lately. I hope he takes the WC break to address some of the following.

1) The over-reliance on subs, even though our team is depleted is concerning. We saw the issue last weekend where Frank stuck to his guns on planned subs, even though we were missing five players from the rotation. Taking out one of our key players (Jensen over the weekend, Norgaard today) has been very detrimental. Even though our bench is much improved, we are not deep enough to be using five subs when we've already got five guys out.

2) Thomas switches systems mid-match even when a system is working. Seen it a number of times this season. Taking Norgaard out at the half was like switching to a different system. And replacing Norgaard with JDS (who is, to put it nicely, poor at defense) is nuts. If you were "planning" to take Norgaard out at the half, FTT should have been saved to go like-for-like.

3) Player health - Jay Harris has discussed how Frank has very intense training sessions and a number of the knocks our players have picked up have been from training. There are American Football clubs that have gone through spells of being seriously injury prone, and sometimes the culprit are a poor physio staff or strength trainers pushing too hard. Do we need a different set of trainers? Do some adjustments need to be made?

4) Favortism - Frank has let his personal love for for certain players get in the way of an honest assessment of their performances. JDS seems like a huge blind-spot for him (in my opinion most of Josh's performances have been disastrous this season, for example).

Obviously it's not time to panic, and we all love Thomas, but there have been a number of real head scratchers of late and I hope he has the ability to reflect and address them.
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1- we use the subs to allow players to go full pelt without getting too fatigued.
2- TF got criticised for being too tactically rigid and taking several games to make a switch (eg in our promotion season sticking with 433 after Rico got injured and playing MBS at left back, getting a poor run that made us drop from top 2 contention, not having a plan B when meeting negative opposition through the season before). Now we have a more fluid formation enabling in game tactical change.
3- maybe, though we put a lot into analysis of training and the PL is intense so most teams have the same issue, even ones with the playing resources of Liverpool
4- Josh has returned from serious long term injury and has a lot of talent. He’s not going to get to the level of the PL by not being played.

With respect, while there’s clear room for improvement, your comments rather betray the fact you only started watching us last season.
 

Thomas Frank

I’ll tell you what half the problems are this season. Too many ‘fingers in the pie’, as the saying goes.

We’ve got TF and his coaching team (Reimer, KOC, etc) and then we’ve added the rugby guy (whose name I can‘t remember) who struts up and down the touchline, then there’s the head of coaching, who’s sticking his oar in, plus the head of tactics, who is in TF’s ear the whole game. Throw in the head of player development and a couple of others who are constantly yelling and shouting from the technical area.

No wonder the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing at times.
 
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