If you have been following the fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur players over this international break, you may have seen Micky van de Ven line up in an unusual role for the Netherlands.
With a wealth of options at centre-back — including Virgil van Dijk, Matthijs de Ligt, Nathan Ake, Stefan de Vrij and Jurrien Timber — Ronald Koeman opted to play Van de Ven at left-back in their 4-0 win against Finland. Given the intense competition at the heart of defence, perhaps Van de Ven playing at left-back is his most straightforward way into his nation’s starting XI for the World Cup next year.
In north London, his position is set in stone. He is a part of one of the Premier League’s most formidable centre-back partnerships, serving as the sweeping insurance option to Cristian Romero’s proactive defending. In temperament, physical attributes and technical style, Romero and Van de Ven are yin and yang. Their contrasting demeanours and skill sets provide a balance that elevates their team.
Over his first 10 matches in charge of Tottenham, Thomas Frank attempted to find a similar balance across his entire side. During Ange Postecoglou’s tenure, an overemphasis on offensive attitude delivered memorable results but also Spurs’ worst league finish of the Premier League era. The scales were unbalanced, so Frank’s focus is now on establishing a sense of tactical equilibrium.
He is addressing the defence’s structural weaknesses, but Tottenham’s attacking unit has not consistently gelled under Frank. Before Tottenham travelled to Elland Road to face Leeds United, their final pre-break fixture, 45.8 per cent of their chances created came from the right wing, with 29.2 per cent from central positions and just 25 per cent from the left.
It’s a statistical confirmation of what the eye test had shown in the early weeks: Mohammed Kudus and Pedro Porro are building a budding relationship, while the left side is lagging for creativity.
But in that 2-1 win against Leeds, Tottenham appeared to make strides in addressing that discrepancy. It was the first time Xavi Simons, Wilson Odobert and Destiny Udogie had started together, and they had natural chemistry from the outset.
Djed Spence is an elite wide defender at the top of his game — Spurs have conceded just one goal across games he has started this season — but passing lanes and angles on the left are obscured when he is in possession as a right-footed player.
Spence has undeniable technical and physical qualities, but Udogie’s directness and ability to drive down the wing as a left-footed dribbler gave the team a fresh attacking verve from the left at Elland Road. Combining with Simons, who naturally drifts towards the left from central areas, and Odobert, who drifts into central areas, giving the Italian space on the overlap, Tottenham created three decent chances inside the first half from the left wing.
Most encouragingly, that improved attacking dynamism came without diminishing the threat from the right. Kudus assisted Mathys Tel’s opener, playing a through ball down the right channel to the Frenchman, before scoring from a similar position in the second half, with the initial ball in his direction delivered by Porro.
Odobert is a talent who could become as effective as Kudus. In his best performance of the season, he put together slick combinations with Udogie, Simons and Tel, and could have notched an assist if Tel had managed to divert a first-half header on target.
Odobert and Tel are flourishing together on the international stage for France Under-21s, with Odobert registering a combined four goals and two assists in 6-0 and 6-1 wins against the Faroe Islands and Estonia. Tel, who scored his first of the season for Spurs against Leeds, also netted in both games for France Under-21s.
Before Spurs’ win at Leeds, Frank pointed out that attacking imbalance is not always an issue. If one side is creating chances, perhaps you need the other side to finish them. That said, against Leeds, where creativity was more spread across the horizontal thirds, Kudus became a finisher, as well as a provider.
After testing the waters with moves for Manchester City’s Savinho and Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo in the summer, Tottenham may re-enter the market to sign a left-winger in January or next summer.
However, with Odobert finding rhythm and confidence for club and country, he offers Frank creative balance, which Spurs may need against opponents content to sit back and test Tottenham’s ability to break them down.
In his short tenure, Frank has demonstrated his ability to construct his team in various structures and formations, finding success, and there seems to be room for every senior player to make an impact in at least one of them.
Against Leeds, where Tottenham found greater creative balance on their left, he seems to be on his way to building another.