Tottenham Hotspur have started the Thomas Frank era with two wins from two Premier League games, all without conceding a goal.
Daniel Levy is unpopular enough with many Tottenham Hotspur fans, but his decision over Ange Postecoglou was always going to divide opinion.
Postecoglou handed Tottenham the Europa League trophy, but also oversaw a truly torrid Premier League campaign.
Tottenham axed Postecoglou, and Levy didn’t look far for his replacement, as Thomas Frank left Brentford for Spurs.
The results so far have been impressive, with Spurs beating Burnley 3-0 at home before an impressive 2-0 win at Manchester City.
Gary Neville impressed with Thomas Frank’s Tottenham Hotspur
Frank is earning rave reviews for his early work at Tottenham.
The Dane has shown incredible flexibility with his tactical approach, setting up Tottenham completely differently across games against Paris Saint-Germain, Burnley and Manchester City.
The adaptability wasn’t really on show under Postecoglou, but Frank is leading Tottenham in a different way.
Pundit Gary Neville has now praised Frank while speaking on NBC Sports, suggesting that the Spurs boss is showing real tactical flexibility.
Neville feels that this may now be the new trend in the Premier League, with managers foregoing one style of play in order to be more varied from game to game.
Neville noted that Tottenham ‘ran all over’ City, praising the high-energy and pressing from Frank’s team high up the pitch.
The former Manchester United defender certainly loves what he is seeing so far, and believes he is getting the best out of the Spurs squad.
“I thought Tottenham ran all over them; they looked a little bit like an old team, City, which was worrying,” said Neville.
“Tottenham pressed and hurried really well. Thomas Frank has come in and done a really good job in the first couple of weeks, but yeah, worrying signs for City, because that was a strong team they had out.
“We’ve seen [Frank] in three games, big games in the last couple of weeks, and what he’s done is adapt his style to each game and, obviously, a big criticism of Tottenham under Ange Postecoglou was that they never changed, they were always the same, and that you could predict exactly what they were going to do, and in the end, it was a sorry state for them.
“But what you’ve seen with Thomas Frank: he’ll go five at the back, he’s gone four at the back, they’ll press high, sometimes they’ll sit deep, and we’re seeing a little bit more, I think, of a change in this last 12 to 18 months, where we’re seeing the old style of football return.
“It’s been this way for a few years that you’ve got to have a philosophy, you’ve got to have a way of playing, and now it seems we’ve got a few managers near the top end who are adapting from game to game. I think Thomas Frank is adapting from game to game, he’s getting the best out of the players that he’s got,” he added.
Gary Neville on Eberechi Eze
Tottenham came up with a big win on Saturday, shrugging off some pain from the transfer market in recent days.
TBR Football reported that Tottenham were close to signing Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace, with the playmaker lined up for a big move to North London.
A switch to North London was completed, but not to Spurs as Arsenal hijacked the deal and signed Eze themselves.
Missing out on Eze would have really hurt anyway, but seeing him join bitter rivals Arsenal seriously stung.
Neville admitted that the situation was ‘a little embarrassing’ for Tottenham, suggesting that Eze’s move to Arsenal was ‘a bad one’ for Spurs.
However, Neville praised Spurs for recovering well and picking up a result, again praising Frank for having his players buy into his approach.
“It was a little embarrassing for them in midweek, losing Eze to Arsenal, that was a bad one for them, but they recovered really well to get a great result, he’s started well, and the players seem to be thriving under him,” he added.
Spurs missed out on Eze but will hope to sign a number 10 soon enough, with the summer transfer deadline now fast approaching.