Tottenham Hotspur beat Burnley 3-0 on Saturday afternoon in an encouraging start under Thomas Frank.
New Tottenham Hotspur boss Thomas Frank has a reputation as a flexible coach from his time at Brentford.
We have seen that on display in the last week, with Frank lining Tottenham up in a 3-5-2 formation against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup.
Come Saturday, Tottenham were back in a much more expansive 4-3-3 system to take on newly-promoted Burnley.
Richarlison’s brace left Tottenham 2-0 up before Brennan Johnson raced clear to secure a 3-0 victory.
Three goals, three points and a clean sheet will have left Frank delighted as he kicked off his Premier League campaign with a win.
Tottenham Hotspur star Pedro Porro leads Premier League in one area
This was an encouraging display in Frank’s first Premier League game as Tottenham boss, and Pedro Porro certainly looked impressive.
The Spaniard showed some impressive early link-up with Tottenham new boy Mohammed Kudus down the right flank, which bodes well for the future.
Sky Sports (18/08, 22:40), as also captured by FPL Velvet, showed off the leaders in a number of statistical categories following the first game of the season, and Porro was on display.
Porro recorded the highest number of passes into the opposition box with his tally of 14 against Burnley.
Sky Sports host David Jones then pointed out that Porro averaged around eight passes into the opposition box last season, so this was a significant increase on his average.
One pass picked out Dominic Solanke with his back to goal, and the striker came so close to scoring, but dragged his shot wide at 3-0.
That kind of output in the final third would normally be associated with a playmaker or a winger, but right-back Porro proved to be an attacking outlet against Burnley.
Porro also recorded three key passes, two accurate crosses, three ball recoveries and four successful duels in a strong display.
Pedro Porro will play a key role under Thomas Frank
Creativity is a major subject around Tottenham after James Maddison picked up a season-ending injury in pre-season.
Tottenham are chasing a deal for Eberechi Eze, and bringing in the Crystal Palace playmaker would see him become Frank’s new chief creative force.
Perhaps Frank placed more creative emphasis on Porro against Burnley as he waits for a new number 10 to arrive.
The fact remains that Porro is a brilliant attacking force at right-back, though, and he should continue to thrive in the final third over the course of the season.
Porro cost Tottenham £39million in 2023 and his record of 11 goals and 21 assists in 107 games for Spurs sums up his attacking quality.
Frank surely sees Porro as a vital attacking threat, both from right-back and right wing-back, and his display against Burnley may be a sign of things to come from the Spaniard going forward.