Thomas Frank has spoken about how he will have to adapt his methods after taking over Tottenham Hotspur and has elucidated on what he wants to change from the way the Lilywhites played last season.
Tottenham Hotspur have been seesawing between different styles of managers over the last few years.
The club went from a counter-attacking head coach in Antonio Conte to a hyper-attacking one in Ange Postecoglou, and they have now reverted again to a more pragmatic tactician in Thomas Frank.
Some pundits have expressed concern that Frank will park the bus at Tottenham, like he did at times at Brentford, but the 51-year-old has now insisted that he will adapt his approach at N17.
Thomas Frank is aware that he will have to do things differently at Tottenham
The Dane has now admitted that some aspects of his approach will change at Tottenham, as the Lilywhites will have more of the ball in some matches than his Bees side did.
He also identified one strength that Tottenham had last season and explained his plan on building on that while also shoring up the side’s weaknesses.
Frank told UEFA.com: “I’m aware that there’s a difference between coaching Brentford and Tottenham in terms of – most likely – we will hopefully dominate more games. That means there’ll be phases of the game and principles in the way I see the game that we need to be more focused [on].
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“It’s clearly a squad that, over the last few years, has been very, very offensive and very all-in on the ball. There’s big strengths in that and I’d like to keep and build on it, but maybe add a bit more balance throughout the game in terms of how we attack, but also be able to defend well.”
Frank admits he is very focused on small details
The new Tottenham head coach made it clear that he has clear principles of play that have served him well through his career so far, which he is not going to deviate from.
Frank made no bones about the fact that Spurs will be pragmatic and defend deep if they have to in certain matches.
When asked to explain his style of play, he said: “As a person, I’m pretty down to earth. I’m just a normal guy who loves football and has always loved the game.
“As a coach, I would say I’m very focused on details. I have got all the details and principles for all phases of the game, all situations. I’ve figured out over the years how I want to do it, but I also constantly get inspired.
“I like to play offensively, but I’m also pragmatic enough that I know we need to defend as well. Most games, you need to defend [for] half of it, so that’s important as well.”