Tottenham Hotspur's new head coach Thomas Frank is promising a team that will take risks in words that echo the sentiments shared by his predecessor Ange Postecoglou
Thomas Frank will urge Tottenham to gamble in attack because that is what the club demands.
New boss Frank last week replaced gung-ho Ange Postecoglou after he paid the price for a 17th-place league finish. But Postecoglou also won the club’s first piece of silverware for 17 years by winning the Europa League – meaning Frank will not just inherit a squad full of players that excite him but have an immediate chance to impress in the Champions League.
And in his first interview since leaving Brentford, who received £10m in compensation, Frank made similar noises to his predecessor when it comes to describing his desired style.
“The intention is to play aggressive, front-footed football. I know the ethos and the history of the club is it’s massive on attacking football,” he said.
“There’s so much attacking talent in the squad. I’m very excited by that. They’ve clearly shown over the last two seasons that the ability to score goals is fantastic.
“I’m very, very in on that. I love a team that scores goals. We just want to build on that attacking football we already have.
“I’m a big believer in if you don’t take risks, you also take a risk. It’s important we take risks. If we play man-to-man in some situations, the risk is you need to play forward. If you don’t risk, you can’t create anything.
“The players need to be brave and trust themselves. I’ll do my best to instil that trust. If they lose the ball by trying, that’s never a problem. Of course I can react, that’s natural, but they need to do that.
“If they don’t work hard, I struggle more with that. That’s my non-negotiable. If you don’t take risks, it’s impossible to achieve something big.”
Frank added that if the club is to realise his vision there needs to be joined-up thinking with the hierarchy - beginning with chairman Daniel Levy.
The Dane is Levy’s 13th permanent managerial hire in 24 years as chairman and he added: “I think alignment is key from top to bottom. It starts from Daniel, Vinai (Venkatesham, chief executive) and Johan (Lange, technical director).
“The more the four of us can be aligned, like an unbreakable unit, the stronger we’ll be. There will be ups and downs but right now it’s a fairytale. It’s fantastic.”