Tottenham Hotspur have started strong in the transition to Thomas Frank this campaign. The team sit in third place in the Premier League with 14 points, have the best away record of all 20 outfits in the English top tier, and they are making do without a few significant figures in their starting eleven.
Two names were big parts of the puzzle of creativity for Ange Postecoglou. Dejan Kulusevski came alive in a more central role in the 2024/25 campaign. However, he suffered a serious knee injury in a 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in May and he is in rehab from the surgery that followed that incident.
To make matters worse, James Maddison suffered an ACL injury in a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United on the preseason tour in August. This blow coincided with the final bow for Son Heung-min, who has moved on to LAFC, so three big attackers are out of the picture completely for the team.
In this light, Frank deserves to be cut some slack for the lack of creative spark in several showings this season. He has trialled several players in a key position and they have produced food for thought.
Pape Matar Sarr and Lucas Bergvall
For all his detractors, Ange Postecoglou left Spurs with the equipment of more experience for several promising players. Two of them have featured in the most advanced role of the midfield unit for the new coach.
Pape Matar Sarr is an interesting puzzle piece. For Postecoglou, he was a positive player who could give and go with his passing, stretch the pitch with his movement ahead of the ball, and pop up with some special strikes. Industrious across the ground and in the tackle, he is a well-rounded midfielder.
All of those traits have made him stand out in clashes with the top teams from the Premier League.
In preseason, he helped rob the ball from Myles Lewis-Skelly and lobbed David Raya to win the first North London derby on foreign soil against Arsenal. Against Man City, he continued to operate as the most advanced midfielder, acting against a destructive force in a disciplined defensive display.
Where he can struggle more is in a deeper role that forces him to try and turn out of pressure more frequently. The tendency to take and move the ball in straight lines showed against West Ham and Bodo when he played in a midfield unit with Lucas Bergvall, limiting options in the buildup.
At the London Stadium, Bergvall became the second youngest Spurs player to score and assist in a Premier League game. A few days later, his off-ball run and cross produced an own goal from Luiz Junior as his team took three points against Villarreal in the first fixture in the Champions League.
The Swede is a technical and talented player, but Frank has already admitted to the media how he wants to see more maturity in the decision making of the 19-year-old with and without the ball.
Frank is a more of a self-acclaimed pragmatist than Postecoglou, and he wants to build a tactical setup with greater solidity. While his players get used to his ways of working and demands, he has shown a willingness to play it safe in certain aspects, explaining the steady integration of one particular arrival.
Xavi Simons
Xavi Simons was the big money signing in the transfer window to try and address the absences of Maddison and Kulusevski. He came at a cost of £51 million from RB Leipzig, a club where he had hit the ground running with a tally of three goals and four assists from his first four Bundesliga fixtures.
An industrious figure with goals, creativity and carrying in his game when he is at his best, the Dutchman flattered to deceive in spells at his former club. The wonderkid came to North London with a chance to try and put it all together, but Frank has not thrown him into the fire immediately.
He got an assist from a corner in a 3-0 victory against West Ham on his debut, but Xavi played as a left winger, where he did not sparkle, and the same assessment applied against Villarreal in midweek.
There were no goals or assists against Brighton in a half hour cameo, but he immediately identified gaps in the structure of the hosts off the bench, registering three free shots in the space of six minutes.
Connecting from a central role, he also found Mohamed Kudus late in the day as he forced an own goal with a devilish delivery from the right flank that forced a reaction out of Jan Paul van Hecke.
The pair produced good work at Leeds United, where Xavi started as the side’s number ten. While Kudus carried the burden of ball progression in the best flashes for Spurs during the first half, Xavi showed up in the final third with movement between the lines and a couple of creative chipped balls for Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro that completely changed the picture in attacking sequences.
Of course, with reward comes risk. From a misplaced rabona to turnovers in his own half, the summer signing has tried things that have not worked out— with no fatal consequences for now. However, if he hits a high level of rhythm in his creative mood, he will be a massive asset for Frank’s framework.