Thomas Frank is the new manager of Tottenham, and a man who faces an unusually awkward task.
New managers usually find themselves facing one of two scenarios when the turn up at a new club. Either everything is a mess or a beloved manager has departed on the crest of a wave.
There are pros and cons to both scenarios. If everything is a big mess with a shambles of a squad, then the only way is up and you’ll be given time to sort it all out. But also there is a big mess and a shambles of a squad. This is the far more common scenario.
If you’re in the crest-of-a-wave scenario then yes, there is a very real danger of wiping out completely but also the chance to ride that wave as Arne Slot did so expertly last season with Liverpool. If nothing is profoundly broken then you can focus on tinkering with things here and there, such as getting Ryan Gravenberch to be excellent instead of merely good. That kind of thing.
Frank, though, finds himself walking into both scenarios at the same time. Because Spurs. They are indeed a complete mess, with an incoherent squad that has been playing some very odd and often seemingly wilfully self-defeating football an awful lot of the time, but he must also face the challenge of replacing a charismatic soothsayer of a manager who just ended the most banterous and infamous trophy drought in the game having spent months being ridiculed for telling us all he would do precisely that.
It all means Frank gets either the best or worst of both worlds. Or all the best and worst all at the same time. It’s Spurs, so it’s probably that one.
Frank, though, has shown himself to be an adaptable and flexible manager at Brentford and it seems reasonable enough to assume he will adapt to whatever squad he ends up with when the transfer window music stops at Spurs.
So with a hefty amount of speculation, gut-feel and some outright pure guesswork, here’s a stab at five current Spurs players he should look to build his new team around. And if you’re that way inclined, five he should discard.
Micky van de Ven
We grow increasingly convinced he’s the most important current member of the Spurs squad, and that this almost certainly transcends the identity of any figure so trifling as the manager.
He’s very excellent at all manner of things and with doubts continuing to swirl around Cristian Romero’s Tottenham future may find himself the leader of a new-look Thomas Frank defence alongside the likes of Kevin Danso and Croatian prodigy Luka Vuskovic, perhaps even Ashley Phillips after his impressive loan spell at Stoke and of course Ben Davies, who is inevitable.
Now whatever system and approach Frank settles on we’re fairly sure it’ll be one that places rather less strain on Van de Ven’s fast-twitch hamstrings, and that’s likely a positive. If Van de Ven’s recovery pace can be reduced to just one string to his bow rather than something without which the entire team falls to pieces then a) Spurs will be a more rounded proposition next year and b) Van de Ven might actually be able to play a bigger part.
There may no longer be the high-wire high-line, but that doesn’t mean Van de Ven becomes any less crucial, and if he doesn’t have to do quite so many fall sprints towards his own goal we may even get to see more of that extreme pace as an attacking weapon given the ball-carrying ability the Dutchman is blessed with.
Mathys Tel
Just how much say Frank has in incomings and outgoings in his new job isn’t entirely clear. But while it almost certainly isn’t a final say, it would seem unlikely Spurs pressed ahead with a permanent deal for the Frenchman without at least discussing it with the incoming manager.
Tel’s first few months at Spurs after joining on loan from Bayern Munich have been both interesting and, it has to be said, at best inconclusive. His first game was a 4-0 Carabao thrashing at Anfield, and his last a 4-1 defeat to Brighton that briefly interrupted Spurs’ Europa League celebrations on the final day.
Tel racked up 20 appearances (of admittedly varying length) and scored three goals during his loan spell and was one of a few players in the run-in trusted to play significant minutes in both Premier and Europa League campaigns.
The tangible contribution is underwhelming, but it’s also true that it was clear Tel has something about him as both a player and a man during those turbulent, roller-coaster, none-more-Spurs months.
We like the cut of his jib and, while we can’t claim to have much on which to base this beyond gut-feel hunch, we strongly suspect Frank and Tel could get on famously.
READ: Tottenham ‘confident’ of ‘striking deal’ for ‘explosive’ star as Man Utd target ‘makes verdict clear’
Lucas Bergvall
There are still plenty of raw edges, but it’s already apparent just why Barcelona were also keen when Spurs swooped to sign a player who could outgrow them very quickly indeed if they don’t take full advantage of his ability and presence.
Could operate as either a pivot or more attacking option in Frank’s usual three-man midfield and is perhaps already the most capable progressive player in the middle of the park alongside the more combative talents of Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma.
There were some high-profile mistakes in his first season, but given the way Spurs played under Ange Postecoglou and Bergvall’s youth and lack of big-league experience it was surprising there weren’t more.
Could absolutely go all the way in the game and every reason to suspect he outperforms his debut season on the back of a year’s worth of Barclays nous and a generally less batsh*t overall team method.
Injury kept him out of the conclusion to the Europa League victory but had he been available we’re almost certain he’d have played given the extent to which he’d established himself in Ange’s first-choice midfield by the time he signed a new long-term contract.
And we see no reason why Frank won’t view him similarly.
James Maddison
Some significant change in Spurs’ attacking line-up appears inevitable with Son Heung-min and Richarlison both potentially on their way and surely set for reduced roles even if they stay, but Maddison could and should remain crucial.
He can be a maddening footballer, prone to long bouts of indifferent form and quiet games but he does possess the ability to unlock a well-organised defence and for all the talk of Ange’s gung-ho antics Spurs were often noticeably and alarmingly moribund in Maddison’s injury-enforced absences.
Mikkel Damsgaard was a key part of Brentford’s ability to create the chances that have so significantly boosted the profiles of Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo, and Maddison is comfortably the best fit for a similar role, with Dejan Kulusevski the other real contender but someone likely to find himself deployed in multiple roles as required.
Brennan Johnson
A player who might not always appear to do much beyond the numbers, but there is simply no avoiding the fact those numbers are increasingly impressive. His place in Spurs lore is now secure for eternity after his wonderfully scruffy winning goal in the Europa League final, but it was far from an isolated case.
He’s nowhere near the level of peak Raheem Sterling, but there are clear similarities in the way in which Johnson racks up his numbers and the ensuring sniffiness about them from certain quarters.
Yet what we always said about Sterling applies also to Johnson. If it were that easy to simply time runs correctly to score seemingly straightforward goals then everyone would do it, but they don’t because it isn’t.
Johnson is less like Mbeumo, who’s more of a Mo Salah style (if not quality) of wide-starting goalscorer, but if Frank is looking within the new squad he has at his disposal for a source of big numbers from that nominal starting position out on the right then there’s a very clear and obvious winner.
