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Thomas Frank - Former Head Coach

Legohamster said:
Just backs up the thought some of the playing squad are a disgrace as a well as Frank not being up to it.

In a relegation battle and doing this?

Whoever is next needs to wipe out that changing room and stop the rot.

A squad with a large number of dislikable players.
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Would you sack all the fans who ultimately didn't believe in him either? Or maybe all just had decent intuition that only the board didn't.
 
billyiddo said:
All sorts of teams with contrasting philosophies can and do play out from the back - it doesn't really say anything here.


Ange & Frank both play a high number of crosses - does that make them similar managers stylistically?
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I did say Wenger and Emery weren’t like for like but they’re nowhere near as different as our appointments tend to be. Emery and to an extent Arteta are pragmatic but are also attack minded once they have established defensive stability. If their next manager was Simeone then that would be a radical change.

Our approach seems to be well we’ve tried this and failed, let’s try something completely different.
 
What a mess.

I think where we are (on the verge of being relegated) i trace back to that summer in 2024 after we missed out on CL by two points after a bad collapse.

The fact we bought several players but only ONE player who could be expected to go straight into the starting 11 (Solanke) said to me the club didn't fancy spending to push on to actually do better in the league and get into the CL.

Again, i i bet there was some unknown investment/financial target that took precedence. Instead of spending on players, we are spending on severance pay for manages/coaches. Maybe that is generally the preferred path of these owners.

Well, they (and sadly, we) will reap what they sewed when we go down

:-(

AT least now we can have proper debates about Leicester fans and whether they are happy with the recent memories of trophies even though they've been relegated...
 
Daisuk said:
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Confirms what most of us saw with our own eyes, and called out here on the forum way back in august. (yes, I checked! Check Bournemouth-matchthread, for one)

And this has been one of the major gripes for a lot of us. I expect more such stories to emerge.
 
Robspur12 said:
Not because of Ange though. That's what I am trying to say. It's was because the 3 teams occupying the bottom 3 were uniquely bad. We still lost at various points to 2 of them I believe.
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Yup, we lost at home to both Ipswich plus Leicester last season and only got a point away to those pesky Foxes!

Whilst Russell Martin's Southampton were a historically bad team whom even Frank's lacklustre Brentford battered 5-0 last season!

www.bbc.co.uk

Southampton 0-5 Brentford: Mbeumo scores twice as Bees win their first away match of Premier League season

Bryan Mbeumo hit a double in a first Premier League away win of the season for Brentford as they crushed lowly Southampton.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
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Junior19 said:
Confirms what most of us saw with our own eyes, and called out here on the forum way back in august. (yes, I checked! Check Bournemouth-matchthread, for one)

And this has been one of the major gripes for a lot of us. I expect more such stories to emerge.
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Indeed, his team selections were always about this - conservative and worrying about opposition even if they weren't that good.

Just didn't see how he was a fit for this club, I made a comment when he was appointed I feared we would chew him up and spit him out like we have other managers and here we are.

Feel for him, very much like Nuno handled himself fantastically under the circumstances - and like Nuno, I expect him to rise again at a slightly lesser club. Good luck to him, wasn't nice seeing such a good guy go though this and relieved he has been put out of his misery.....
 
DubSpur said:
I don't think Poch is the answer but until he gets another shot he's always going to be lurking in the background. Get it done with. If it works out great, if not at least it puts it to bed once and for all.
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I don't even think Poch returning is a good idea but at this point it makes sense. Like you say, it exorcises that ghost and the cloud that lingers in most fan's minds about what could have been or what could be.

I think maybe we just have to see it likely fail to just get past him as a coach. We don't have the same calibre of talent hence my doubts but I dunno. We've tried most other things at this point. 🤣
 
Junior19 said:
Confirms what most of us saw with our own eyes, and called out here on the forum way back in august. (yes, I checked! Check Bournemouth-matchthread, for one)

And this has been one of the major gripes for a lot of us. I expect more such stories to emerge.
Click to expand...
So the previous, previous manager paid absolutely 0 mind to what the opposition might do to our detriment and then the last manager paid too much attention to what the opposition might do.

There is a balance to be found somewhere. Be nice if twe could appoint a person who has it.
 
He leaves a bit of a nonentity - he didn't deserve the personalized hate he got, but I don't think he deserved any adulation either, because he simply didn't earn it. He was just a largely featureless, mediocre coach in a tracksuit. One you could have swapped out with any old bloke in top-level football with roughly the same (or possible better) results.

Adios, Thomas Frank. Thanks for...uh, City away, I guess?
 
Bishop said:
So the previous, previous manager paid absolutely 0 mind to what the opposition might do to our detriment and then the last manager paid too much attention to what the opposition might do.

There is a balance to be found somewhere. Be nice if twe could appoint a person who has it.
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Think it's a question of sequencing mate. Most coaches, I think, do both, but it's the order they do it in that defines them. We've tended to do better as a club with idealists who first prioritize imposing our own style, over adapting to others. But that doesn't mean they don't do the latter, just that it's not the first thing they do.

Ange, Poch and Harry were idealists. Mourinho, Nuno and Frank, pragmatists. AVB was in a sort of halfway house, though the style he imposed was largely 'give it to Bale'.

The last pragmatist who got a sustained tune out of the squad was...I think BMJ?
 
harr1984 said:
Indeed, his team selections were always about this - conservative and worrying about opposition even if they weren't that good.

Just didn't see how he was a fit for this club, I made a comment when he was appointed I feared we would chew him up and spit him out like we have other managers and here we are.

Feel for him, very much like Nuno handled himself fantastically under the circumstances - and like Nuno, I expect him to rise again at a slightly lesser club. Good luck to him, wasn't nice seeing such a good guy go though this and relieved he has been put out of his misery.....
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Whether he will admit it or not, when he walks in the door of his house this pm, and leans back against the front door as he shuts it, he will utter a sigh of relief.

He's a nice man and a very capable manager, but there's a certain type needed for us and some of the other legacy clubs in the league, and managing with an inferiority complex at the forefront of your mind was destined to fail. Ange would have not been in this position with Season 3, but equally he would have found the situation hard.

I know a lot of people will say its not the right solution, but honestly the Redknapp "go out there and express yourself" approach is actually what this team needs right now. We need 10-12 points on the board in the next 6 weeks so we can ensure we don't have to do latter stages of the champions league and a relegation fight with the same 15 players.
 
Bishop said:
I don't even think Poch returning is a good idea but at this point it makes sense. Like you say, it exorcises that ghost and the cloud that lingers in most fan's minds about what could have been or what could be.

I think maybe we just have to see it likely fail to just get past him as a coach. We don't have the same calibre of talent hence my doubts but I dunno. We've tried most other things at this point. 🤣
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Why do you think Poch returning is not a good idea? I think it was blindingly obvious he should never have been sacked, because the issues around the club at the time he was let go were not his fault.

I also think there are just certain managers who just suit certain clubs. We are still roughly the same proposition we were when he first joined. Great young players and should really be in the top 6-8 but not certain to be top 4. Likely to have more possession in most matches and need a system that exploits this basic fact.

Where as Frank was just never the right man. The strangest thing for me is these stories now coming out about how he focused too much on the opposition, this was also blindingly obvious to be his approach at Brentford. So when Vinai says we moved at pace to interview 30 people and Frank nailed the top 10 criteria on every point…did they not cover this foundational aspect in the interviews? Did they discuss whether Frank would adapt his style of play for the Spurs context? Did they believe Frank’s answer? Did Frank just lie? Or did he genuinely believe he would adapt himself? It really is the most shocking thing about all this because it was so obvious at the time. And I don’t know how the process could have failed on this most obvious point.
 
Only way I want Poch back is if the board back him.. and seriously, as I’d hate for him to be set up to fail. In some ways getting him back and him demanding the backing as being conditional might force the hand of the board to truly back the manager, more so rather than another name, as they know fans would be onto them and not the manager.
 
The most positive aspect of Poch coming back for me is that he's the only person that could lean on the board without any blowback.

It's not like they could sack him without a fan revolt, and that probably works against him in their consideration. In the plus column for the board is that hiring him protects them from scrutiny as long as it goes well.

So they have a tough choice in that regard. Now Poch is older (and wiser?) he might have less hesitantcy about placing demands on the club, especially in the first 12 months of his return where he'd be untouchable. If they meant what they said about investment then he's a no brainer to give the job to. If the plan is to continue stick piling prospects and backups then they'll appoint someone much easier to move on.
 
Fatso Jason said:
Only way I want Poch back is if the board back him.. and seriously, as I’d hate for him to be set up to fail. In some ways getting him back and him demanding the backing as being conditional might force the hand of the board to truly back the manager, more so rather than another name, as they know fans would be onto them and not the manager.
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Initially, yes. Though keep in mind, last time around quite a few of 'the fans' turned on Poch towards the end...
 
Quite fun trying to think of the Pochettino line up tbh, thinking about how he fits these players into his preferred shape. Maybe the 4-2-3-1 again.

I think at this point just unite the club and scratch the Poch itch, but I don’t think it happens till after the WC, so even it isn’t perfect. However it has to be a long term appointment with a clear direction to it.

Someone needs to come in to keep us up on the meantime, I’m sure a big bonus for 13 weeks of work would suit someone. Lord only knows who though, I’m certainly not feeling the Redknapp type suggestions, I love the bloke but it’s just been too long at this point.
 
DubaiSpur said:
Think it's a question of sequencing mate. Most coaches, I think, do both, but it's the order they do it in that defines them. We've tended to do better as a club with idealists who first prioritize imposing our own style, over adapting to others. But that doesn't mean they don't do the latter, just that it's not the first thing they do.

Ange, Poch and Harry were idealists. Mourinho, Nuno and Frank, pragmatists. AVB was in a sort of halfway house, though the style he imposed was largely 'give it to Bale'.

The last pragmatist who got a sustained tune out of the squad was...I think BMJ?
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Good analysis, although I’d say Poch was a halfway house and AVB was a pragmatist. We had the best defensive record in the league with Poch in at least one of his seasons.

Arry paid more attention to the defensive side than Ange. The first thing Arry identified was that we were soft so he went out and got Palacios. Our defensive record was reasonable under Arry, I don’t recall us ever conceding 60+ goals in a league campaign under him.
 
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