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Thomas Frank - Head Coach

He swapped the striker (Richie replaced Tel) on 73 so that is straightforward.

Then on 74 he swapped the tiring #10 Xavi for a box to box Sarr to make us more solid as the team would naturally be getting more tired.

Then at 85 he made the big change, brought on a CB and took off the left sided attacker (Danso came on for Odobert)

Then on 90 mins brought on Johnson for Kudus to play on the right side.

I would have liked all of these subs 10 minutes earlier each, but that's just me, I always want to rest players up.

Seeing Palhinha charging around is superb right now, but he needs a bit of resting, he can't do too many 90s.
It worked and we've gotten into a good habit of not conceding late or turning wins into draws.

The plan of defending through taking off our best technical players to put on more physical and defense first players who lack technical quality I hope is one option out of several. I'm quite glad it mostly happened rather late.

We have been a bit lucky (based on xG, but also just the eye test, we're yet to drop points in games we deserved to win and have edged out several close games). That won't keep happening at the same rate across a season, but I'll definitely take it and hope we can improve our overall level of performance to the level where these results can become sustainable.
 
TF has had quite a good, solid start imo.

But i think the period we have coming up until the next international break is quite tough and will test his squad management and the players to the full. It will probably be a good barometer of what we can expect going forwards.

Upcoming fixtures before the next international break:

Sunday 19th October 2025, PL - Aston Villa (H)
Wednesday 22nd October 2025, UCL - Monaco (A)
Sunday 26th October 2025, PL - Everton (A)
Wednesday 29th October 2025, League Cup - Saudi Sportswashing Machine (A)
Saturday 1st November 2025, PL - Chelsea (H)
Tuesday 4th November 2025, UCL - Copenhagen (H)
Saturday 8th November 2025, PL - Man Utd (H)

I often think the period between the October and November international breaks are possibly the hardest to navigate, if we are in Europe and still in the league cup. I have often felt we really get to know from this period how likely we are to be top 4 and/or challenge for honours. It also seems a period where key injuries seem to come about and bite into the squad.

Fixtures between October and November international breaks. Looking at the last two years:

2023 (Ange's first season, no European or league cup fixtures; NOTE: no league cup ones due to getting knocked out by Fulham in August 2023 on penalties):
Fulham (H): Won 2-0
Crystal Palace (A): Won 2-1
Chelsea (H): Lost 4-1
Wolves (A): Lost 2-1

2024 (Still in Europe and league cup):
PL - West Ham (H): Won 4-1
Europa - AZ Alkmaar (H): Won 1-0
PL - Crystal Palace (A): Lost 1-0
League Cup - Emirates Marketing Project (H): Won 2-1
PL - Aston Villa (H): Won 4-1
Europa - Galatasaray (A): Lost 3-2
PL - Ipswich (H): Lost 2-1

If Frank can navigate this next period of 7 games with at least 4 wins (with one of these being a win in the league up at Saudi Sportswashing Machine) and no more than 1 defeat, i think that we'd probably be doing well.

Thoughts?
 
TF has had quite a good, solid start imo.

But i think the period we have coming up until the next international break is quite tough and will test his squad management and the players to the full. It will probably be a good barometer of what we can expect going forwards.

Upcoming fixtures before the next international break:

Sunday 19th October 2025, PL - Aston Villa (H)
Wednesday 22nd October 2025, UCL - Monaco (A)
Sunday 26th October 2025, PL - Everton (A)
Wednesday 29th October 2025, League Cup - Saudi Sportswashing Machine (A)
Saturday 1st November 2025, PL - Chelsea (H)
Tuesday 4th November 2025, UCL - Copenhagen (H)
Saturday 8th November 2025, PL - Man Utd (H)

I often think the period between the October and November international breaks are possibly the hardest to navigate, if we are in Europe and still in the league cup. I have often felt we really get to know from this period how likely we are to be top 4 and/or challenge for honours. It also seems a period where key injuries seem to come about and bite into the squad.

Fixtures between October and November international breaks. Looking at the last two years:

2023 (Ange's first season, no European or league cup fixtures; NOTE: no league cup ones due to getting knocked out by Fulham in August 2023 on penalties):
Fulham (H): Won 2-0
Crystal Palace (A): Won 2-1
Chelsea (H): Lost 4-1
Wolves (A): Lost 2-1

2024 (Still in Europe and league cup):
PL - West Ham (H): Won 4-1
Europa - AZ Alkmaar (H): Won 1-0
PL - Crystal Palace (A): Lost 1-0
League Cup - Emirates Marketing Project (H): Won 2-1
PL - Aston Villa (H): Won 4-1
Europa - Galatasaray (A): Lost 3-2
PL - Ipswich (H): Lost 2-1

If Frank can navigate this next period of 7 games with at least 4 wins (with one of these being a win in the league up at Saudi Sportswashing Machine) and no more than 1 defeat, i think that we'd probably be doing well.

Thoughts?
I think that would be better than doing well
The reality is we still haven’t hit full stride… although what that is, who knows….

He needs to get the CL wins which are very doable
And in the exaggerated the home form needs working on style wise at least

It already feels like a season with many chances to make a step forward and we have already taken a few of them compared to last
 
TF has had quite a good, solid start imo.

But i think the period we have coming up until the next international break is quite tough and will test his squad management and the players to the full. It will probably be a good barometer of what we can expect going forwards.

Upcoming fixtures before the next international break:

Sunday 19th October 2025, PL - Aston Villa (H)
Wednesday 22nd October 2025, UCL - Monaco (A)
Sunday 26th October 2025, PL - Everton (A)
Wednesday 29th October 2025, League Cup - Saudi Sportswashing Machine (A)
Saturday 1st November 2025, PL - Chelsea (H)
Tuesday 4th November 2025, UCL - Copenhagen (H)
Saturday 8th November 2025, PL - Man Utd (H)

I often think the period between the October and November international breaks are possibly the hardest to navigate, if we are in Europe and still in the league cup. I have often felt we really get to know from this period how likely we are to be top 4 and/or challenge for honours. It also seems a period where key injuries seem to come about and bite into the squad.

Fixtures between October and November international breaks. Looking at the last two years:

2023 (Ange's first season, no European or league cup fixtures; NOTE: no league cup ones due to getting knocked out by Fulham in August 2023 on penalties):
Fulham (H): Won 2-0
Crystal Palace (A): Won 2-1
Chelsea (H): Lost 4-1
Wolves (A): Lost 2-1

2024 (Still in Europe and league cup):
PL - West Ham (H): Won 4-1
Europa - AZ Alkmaar (H): Won 1-0
PL - Crystal Palace (A): Lost 1-0
League Cup - Emirates Marketing Project (H): Won 2-1
PL - Aston Villa (H): Won 4-1
Europa - Galatasaray (A): Lost 3-2
PL - Ipswich (H): Lost 2-1

If Frank can navigate this next period of 7 games with at least 4 wins (with one of these being a win in the league up at Saudi Sportswashing Machine) and no more than 1 defeat, i think that we'd probably be doing well.

Thoughts?
i think november is going to be tough with chelsea and man U being very intense matches, but we're a bit higher in the table now - so might just see us revert to the norm. if we're top 5 by christmas I think frank is doing very well. was it ferguson who said that Spurs comes down with the "christmas lights" ?

still, its TF's first year and only a handful of matches so far. i will probably have a better feel at the mid way point after seeing us play all teams once. I do look forward to the better quality of depth and expect a better 2nd half of the season with TF well capable of gaining and applying insights from experience
 
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