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Thomas Frank - Head Coach

Jurgen the German said:
Almost every team can say that. Our issue is we have no one who is clinical or creative. And yes we also have make way too many mistakes and have a nervous goalkeeper.
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I admit I don't watch much football outside of Spurs, but we do seem to have at least one or two brain farts per game, as well as messing up plenty big chances. I can't remember any other team we've faced being so error prone in front of either goal.
 
Muttley said:
I actually don't think Xavi is "all in" all of the time. I think he easily drifts out of full intensity mode very easily. So does Spence.

Think about Romero and Porro. You'd never see either of them give anything less than 100% in every moment of the game.

With Xavi and Soence there is the little bluffs where they're pretending they're all in but they actually aren't.

I await that game when Xavi single handedly grabs it by the scruff of the neck and wins it for us. At the moment I'd settle for him just having a second half where he becomes almost talismanic.

By the way, this is not me saying I don't like these players. I actually do, but Frank needs to work on their psychology in my opinion.
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Porro was gash today and Romero cost us two goals, there's guys in the stand that would give it 100%, does that mean they should get a game?
 
Jurgen the German said:
An where has it gotten us? We are 14th and sliding down the table every week. Arsenal have world class forwards and creative midfielders if they happen to not score from a set piece. We have relegation standard forwards. Stop with this nonsense.
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Arsenal defend better than us.

It’s not nonsense. It’s how to be effective in the PL.
 
Baleforce said:
Yet thats exactly how the team at the top of the PL play?
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Except it isn’t how they play. They control games and dominate possession. They have creative players. The only thing they still lack is a world class striker but they have quality forwards and wingers who chip in with goals and create chances. They don’t rely solely on their centre backs bailing them out from set pieces because their forwards are so crap like we do. They have many different ways of scoring goals.
 
thfcsteff said:
Xavi is most certainly the man I expect to be making a move inside. In the image, it's almost as though he's hiding behind the defender. One thing no-one can level at Xavi is lack of effort, so I have to wonder why he's there and why he's not dropping into those pockets. My conclusion? Lack of coherent strategy? I'd love to think his instinct would kick in and he'd just go there anyway, however I suspect confidence all around is fragile.
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He was simple shattered imo. Thought he should have been replaced just after the hour. Part of the reason they got a second was Xavi giving up possession and unlike the first half he didn’t have the legs to track back and re-win possession.

But you can see why he was kept on - even without energy to run - he almost scored. He has technical ability that we need in attack, he lacks physicality though. He was making runs first half by the second there wasn’t much left to give.
 
Muttley said:
I actually don't think Xavi is "all in" all of the time. I think he easily drifts out of full intensity mode very easily. So does Spence.

Think about Romero and Porro. You'd never see either of them give anything less than 100% in every moment of the game.

With Xavi and Soence there is the little bluffs where they're pretending they're all in but they actually aren't.

I await that game when Xavi single handedly grabs it by the scruff of the neck and wins it for us. At the moment I'd settle for him just having a second half where he becomes almost talismanic.

By the way, this is not me saying I don't like these players. I actually do, but Frank needs to work on their psychology in my opinion.
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It's an interesting discussion for sure.

I think today, the mitigation would be that he is playing hurt (no way that ankle is much better since Tuesday night).
I also think intensity can be measured in different ways. Every time he leaves the pitch, he is drenched in sweat and had mud on his kit. He is a different type of dynamic to Porro and Romero, but I think his committment is as whole.
Where I would agree is that at times he looks uncertain on the pitch, as if he does not know exactly what either he is meant to do or what is going on around him.
I think there are definitely issues between the players and Frank in the psych regard. What is weird is that at Brentford he actually hired a psychologist and was actually very proactive in that regard, something I admired.
 
SpurMeUp said:
He was simple shattered imo. Thought he should have been replaced just after the hour. Part of the reason they got a second was Xavi giving up possession and unlike the first half he didn’t have the legs to track back and re-win possession.

But you can see why he was kept on - even without energy to run - he almost scored. He has technical ability that we need in attack, he lacks physicality though. He was making runs first half by the second there wasn’t much left to give.
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I agree. I'm a big fan of his. I also think he was playing hurt today. Personally, I would not have started him today given the injury; if anything I'd have brought him off the bench.
 
SpurMeUp said:
Love those 'supporters' who probably didn't watch the game and are so fast to get on and post down with Frank. Especially the Ange-lamenters who have undermined Frank from day one. They are a special kind of divisive non-supporter.

Terrible not to win, not becuase its a gimme, but because we deserved to win. Our attackers can't put it together in the final third. As usual a lot of passes and shots weren't good enough. And that is the simple issue. Odobert played well, Spence showed his passion and pace. None of them could keep their cool and make the right pass or coldly finish, and we relied on defenders again to score. And it is to be expected with an unsettled young side who aren't yet familiar and polished.

Frank should have made some earlier subs when it was 1-1 and we were dominating trying to win the game. The tide turned as players tired. And he didn't get fresh legs on quick enough imo. But otherwise, you have to say, Frank set us up well. Right out the blocks we were a threat. Unable to convert two great openings in the first couple of minutes. As we pushed to find goals and dominated we forgot that we need to defend and keep them out too. Had we, that was a walk in the park. A lot to refine for Frank, but if you watched the game, it was clear we were the better side.
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I actually agree with you largely, I thought we easily deserved to win this game and were very unlucky not to do so, I don’t think Frank should be sacked on the basis of drawing a game we should have easily won. If our board think he’s the long term guy, we need to not let things outside of his control decide his fate.

After Villa I was pretty much done with Frank because the season was over. Then West Ham made me think the players were done. But seemingly the board want to back him, and the players showed against Dortmund and today that they aren’t downing tools. So if we truly want to make a long term play, and the board and players are truly behind it, I’m happy to roll with it.

I think this whole idea of man-man pressure right across the pitch and the disruption of the positional game makes me think that actually Frank is the right / a good person to navigate football’s changing tactical dynamics. I think Gallagher is going to really make Frankball work. I think signings like Robertson would really help.

I think weirdly realising the season is over and seeing board and players seemingly behind him opened something up for me. I’m now willing to take a 3 year view, rather than a get him out now view or a we need to save the season view. I actually do agree that performances are improving. If we’re gonna sack him, we should have done it after Chelsea because we think that performances like
that are simply unacceptable. But sacking him after 2 good performances in a row…just silly. If we’re taking a long term view, we have to show patience and courage through moments like this.
 
thfcsteff said:
I agree. I'm a big fan of his. I also think he was playing hurt today. Personally, I would not have started him today given the injury; if anything I'd have brought him off the bench.
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Clearly Frank values him as he kept him on. And tbf to Frank Simons was so close to scoring late on.
 
SissokoWasGood (BoL) said:
I actually agree with you largely, I thought we easily deserved to win this game and were very unlucky not to do so, I don’t think Frank should be sacked on the basis of drawing a game we should have easily won. If our board think he’s the long term guy, we need to not let things outside of his control decide his fate.

After Villa I was pretty much done with Frank because the season was over. Then West Ham made me think the players were done. But seemingly the board want to back him, and the players showed against Dortmund and today that they aren’t downing tools. So if we truly want to make a long term play, and the board and players are truly behind it, I’m happy to roll with it.

I think this whole idea of man-man pressure right across the pitch and the disruption of the positional game makes me think that actually Frank is the right / a good person to navigate football’s changing tactical dynamics. I think Gallagher is going to really make Frankball work. I think signings like Robertson would really help.

I think weirdly realising the season is over and seeing board and players seemingly behind him opened something up for me. I’m now willing to take a 3 year view, rather than a get him out now view or a we need to save the season view. I actually do agree that performances are improving. If we’re gonna sack him, we should have done it after Chelsea because we think that performances like
that are simply unacceptable. But sacking him after 2 good performances in a row…just silly. If we’re taking a long term view, we have to show patience and courage through moments like this.
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Frank of course isn’t blameless. I don’t think he is fast enough to get what he wants. He’s a fantastic analyst. And he’ll fix things in the side and in individual players. we can see what he did with Mbueno, Tony, Watkins, maupay, norgard. So he can instil confidence and technique in players, and I think we’ve seen Tel, Odobert and Spence develop this season (more so than before). But it isn’t enough. Frank doesn’t have 2-3 years to analyse and polish.

It’s a different game in a big club and I’m not sure he was prepared. He has stuck to his methods but needed to recognise the slightly different challenge here. It won’t wash having developing players improve incrementally. At a big club it’s deliver or die. Development sadly doesn’t come into it. You only get that luxury if you get wins. That buys time to develop. Somehow he needed to get more goals from these players. A very tough ask. But if he had, then we could have stayed more solid defensively.

So Franks strength of refining play as you go is also a weakness, as it takes time. Long term it can pay off. At a big club that luxury isn’t afforded.

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Frank is also not used to playing in Europe. And the hardest thing now is to give the side consistency so it can settle, with injuries and eligibility forcing him to rotate.

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Ultimately it is always about wins. Frank hasn’t got enough of them. So if he’s sacked so be it. Europe could be his saviour like his predecessor! 🤪
 
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Legohamster said:
Not sure how today can be blamed on Frank

We missed 3 sitters and wasted a number of excellent positions with appalling play

2 goals conceded wouldnt look out of place on a park field tomorrow
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As ever, the players aren’t good enough.

But, hey - let’s sack the manager. It’s easy.
 
Mikey10 said:
As ever, the players aren’t good enough.

But, hey - let’s sack the manager. It’s easy.
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You couldn’t make this brick up.
We’ve won 2 games in the last 14. 3 points from a run against Forest, Brentford, Sunderland, Bournemouth, West Ham and Burnley. Our football is dire. But it’s all ok because Frank is doing a great job and nobody else could do better. He’s a great manager because blah blah blah Brentford and something about Mbueno.
 
Mcfee said:
You couldn’t make this brick up.
We’ve won 2 games in the last 14. 3 points from a run against Forest, Brentford, Sunderland, Bournemouth, West Ham and Burnley. Our football is dire. But it’s all ok because Frank is doing a great job and nobody else could do better. He’s a great manager because blah blah blah Brentford and something about Mbueno.
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I also agree with this. This run of form is not our players true level either. I simply don’t believe it’s Frank bad or players bad. I think it’s transitioning from one thing to another, along with some bad luck and terrible confidence. No doubt players and Frank could have also done better in key moments, but really the form is so bad that it’s simply beyond being because one constituency or another is so bad and causing it.
 
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