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Thomas Frank - Head Coach

Bedfordspurs said:
Spurs fans generally revel in doom
But I do think other clubs have their fair share too.. we just don’t know them

The fan base has been split for most of my life. Pochs biggest achievement was that unity
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The 90s was fine in many respects, I spent the large portion of my life then travelling with my dad and it was bliss compared.

We no have fans protesting and judging people for buying shirts from the club shop, social media has done nothing to unify
 
Grays_1890 said:
The 90s was fine in many respects, I spent the large portion of my life then travelling with my dad and it was bliss compared.

We no have fans protesting and judging people for buying shirts from the club shop, social media has done nothing to unify
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It’s anti social
Bad news sells better than good news
 
Thomas Frank since he came to Tottenham:

- Used 5 different formations (4-2-2-2; 3-5-2; 3-4-2-1; 4-2-3-1; 4-3-3)
- Never played the same midfield twice in a row in the last 8 games
- Never played the same forwards twice in a row

That’s good and that’s bad

Bad because it means he doesn’t know what works (yet)
Good because it shows he is trying different things
Bad because it shows he probably doesn’t trust some players yet
Good because he is giving everyone a chance

I personally would welcome him saying this more publicly. He is happy to say what I consider the wrong things but if he explained things and his thinking more he would get more breathing space
 
Grays_1890 said:
The 90s was fine in many respects, I spent the large portion of my life then travelling with my dad and it was bliss compared.

We no have fans protesting and judging people for buying shirts from the club shop, social media has done nothing to unify
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I'll keep saying it, social media has bought more negatives than positives IMO (in general not just football). And I was quite happy looking at Teletext in the 90s :D....
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Thomas Frank since he came to Tottenham:

- Used 5 different formations (4-2-2-2; 3-5-2; 3-4-2-1; 4-2-3-1; 4-3-3)
- Never played the same midfield twice in a row in the last 8 games
- Never played the same forwards twice in a row

That’s good and that’s bad

Bad because it means he doesn’t know what works (yet)
Good because it shows he is trying different things
Bad because it shows he probably doesn’t trust some players yet
Good because he is giving everyone a chance

I personally would welcome him saying this more publicly. He is happy to say what I consider the wrong things but if he explained things and his thinking more he would get more breathing space
Click to expand...

I agree with most of what you write but a manager will be misquoted or out of context by media particularly the social media sites, simply saying some players aren't up to speed will start "Frank blames players" or "Frank loses dressing room" etc.
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Thomas Frank since he came to Tottenham:

- Used 5 different formations (4-2-2-2; 3-5-2; 3-4-2-1; 4-2-3-1; 4-3-3)
- Never played the same midfield twice in a row in the last 8 games
- Never played the same forwards twice in a row

That’s good and that’s bad

Bad because it means he doesn’t know what works (yet)
Good because it shows he is trying different things
Bad because it shows he probably doesn’t trust some players yet
Good because he is giving everyone a chance

I personally would welcome him saying this more publicly. He is happy to say what I consider the wrong things but if he explained things and his thinking more he would get more breathing space
Click to expand...
It says what I think most of us know. Over the last 5 years we've a mish mash of players designed for various setups and systems for a ever increasing variety of manager.

It's simply difficult to corral all of that into a cohesive system, especially just 5 months in. Despite the positives of yesterday this squad stills needs loads of work imo if we do want to build towards being a top team.

You can sometimes outmatch a better team via tactics or hustle but truthfully there was a gulf in on the ball quality yesterday and on the weekend. That's what we need to work on to get back up to that Top 4 standard.
 
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Bishop said:
It says what I think most of us know. Over the last 5 years we've a mish mash of players designed for various setups and system for a ever increasing variety of manager.

It's simply difficult to corral all of that into a cohesive system, especially just 5 months in. Despite the positive s of yesterday this squad stills needs loads of work imo if we do want to build towards being a top team.

You can sometimes outmatch team via tactics or hustle but truthfully there was a gulf in on the ball quality yesterday and on the weekend. That's what we need to work on to get back up to that Top 4 standard.
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I do think there is a gamble too with focussing on players with the ball
It’s the balance that you need and we have been lacking for sometimes
It takes time, consistency and focus on doing the right things
 
Bedfordspurs said:
I do think there is a gamble too with focussing on players with the ball
It’s the balance that you need and we have been lacking for sometimes
It takes time, consistency and focus on doing the right things
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I don't know about it being a gamble. It's one of the easiest and clearest distinctions between a top side and an average one.

If you compare the pass completion stats between the two sides it does say quite a lot. If you compare the midfields.

- Gray: 58%
- Bergvall 72%
- Bentancur 73%
- Sarr 85%

Thats not a pretty sight at all and without it being because we were trying really tricky and technically ambitious passes. It was all fairly bread and butter.

- Vitinha: 93%
- Ruiz: 93%
- Neves: 96%

They didn't play anything crazy but if we were to say one of the teams spread the ball well and played more through balls I'm pretty certain that was PSG and not Spurs. No shade of course, they are a better team than us and that's fine, it's just if we want to get to that level then we know what we need to achieve.
 
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Bishop said:
I don't know about it being a gamble. It's one of the easiest and clearest distinctions between a top side and an average one.

If you compare the pass completion stats between the two sides it does say quite a lot. If you compare the midfields.

- Gray: 58%
- Bergvall 72%
- Bentancur 73%
- Sarr 85%

Thats not a pretty site at all and without it being because we were trying really tricky and technically ambitious passes. It was all fairly bread and butter.

- Vitinha: 93%
- Ruiz: 93%
- Neves: 96%

They didn't play anything crazy but if we were to say one of the teams spread the ball well and played more through balls I'm pretty that was PSG and not Spurs. No shade of course, they are a better team than us and that's fine, it's just if we want to get to that level then we know what we want to achieve.
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Im thinking more About time and as much as player selection
And a competed pass need a passer and receiver

The right player in the right set up is what matters imo as much as technical abilities. Thats the balance I mean
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Im thinking more About time and as much as player selection
And a competed pass need a passer and receiver

The right player in the right set up is what matters imo as much as technical abilities. Thats the balance I mean
Click to expand...
The right player in the right setup is most likely going to be the most technically capable and suited one. I agree it's not all about fancy flicks, but there is a minimum we should really be requiring in terms of touch and control, passing and vision etc especially in the midfield. When e4 don't have these things we just make our job that much harder.
 
Bishop said:
The right player in the right setup is most likely going to be the most technically capable and suited one. I agree it's not all about fancy flicks, but there is a minimum we should really be requiring in terms of touch and control, passing and vision etc especially in the midfield. When e4 don't have these things we just make our job that much harder.
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I think passing has become a lost art
We as a club have had players who have been poor at it for years to me
 
Bishop said:
We have no passers other than Romero and Porro which is crazy to me.
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Yep
I’m sure they can all execute passes but not with any level of pressure
And Porto and Romero have both had some really big failures doing that of late too

It’s why I’ve flipped on my signing do choice to Elliot Anderson. He puts so many though balls in we would have so much fun with his passing
But he will cost £80-£100m I reckon
 
Bishop said:
I don't know about it being a gamble. It's one of the easiest and clearest distinctions between a top side and an average one.

If you compare the pass completion stats between the two sides it does say quite a lot. If you compare the midfields.

- Gray: 58%
- Bergvall 72%
- Bentancur 73%
- Sarr 85%

Thats not a pretty sight at all and without it being because we were trying really tricky and technically ambitious passes. It was all fairly bread and butter.

- Vitinha: 93%
- Ruiz: 93%
- Neves: 96%

They didn't play anything crazy but if we were to say one of the teams spread the ball well and played more through balls I'm pretty certain that was PSG and not Spurs. No shade of course, they are a better team than us and that's fine, it's just if we want to get to that level then we know what we need to achieve.
Click to expand...

I think you can put some of that stat differential on the fact that PSG and Enrique have a clear identity and purpose about the football they play and we are flip-flopping between 7 behind the ball one game and three days later looking to have at least 4 ahead of it. That and the fact that this particular midfield hasn't actually played together before in this way under Frank (or ever). We had good possession on several occasions where a side who had creative attacking patterns/worked on them in training, would've immediately seen a trigger release runners into what ended up being wide open spaces in the channels. Three times at leadt Bergy and Gray found themselves moving forwards with no 7-10 yard ahead pass option in what was a vast wide channel. CFs were moving, so any cohesion there and I genuinly think we could've been in on goal a few more times.

I agree that we have levels to achieve to be up there with them, but a lot of that starts with knowing who we are and what we want to do. In this patience we are all committed to having with Frank, I hope it is becoming impossibly obvious to him that we need to be a front-foot side, and that we recognise the likes of Bergvall, Gray and Muani are key players for this season at least.
 
Bishop said:
The right player in the right setup is most likely going to be the most technically capable and suited one. I agree it's not all about fancy flicks, but there is a minimum we should really be requiring in terms of touch and control, passing and vision etc especially in the midfield. When e4 don't have these things we just make our job that much harder.
Click to expand...

I think it's a great point and a great conversation. I believe all these players have profficient technical levels, and what causes them to drop off is pressure and inconsistent application of styles and patterns. Albeit yes, whatever shape there is, you should be able to pass and control a ball over several yards without thought...
 
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