Thomas Frank’s first five tasks as Tottenham Hotspur manager – Opinion

Establish a tactical identity with a cohesive defensive structure

We all know how the North Londoners were a bit aggressive under Ange Postecoglou, and this expansive approach had a lot of defensive frailties where the backline was often exposed, and the transitional situations were often chaotic whilst high-risk pressing lacked structure. Now as the Dane takes charge of Tottenham, he will be looking to implement his mid-block system and put in the counter-pressing mechanisms that he implemented at Brentford. A lot of focus for Frank here will be on playing in compact vertical lines whilst complementing that with zone discipline that in presses often operate on rudders.

So this is a cultural reset again, defending in a compact manner and layering that with the creative aspects of the game.

Finding solutions for the goalkeeping situation

We all know that Guglielmo Vicario has been a shaky presence with the gloves, especially when it comes to high balls and pressure in buildup. There is no doubt that he has a fine shot-stopping ability, but then he is not a modern #1 for a compact term that relies on rest defence and pinging balls.

So I think Frank will likely need to think about whether he needs to retrain the former Empoli star or replace him. Maybe bring in a new keeper that has better claims on crosses and is a bare sweeper and all of that while having a calm sense of distribution.

Formulate an understanding of the attacking hierarchy (and where Son fits)

There was a visible lack of clinical presence at Tottenham last season, and given the current roster, I think that the offensive line is too fragmented at the moment. If you think about it, South Korean skipper Heung-min Son has shown a marginal physical decline while Richarlison needs to build a consistent identity, and Tottenham’s first summer signing, Tel, is raw.

The Dane head coach needs to define some roles and ask whether Son is a starter or a super sub. He also needs to clarify who leads the line, whether a struggling Solanke needs to be rejuvenated or Tel could be put in at nine or end up signing someone like Gyokeres.

Bring in a true defensive midfielder

At the moment, the Lilywhites have no reliable single pivot midfielder in the current roster, and the thing is that neither Bissouma nor Bentancur provides the needed control when it comes to defensive aspects of the game. So I think that Thomas Frank should push Daniel Levy to sign a ball-winning and positionally disciplined #6 who can anchor the midfield to allow Maddison & Udogie/Porro to attack freely.

This also goes hand in hand with building a Brentford-like model that screens first.

Create development pathways for younger players

Tottenham have been blessed with a lot of young talent lately, and in Thomas Frank, the Lilywhites have a coach that has the capacity to develop them and then integrate them into the side. So the Dane coach needs to establish a trust-based manner of handing minutes to these young players while also going on to define their positional roles early (i.e., Sarr as box-to-box or deep pivot?).

We know that Frank can develop stars; we have seen him do that at Gtech Community Stadium, but now the limelight will be more on him at Tottenham.