Thomas Frank analysis: Tottenham must weigh up the good, the bad, and the unknown

After two weeks of almost nonstop rumours, the news we were all expecting dropped: Daniel Levy sacked Ange Postecoglou on his second anniversary at Tottenham – and it looks like Thomas Frank could be the man to replace him.

While the fan base seems split on whether or not it was the correct decision, we need to look ahead to see who will be sitting in the dugout for our UEFA Super Cup clash with Paris Saint-Germain in Udine in August.

The leading candidate to take over at Tottenham is Brentford’s Thomas Frank, the longest-serving Premier League manager at the time of this writing.

I have been blessed to watch Frank’s side for the last six seasons, and I must say there is a lot to be positive about. However, there are a couple of areas of concern about him, as well as an almost inevitable unknown. So this article will break down the good, the bad, and the unknown.

Thomas Frank: Tottenham should appreciate the good

Unearthing Gems

One of the biggest pluses in Frank’s column is his moulding of young players and working with a shoestring budget.

While Brentford’s overarching Moneyball transfer philosophy isn’t Frank’s, he has a say in this process, and it is also on him and his coaching staff to get the best out of these players.

Since taking charge of the Bees in October 2018, he has astounded the football world with his ability to seemingly lose his star man or two at the start of each season and still take his team another step or two.

One of the best examples of this was when he lost Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma at the start of the 2020/21 season. He only replaced them with the seemingly bargain buy Ivan Toney. Toney set a record for most Championship goals in a single season with 31, and Brentford sealed promotion to the Premier League with a 2-0 win at Wembley over Swansea.

Even when entering the Premier League, Brentford have never spent more than £30 million on a single player and went on to have two top-10 finishes in their four years in the Premier League.

In these four Premier League seasons, Brentford have somehow secured gems like Yoanne Wissa (signed for less than £10 million), Ben Mee (for free), Kristoffer Ajer (£12.6 million), as well as developing the likes of Bryan Mbeumo, Vitaly Janelt and Mikkel Damsgaard.

While working with a tight budget might make Tottenham fans wince, if recent reports are to be believed, then Thomas Frank would be working with a small budget again, as Levy has said that the only money Spurs will be able to spend what they get in, then Frank’s thrifty nature could come into force.

Rock and Roll Football

It is the Tottenham way to dare, to play with flair, and to entertain. In the years since Pochettino and up to Ange, we traded flair for pragmatism, which yielded very few results.

What we had with Ange Postecoglou was almost a Kamikaze approach to defending and an approach to attacking that, when done right, was beautiful to watch. However, this didn’t work when he didn’t have his first XI.

Frank brings his brand of football, what he calls “Rock and Roll Football.” This is evidenced by the fact that the Gtech saw the most goals this season, and as we know first-hand, the Bees scored within the first minute of a match in three consecutive matches.

If you want pure stats (I know you do), the Bees ranked fifth for most goals scored and goals per match, which is surprising given that Brentford ranked fifteenth in terms of possession and eighth for expected goals. So, what this shows is that Brentford utilised possession effectively.

Dealing with adversity

An area where Ange may not have been best is how he copes when the chips are down. In both of his seasons at the club, there have been swathes of injuries affecting key areas of the pitch.

While I’m not saying Frank has had to deal with as high a level of injury count during his Brentford tenure, he has had to contend with his best players being out for large portions of the season for one reason or another.

The biggest is the well-documented situation with Ivan Toney. The England forward was banned for eight months during the back end of the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons. This left a 20-goal striker-shaped void in Brentford’s team, and this lack of goals was expected to send the Bees down.

However, the emergence of Wissa helped the Bees stay up, and this kind of hole-plugging has served Frank well. This season is also a great example of how he has shifted his team to accommodate various injuries and suspensions.

Starting left-back Rico Henry missed a large portion of the season. At the same time, there were also key injuries throughout the year, including to Toney’s replacement and the club record signing, Igor Thiago. Brentford were also without key defenders Ethan Pinnock for nine games, Ajer for 22 matches, and many others missed key periods for the Bees.

However, Thomas Frank managed these issues well, and if the Tottenham squad’s thinness continues, then this area of strength will do wonders.

Man motivator

One of Ange’s biggest pluses was how he seemed to motivate his team. A few of the team talks that have been posted online show that, and you can see why teams run through brick walls at times for the man.

This is not something that would be lost if the Spurs appoint Frank. As seen through the Inside Brentford series (well worth a watch, by the way), every player in that dressing room hangs on to every word Frank has to say. He can get his team beyond the levels some believe they are at. No one gave the Bees much hope in that first season in the Premier League, but not only did they survive, but they were comfortable in mid-table.

The main reason for this was just how relentless his team were to win every single point they did, and that can easily be put down to the harmony Frank creates in the dressing room and how much those players want to work for him. This would continue at Spurs, and if there is a man to help the players move on from Ange, it is Frank.

Big Six Battler

As evidenced from Brentford’s first game in the Premier League, the Bees could go toe-to-toe with the Premier League’s biggest and best. From that opening salvo against Arsenal, to silencing the Etihad or that demolition of Manchester United at the Gtech in the summer sun, Brentford easily took on the best the Premier League has to offer.

This has been a big stumbling block for Tottenham in recent seasons (except for the Manchester clubs). There has been no North London derby win since 2022, one win in five years against Chelsea and barring that VAR-laden game last year against Liverpool, wins against the Reds are at a premium.

Frank’s side won a fifth of their fixtures against the big six since their promotion, while Tottenham won a quarter of their games in the same period. For a club the size of Spurs to barely have a better record than Brentford is mildly shocking, and maybe Frank’s influence can help them over the line, especially against Chelsea (as Brentford proved to be a bogey team for the Blues).

Thomas Frank: Tottenham must be wary of the bad

The Step-up

This one is more hypothetical, is Tottenham too big a jump for Frank (this is no disrespect to Brentford). Frank carved his teeth at the youth level of the Danish national team, and the less said about his time at Brøndby, the better.

When he took over from Dean Smith at Brentford, there was no real expectation on Frank, and anything he went on to achieve was a bonus. When Brentford went up, the expectation was just to stay up and nothing more. But Frank has defied the expectations by keeping them up and running them close for European qualification on two occasions.

While this is considered incredible at Brentford (again, no disrespect to Brentford), Frank will need to hit the ground running at Spurs pretty quickly.

Since Pochettino left, Spurs have only finished inside the top four once (mainly thanks to another Arsenal bottle job) and outside the top six twice. This season can be put down to an anomaly, but a return to the top six will be a minimum next year, and that could prove a step too far for Frank.

Domestic Distress

Another big area of concern is Brentford’s performance in the domestic cups under Frank.

Brentford have lost in the FA Cup’s Third Round for the past three consecutive seasons, to Plymouth Argyle, West Ham United, and Wolves (not exactly world beaters). The Bees have never gone beyond the Fourth Round under Frank.

This is very concerning, as the FA Cup has eluded Spurs for more than thirty years now, so Frank’s lack of success in this area is a massive concern.

When it comes to the League Cup, there have been better performances as Frank took the Bees to the semis in 2021 (being unstuck by Mourinho’s Spurs), but again, that is as far as it goes in terms of success in this contest for Brentford. Tottenham have that bye into the Third Round this year, and an early trophy under his belt would dispel these concerns.

Spurs must embrace the Frank unknown

European Pedigree

Now, we move on to the area of uncertainty about the Dane: his lack of European pedigree.

Apart from a few qualifiers in Denmark, Frank has never managed a game in a major European club competition. Going from no European experience to being thrown into this extended Champions League competition is almost a baptism of fire for Frank.

We don’t know how well his style of play translates to the continent or whether he can manage a squad during these more packed calendars.

This is something we will have to wait and see about, as this is something no one can predict, and if we do go out in the League phase or in the play-offs after that point, then we will have a better picture of his European credentials. One to wait and see about.

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