Tottenham may have lost UEFA Super Cup to PSG, but Thomas Frank’s is making his mark in a big way

The teams were not in the game for three minutes when the first signal of the arrival of Thomas Frank in Tottenham Hotspur became clear to everyone. Kevin Danso investigated the crowd in the penalty area of Paris Saint-Germain, took a few backward steps and ran back to the touchline to complete the sagging, no player in a radius of a few meters. The distance was not a problem-Cristian Romero connected almost connected to Danso’s Throw-In while he jumped out of the edge of the six-year box to give Spurs a very early lead.

Spurs may not have scored that opportunity, but they did it on two others later in the game, even if they had given their 2-0 lead by admitting twice after the 84th minute and lost to the UEFA Super Cup in a penalty shootout on Wednesday. Frank has perhaps made a complicated first impression with the Super Cup, but he also offered a feeling of immediate satisfaction, albeit by Danso’s Long Throw-Ins or the set-piece goals scored by central back Micky van de Ven and Romero. The uncertainties with which a new look Tottenham started the competition of Wednesday, are no longer there, the trip to Udine offers a first real glimpse of Frank’s plans for his new team.

UEFA Super Cup score, highlights, take -away restaurants: PSG Beat Tottenham after dramatic comeback, Penalty Shootout

Chuck Booth

It was perhaps the easiest prediction to make when Frank officially got the track, but Spurs are very similar to a premium version of his Brentford side, which prioritize opportunities to beat their weight. A single game, especially one against demonstrably the best team in the world, can only fill so many gaps on a side under new management, but Tottenham’s Super Cup performance showed some of the new strengths of the team – and the problems that Frank and the company have to solve during the season.

Set pieces and long throw-ins for the victory

Spurs were happy to give possession to PSG on Wednesday and only held 26.3% of the ball when everything was said and done in the hope of coming up with the difference in other categories. The strategy almost worked – Tottenham continued to run for the second balls and was very effective to do this, making 13 shots to PSGs 12 and 1.38 expected goals to 1.17 from the opposition. They were a perfect contrast and effectively neutralized an understocked and under -prepared PSG, making them 84 minutes better.

The most striking part of Frank’s strategy came through set pieces and throw-ins, no learning curve clear to the players despite the fact that these skills were rarely a characteristic of the version of the team of Ange Postecoglou. It helps that Frank has identified players who are natural fit for their new responsibilities danso may have passed on the long complicated auditions of Spurs because the fact that He was a competent rugby player for his school teamWhile Van de Ven and Romero participate in a long list of middlebacks that are known for their set piece of bravery.

A set-piece-oriented strategy also feels like a natural first impression for Frank’s version of Spurs, especially after the postcoglou years. Postecoglou caught a lot of anti-aircraft weather for Tottenham’s Set-piece defensive, but his team was also not particularly effective in scoring them. Spurs was still one of the best attacking teams in the Premier League last season, but Brentford actually surpassed them in goals and expected goals with the help of this approach, which offers reliable goal turning opportunities, regardless of the game state.

The costs of playing against PSG

PSG may not have had a real preseason and are less than a month away from their loss to Chelsea in the club World Cup final, but there is a reason why they won the UEFA Champions League in the spring. The Luis Enrique system is their greatest strength, but theirs is a team of players with impressive individual talent, as the 85th-minute goal of Lee Kang-in demonstrates. It also exposes the big disadvantage of the approach of Spurs against a team like PSG, or other similar opponents – it runs the risk of leaving the players rawless before the last whistle.

The starters of Spurs looked good for the 85th minute, a natural consequence of non -stop runs for the entire game. Pape Matar Sarr, who illustrated the strategy for a large part of the competition with an active display, seemed about 10 minutes from energy before the goal of Lee and Romero stopped with a cramp – perhaps a timely one – just before the last whistle blew. It was unable to respond to the inherent qualities of PSG, Frank’s side spent much more time in their own box than each team in the dying minutes of a match would like to respond. On the side of Enrique it was an expensive strategy and Frank summarized it unique after the game.

“I knew we had to do something else against PSG,” said Frank. “It was a special operation. In medical terms the operation succeeded but the patient died. So in the end I didn’t work well. But we worked on a game plan that was a bit different and [it was] Very close to the success. “

How flexible will traces be?

The implementation of Wednesday shares some similarities with the other pre-season performance of Spurs, but the Throw-ins and SET documents offered something new in the first weeks of Frank’s term of office, which shows a persistent sense of unpredictability that is not entirely unusual if a manager settles in his new job. Given the caliber of Tottenham’s preseason, a list of Arsenal, Newcastle United and Bayern Munich, it is actually difficult to say how Frank will approach every game on the schedule this season.

Despite the 17th place of last season, Spurs will be the favorites in more of their domestic competitions than not in the coming months. This is the big stranger of Frank’s Sprong from Brentford – his experience is with a mid -table team that does not disqualify, but simply means that a new series of management situations and decisions are waiting. An aggressive off-the-ball approach will probably not be necessary for a large part of the games on their schedule, which will probably offer more options for property and creativity in midfield. What Frank does with that will be worthwhile to keep an eye on, especially since Spurs may not be done on the transfer market, left to the Ebereechi Eze of Manchester City and the Ebereechi Eze of Crystal Palace in the last days.

Frank and Company still understandably play their cards close to their chest, but Ben Davies may have given a small hint in his pre-super cup remarks on Tuesday. “I think we will definitely have a different game plan, depending on the opposition this season,” he said.