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Manager Thomas Frank

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Are you Frank Out or In?

  • Total voters
    623
Herclueless said:
But what do you mean by "pragmatic" football?

Pragmatism is nothing to do with being cautious or defensive.
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We setup to adopt to our opponents and are happy to play on the back foot for large portions of games. I call that pragmatic.

I think in home games, its crucial to have your own attacking principles that you can stick to regardless of the opponents. Ange was an extreme example against this approach. But ideally you have your own attacking style to play in home games we should be winning rather than being fearful of your opponent. Then in away games, or any big games against superior sides, then we adapt and revert to a pragmatic approach. That would be an ideal world.

I think Frank is brilliant at stopping opponents and is a top pragmatic manager. But I do think he needs to adopt an attacking style of play which we can revert to in home games, where we should be less worried about the opponents and focusing on our own football. Frank is not alone with this issue. I think emery and Howe have become similarly unstuck. They've made their Villa and Newcastle teams a nightmare to play against but struggle to dominate teams at home and win enough games to go beyond that.
 
The skeletons from Ange's reign do linger. It's not so easy to just reverse that home form, or attack fluidly and with intent. Frank is doing great in all honesty, he has addressed the poor defense... Which can still improve further too, but their positional sense is mostly much better so any mistakes are easier to recover from.

The cards he was dealt with Kulu, Sonny, then Madders and now the 2 best strikers are out for so long really is tricky and obviously effects how he can build up our attack. It's not all been shit though I can see some green shoots there, just not quite fully clicking yet.
That we have come back twice against tricky opponents is a good sign, Wolves really were quite tough the way they changed second half affected us and we couldn't build on the first half, so to grab a point that looked unlikely was very good. We are up 4 points in the same Brighton, Wolves, West Ham fixtures from last season, so not doing badly really while not at our best yet.
 
Kuya said:
The skeletons from Ange's reign do linger. It's not so easy to just reverse that home form, or attack fluidly and with intent. Frank is doing great in all honesty, he has addressed the poor defense... Which can still improve further too, but their positional sense is mostly much better so any mistakes are easier to recover from.

The cards he was dealt with Kulu, Sonny, then Madders and now the 2 best strikers are out for so long really is tricky and obviously effects how he can build up our attack. It's not all been shit though I can see some green shoots there, just not quite fully clicking yet.
That we have come back twice against tricky opponents is a good sign, Wolves really were quite tough the way they changed second half affected us and we couldn't build on the first half, so to grab a point that looked unlikely was very good. We are up 4 points in the same Brighton, Wolves, West Ham fixtures from last season, so not doing badly really while not at our best yet.
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Spot on.
 
thinktank said:
And I must say again, Wolves came to fight for their lives.

They were properly at it and weren't just going to roll over for us.

Was very impressed with Arias.

People should watch the game again after what's been discussed here and see it in a clearer light.

Here's link to the replay:

Tottenham Hotspur Vs Wolverhampton Wanderers Full Match - Premier League | 27 September 2026

Spurs and Wolves round out Saturday Night Football in north London. For Wolves, it's five Premier League defeats on the spin as Vitor Pereira's side look to
www.footballorgin.com www.footballorgin.com

For a new manager who's building resilience and fight into a team that was defensively tragic and capitulated on a dime, this game showed great signs of desire, fight and indefatigability.

Exactly the foundational traits Frank has stated he's focused on, right now.

And our intensity level was high and consistent.

Richie was awful and we had to rely on Odo, Tel, Johnson to come on and turn it around... ... ... yeah.

They hardly had an effect, but the positive intention of those subs did help to sustain our drive and we got our reward in a very tough, hard-fought game.

That's a balanced way to view what happened.

With Kolo and Solanke available, we very likely win that.
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Yeah, I knew it would be hard just because how often did Premier League clubs lose six matches in a row?
 
Brian Fantana said:
Yeah, I knew it would be hard just because how often did Premier League clubs lose six matches in a row?
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Yeah, they had to dig something out and go mega hard.

In a run like that you reach that critical point and the players clearly want to stay in the prem.

They saw an opportunity against the team they had the number on for the past two seasons and fully gave everything.
 
Kuya said:
The skeletons from Ange's reign do linger. It's not so easy to just reverse that home form, or attack fluidly and with intent. Frank is doing great in all honesty, he has addressed the poor defense... Which can still improve further too, but their positional sense is mostly much better so any mistakes are easier to recover from.

The cards he was dealt with Kulu, Sonny, then Madders and now the 2 best strikers are out for so long really is tricky and obviously effects how he can build up our attack. It's not all been shit though I can see some green shoots there, just not quite fully clicking yet.
That we have come back twice against tricky opponents is a good sign, Wolves really were quite tough the way they changed second half affected us and we couldn't build on the first half, so to grab a point that looked unlikely was very good. We are up 4 points in the same Brighton, Wolves, West Ham fixtures from last season, so not doing badly really while not at our best yet.
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So many poor takes here

Our defense was poor because our best defenders had long periods out injured. If Woolwich played without Gabriel and Saliba week in week out how many games do you think they would win? Yes Ange's system was flawed but to not take into account the unavailability of key personnel has having no impact on our ability to defend is daft.

I accept the loss of Madders has been way bigger than I expected but crying poverty when you have Kudus 55m, Simons 60m, Tel 30m, Odobert 25m, Richarlison 60m and our leading scoring from last season Johnson 40m all available is frankly dishonest. Our attack has been shit and I dont expect much better in the coming months when some of the walking wounded return. Frank is just too negative. He sacrifices flare for pragmatism, risk taking for defensive solidity. He isn't going to change.

Coming back is a good sign no question. Being behind in the first place to a team like Wolves (5 games 0 points) is embarrassing. They are not tricky. They are shit and will probably lose their next game. The pairing of Bentancur and Palhinha simply doesn't work and allowed Wolves to waltz through our midfield.

If you think we are doing great I'd hate to see what your good looks like cause right now I think we look meh and have been fortunate to play City getting back to full fitness after CWC, two mid table teams and three relegation candidates.
 
_mehstg said:
So many poor takes here

Our defense was poor because our best defenders had long periods out injured. If Woolwich played without Gabriel and Saliba week in week out how many games do you think they would win? Yes Ange's system was flawed but to not take into account the unavailability of key personnel has having no impact on our ability to defend is daft.

I accept the loss of Madders has been way bigger than I expected but crying poverty when you have Kudus 55m, Simons 60m, Tel 30m, Odobert 25m, Richarlison 60m and our leading scoring from last season Johnson 40m all available is frankly dishonest. Our attack has been shit and I dont expect much better in the coming months when some of the walking wounded return. Frank is just too negative. He sacrifices flare for pragmatism, risk taking for defensive solidity. He isn't going to change.

Coming back is a good sign no question. Being behind in the first place to a team like Wolves (5 games 0 points) is embarrassing. They are not tricky. They are shit and will probably lose their next game. The pairing of Bentancur and Palhinha simply doesn't work and allowed Wolves to waltz through our midfield.

If you think we are doing great I'd hate to see what your good looks like cause right now I think we look meh and have been fortunate to play City getting back to full fitness after CWC, two mid table teams and three relegation candidates.
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Shut up angeboy
 
Don Pedro said:
There is a balance somewhere between Ange ball chaos and pragmatic football. I always liked the balance of the Redknapp and Poch teams. We always played on the front foot at home but knew how to sit back and grind out results when needed.

Ange was ridiculous. We attacked every game including against the best teams in the league when missing most of our back 4! Frank is lining up with defensive teams at home to Wolves and playing it too safe.
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You don't appear to know what pragmatism is.
 
Don Pedro said:
There is a balance somewhere between Ange ball chaos and pragmatic football. I always liked the balance of the Redknapp and Poch teams. We always played on the front foot at home but knew how to sit back and grind out results when needed.

Ange was ridiculous. We attacked every game including against the best teams in the league when missing most of our back 4! Frank is lining up with defensive teams at home to Wolves and playing it too safe.
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Frank had somr shite takes in his starting line ups, but I wouldn't say he's too defensive. Of course there was no need to play Rodri and Palhinha against teams that are fighting against relegation this season, but the biggest let down in those games weren't the defensive midfieldes but our offensive players. Doesn't matter who plays upfront we can't produce fuck all and that comes from a long time, even under Ange. We didn't have any patterns going forward under Ange and we only scored because everyone was attacking at the same time, but we were not coached. Still a lot to do and we lack options by now, but I wouldn't say Frank biggest problem is the defensive approach.
 
Danish Tony Pulis.

Getting played off the park by Bodo. After the Bournemouth humiliation and the Wolves embarrassment...and the lucky point at Brighton.

Nice work, TF. Carry on.
 
Van de Ven is worth more than Bodo/Glimt's entire squad.

Anyone claiming that our players are shit and that's why we're struggling need to take their head out of the sand.

It is the manager's job to get the most out of the players he has. As it stands, Frank has access to a squad worth £800m+ yet here we are, getting battered by a team from Norway.

Yes they're well organised and playing well. Why is it that they are able to be and we're not?
 
yes said:
Van de Ven is worth more than Bodo/Glimt's entire squad.

Anyone claiming that our players are shit and that's why we're struggling need to take their head out of the sand.

It is the manager's job to get the most out of the players he has. As it stands, Frank has access to a squad worth £800m+ yet here we are, getting battered by a team from Norway.

Yes they're well organised and playing well. Why is it that they are able to be and we're not?
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Problem is I hear this argument with all of our managers.
 
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