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Manager Thomas Frank

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Are you Frank Out or In?

  • Total voters
    623
Teach said:
Kudus looks a poor buy

Looks like a 5 a side player… or a cracking U12 that gets completely lost and swamped when they step up to 11 a side at U13
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Nonsense, he's mustered up the 2nd most assists in the league in a team who refuses to attack, we have created the 2nd worst amount of chances this season, worse than Wolves, worse than West Ham, worse than fucking Leeds

What do people expect our attacking players to do if they're not getting the ball in dangerous areas?
 
Shadydan said:
Nonsense, he's mustered up the 2nd most assists in the league in a team who refuses to attack, we have created the 2nd worst amount of chances this season, worse than Wolves, worse than West Ham, worse than fucking Leeds

What do people expect our attacking players to do if they're not getting the ball in dangerous areas?
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I don’t see it. It’s all dried up and he offers nothing now…. At the v least he has potential and is strong,
Balanced with a good touch but I have little faith he will be a success
 
Teach said:
I don’t see it. It’s all dried up and he offers nothing now…. At the v least he has potential and is strong,
Balanced with a good touch but I have little faith he will be a success
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Do you not think its a little harsh to judge our attacking players especially since Frank ball is seemingly pass the ball to Kudus and hope for the best despite having 3 players surrounding him?
 
BJK said:
Used these screenshots in a different post for a different analysis, but they are also relevant for the discussion of our defensive line I feel



I guess Romero was unoccupied as the old school sweeper in a back 5, but VdV could've been marking Eze if we had simply pushed the defensive line by a notch.



Instead of VdV stepping up, Bentancur eventually drops back to cover Eze which takes one of our midfielders farther away from the ball. VdV is in no man's land here really.







The same pattern outlined above, except it's Timber instead of Eze that VdV was watching from a distance. Once again, see how this reluctance of VdV's put Bentancur in a very difficult situation where he had to mark 2 players in Eze and Timber simultaneously.

Putting two of your very best players in Romero and VdV into a situation where they couldn't impact the game in any meaningful way for long periods because of how far away they were from the opponents and the ball is questionable coaching to say the least.
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A good illustration. Two things. 1. What if the players weren’t listening to instructions and that’s why it happened, and. 2. If that were the case, why didn’t Frank remedy it?
 
Pathfinder said:
Enzo Maresca was almost sacked last season...Arteta was close to getting the sack, too, a few seasons back... and, going further back, so were Klopp and Fergie as well (i.e. close to getting the sack).
I am not saying Frank will turn out to be as good as some of them but a head-coach need more than a 1/3 of a season to turn a team around - one that ended 17th in the EPL last season...
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But Thomas Frank was the wrong appointment.

He coaches dull, prehistoric football. He gives dull uninspiring interviews.
Fans are voting with their feet because they're paying elite club ticket prices to watch lower league football under a small club manager.
1000's of tickets are going unsold.
Under his short tenure he's already horribly embarrassed us against our two biggest rivals.

We need to raise our standards. You need to raise your standards. We are not Brentford fc

It's only a matter of time.
 
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Timberwolf said:
Tbh, as catastrophically shite as we've been in recent weeks, I genuinely think we'll see improvement if we stick it out with Frank. If the board back the manager and the players realise he's going nowhere, we'll get better over time. He's gonna keep trying stuff and eventually he'll alight upon a system that works, especially with players returning and signings made. He's not like Ange who would keep banging his head against a brick wall doing the exact same thing and expecting different results - I reckon he'll start mixing things up and seeking solutions. I think this period right now is the worst it will ever be.

However, I think the bigger issue is that whatever solutions he comes up with will still probably only be upper-mid table quality at best. We'll improve but only from a level of abject shite to general competence, and still be an ugly watch no doubt. I think that probably won't be enough to earn him a 2nd season (unless we go on a genuinely great run in the final stretch the buys him time).
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Yeah this how I see it. The club have invested too much in him to bin him off now (because some fans have zero patience it doesn’t mean the club do) and would be mad too.

Fans have to remember we get such limited information as to what is going on at a club that it’s hard to know. All we can go by is what is on the pitch and it hasn’t been great. I suspect Frank wants us to play more like we did v Copenhagen than we did v Chelsea. Sure quality of team is a big factor but the mindset in both games was completely different. One team played with fight and freedom and the other was restricted and scared. Three days apart. He needs to work on his approach and the players’ mentality. The approach can happen quicker, so he has to begin with that. I still question the players attitudes, they think they are better than they are. Maybe we need a Kane/Stoke mutiny scenario?
 
Teach said:
I don’t see it. It’s all dried up and he offers nothing now…. At the v least he has potential and is strong,
Balanced with a good touch but I have little faith he will be a success
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Think your being extremely harsh. Yes, most our forward players are offering very little in the last few games. But they are totally outnumbered up there. We played a back 5 against Woolwich and Palhinha and Bentancur nearly made it a back 7. So our 3 forwards (Kudus, Richarlison and Odobert) were up against atleast 4 Woolwich players and usually 5 or 6 because Rice and Zubimendi always got back.

How many times have you seen Kudus in 1v1 positions and give the ball away? Ask yourself that before you judge! Because every time I see him lose the ball he does have 2 or 3 players around him with no support. Thats down to our tactics. Our forward players are being left totally isolated because our midfield and full backs don't have a regular licence to overlap and create overloads.

This seems to be a common suggestion on here that if we had a better front 3 then everything would be fine. I totally disagree. This is all down to our current tactics. We need midfielders like Bergval, Sarr and Simons on the pitch and give them a license to get forward. 2 of them should start as 8s with only one sitting. And we should give our fullbacks a license to overlap the wingers too. Until that happens, our front 3 are going to continue to be isolated and look awful and it'll be the same thing when Kulusevski and Solanke are fit.
 
Tottenham Massive said:
But Thomas Frank was the wrong appointment.

He coaches dull, prehistoric football. He gives dull uninspiring interviews.
Fans are voting with their feet because they're paying elite club ticket prices to watch lower league football under a small club manager.
1000's of tickets are going unsold

We need to raise our standards. You need to raise your standards. We are not Brentford fc

It's only a matter of time.
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Well people stopped protesting for some very strange reason so the club probably thinks fans are happy. 🤷

I suggest you it the streets and get the banners out again...I mean for the first time in your life.
 
Brian Fantana said:
A good illustration. Two things. 1. What if the players weren’t listening to instructions and that’s why it happened, and. 2. If that were the case, why didn’t Frank remedy it?
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Well we have a much bigger issue on our hands than the Xs and Os then. But considering 2 things, I doubt this was a case of players defying Frank's instructions:
  1. Those very same players were executing the instructions of a 60 year old career journeyman with zero credentials to the best of their abilities, and the limitations of a human body I guess. If these were an especially rebellious bunch, someone who is one of the biggest examples of Peter Principle ever in top football would have been their target at some point during the past 2 seasons. I barely saw any evidence of it.
  2. Let's be honest, Frank has made himself a career out of being a reactive manager. This is a double edged sword that could at different times lead to a great preparation for the opponents' strengths and weaknesses, or overcomplicating things and making a mess of everything. The left side he chose against United in anticipation of a Diallo-Mbeumo duo on the right was a prime example of his tendency to overthink for example. This mind boggling 5-2-3 of his against Woolwich's 4-6-0 also belongs to that category I feel.
 
Don Pedro said:
Think your being extremely harsh. Yes, most our forward players are offering very little in the last few games. But they are totally outnumbered up there. We played a back 5 against Woolwich and Palhinha and Bentancur nearly made it a back 7. So our 3 forwards (Kudus, Richarlison and Odobert) were up against atleast 4 Woolwich players and usually 5 or 6 because Rice and Zubimendi always got back.

How many times have you seen Kudus in 1v1 positions and give the ball away? Ask yourself that before you judge! Because every time I see him lose the ball he does have 2 or 3 players around him with no support. Thats down to our tactics. Our forward players are being left totally isolated because our midfield and full backs don't have a regular licence to overlap and create overloads.

This seems to be a common suggestion on here that if we had a better front 3 then everything would be fine. I totally disagree. This is all down to our current tactics. We need midfielders like Bergval, Sarr and Simons on the pitch and give them a license to get forward. 2 of them should start as 8s with only one sitting. And we should give our fullbacks a license to overlap the wingers too. Until that happens, our front 3 are going to continue to be isolated and look awful and it'll be the same thing when Kulusevski and Solanke are fit.
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Yes, you may well be right but he’s very easy to mark out of games and I don’t see him having any impact over the next few months. Could well be the tactics!
 
Don Pedro said:
Think your being extremely harsh. Yes, most our forward players are offering very little in the last few games. But they are totally outnumbered up there. We played a back 5 against Woolwich and Palhinha and Bentancur nearly made it a back 7. So our 3 forwards (Kudus, Richarlison and Odobert) were up against atleast 4 Woolwich players and usually 5 or 6 because Rice and Zubimendi always got back.

How many times have you seen Kudus in 1v1 positions and give the ball away? Ask yourself that before you judge! Because every time I see him lose the ball he does have 2 or 3 players around him with no support. Thats down to our tactics. Our forward players are being left totally isolated because our midfield and full backs don't have a regular licence to overlap and create overloads.

This seems to be a common suggestion on here that if we had a better front 3 then everything would be fine. I totally disagree. This is all down to our current tactics. We need midfielders like Bergval, Sarr and Simons on the pitch and give them a license to get forward. 2 of them should start as 8s with only one sitting. And we should give our fullbacks a license to overlap the wingers too. Until that happens, our front 3 are going to continue to be isolated and look awful and it'll be the same thing when Kulusevski and Solanke are fit.
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Good post.
 
kingdawson said:
People keep saying "We're not brentford' but don't realise our squad this season (if you're not including the long term injured trio) is weaker than Brentfords last season.
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We were without Deki and Madders for a large portion of the run-in last season too.

Obviously being without so many goals is a massive contributing factor but Ange also was without key players. And managed to get a trophy.

You can only use what you have. And he’s been hamstrung, by injuries, by the players signed. That doesn’t stop a team having fight, or having a go. Being gutless and having no idea how to even get up the pitch is on the manager. Relying on long throws and set pieces is on the manager.

Three of our lowest ever xG results have come THIS season. Under this manager.
 
_mehstg said:
17th 17th 17th
Why do people go on about it like that is how good we are. Everyone including you know full well the league season was fucked off at the end of Feb. The squad last season was way better than 17th... its ike you'll be happy if we finish 16th... its BS. We finished 5th the season before. Why are you not using that as a barometer??? Its just lazy to say don't forget we finished 17th last season like its okay to be shit this season.
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League position doesn't lie - Spurs were pathetic last season. It'd doesn't help saying that "the squad was too good to finish so low" when the fact is they did. The right mentality/attitude is also part the game - something that the squad lacked last season.
Where did I say I was happy finishing 16th or 17th? All I said is the we should deal with present reality and where Spurs are right now
 
Murphy said:
We were without Deki and Madders for a large portion of the run-in last season too.

Obviously being without so many goals is a massive contributing factor but Ange also was without key players. And managed to get a trophy.

You can only use what you have. And he’s been hamstrung, by injuries, by the players signed. That doesn’t stop a team having fight, or having a go. Being gutless and having no idea how to even get up the pitch is on the manager. Relying on long throws and set pieces is on the manager.
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My point is that it might be a good idea to quit with this "we're not Brentford" nonsense as he was arguably working with a better squad at Brentford last season then he is right now.

We have zero creative players as Xavi Simons currently is a non entity whereas at Brentford he had Damsgaard. We have no regular goalscorer whereas at Brentford he could rely on Mbuemo and Wissa.

So no creative spark and only Johnson that can provide goals from a wide position but he's not even starting.
 
This routine slandering of the attackers based on their modest stature in the game is getting boring to be honest. It's accurate in a vacuum, but it has little bearing on some of the most glaring issues we have right now. Reminds me of the time when the highly anticipated return of Romero and VdV was presented as a panacea to every point dissidents were raising against the manager.

We're still leading the league in the difference between goals scored and xG. In other words, we're the best in converting low percentage chances to goals. We finished another game where we somehow scored despite recording one of the lowest xGs since the inception of the concept in 2017. Eye test matches this as well, as I don't remember myself ruing the chances we missed after any given game this season. It's the other way around usually: Bewilderment at the fact that we scored.

We're hardly Potter's Brighton teams that earned him his nickname for example, where the overall quality of the attackers could reasonably be blamed for their struggles as a team since they were regularly underperforming their xG to a significant degree. Chances were there, but goals weren't. We're the polar opposite.

This and this have nothing to do with the attackers. What I see is a very reactive manager who's overcomplicating things and failing to make the best out of the situation that he's in as a result.
 
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