Son's future, injuries and using a No 10 – what we learned from Thomas Frank press conference

New York Times

3 hours ago

Five weeks after he was appointed as Tottenham Hotspur's new head coach, Thomas Frank spoke to the media for the first time on Friday afternoon.
After shaking the hands of a few journalists, Frank began his press conference with a touching tribute to Diogo Jota and Andre Silva before he was asked about a range of different topics including the futures of Son Heung-min and Cristian Romero, interest in Morgan Gibbs-White and how he wants Spurs to play next season.
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He said he shares chairman Daniel Levy's ambition of winning the Premier League and the Champions League but for now it is about taking one step at a time. Fans will like to hear that one of his first and favourite memories of Spurs is when Allan Nielsen, who is also from Denmark, scored the winning goal against Leicester City in the 1999 League Cup final.
Here, The Athletic breaks down the six key things we learned during Frank's press conference.
The two biggest issues for Frank to resolve this summer are the long-term futures of Son and Romero. Son has been with Spurs for a decade but has entered the final 12 months of his contract. There are rumours linking him with a move and now would probably be the perfect time to leave after lifting the Europa League trophy. Frank was asked multiple times about what will happen with Son and tried his best to keep his cards close to his chest — reluctant to reveal or commit to any outcome.
'It's always tricky, situations like that,' he said. 'Right now I have a player who is fully committed and training well, and will play tomorrow. If a player has been at a club a long time, then there will always be a decision for the club to take.'
Then he was pushed on whether Romero will stay and if he would need to be replaced.
'Right now he's here, that's what I'm focusing on,' Frank said. 'As long as players are here, I'm training them, I'm playing with them. He's definitely here and very committed. I know he's looking forward to the season.'
Frank confirmed Son and Romero would both play in Tottenham's first pre-season friendly against Reading on Saturday and that they would captain the side in each half. At Brentford, Frank selected a leadership group of four or five players. He plans on doing the exact same at Spurs but did not guarantee Son and Romero would remain as captain and vice-captain respectively if they stay. Frank said the leadership group is on a 'long list of bullet points' to get through but that he hasn't decided anything yet.
For now, it seems like they are both a part of his plans and will be involved in the pre-season tour to Hong Kong and South Korea.
Tottenham's final season under Ange Postecoglou was hugely disrupted by injuries. First-choice centre-backs Micky van de Ven and Romero were both unavailable for large chunks of the campaign, while James Maddison, Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson and Richarlison suffered issues too. When Spurs beat Elfsborg 3-0 in the Europa League in January, only five of their 12 substitutes were first-team regulars — if you include fourth-choice goalkeeper Alfie Whiteman — and the rest were from the academy because everybody else was injured.
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Frank spoke about the importance of improving the physical condition of the players in pre-season so they will be able to compete in four competitions. The 51-year-old thinks the last time Spurs were genuinely competitive across multiple tournaments was the 2018-19 season when they lost the Champions League final to Liverpool, finished fourth in the Premier League and were knocked out in the semi-finals of the League Cup.
'There's a lot of talk about the games players are playing and the tempo and the intensity, but hopefully the way we train, building layers and robustness into the players is going to (play) a big part,' Frank said. 'Making the players more available through the season, and hopefully we can make good decisions, with feeling, with knowledge, with numbers, of when to rotate and when to rest is a big thing as well but we know availability is crucial to us having success.'
Postecoglou never drastically changed the team's shape, apart from for a 3-2 defeat by Everton in January when he experimented with wing-backs. He had one holding midfielder who did all of the dirty work for the No 8s, who were either Lucas Bergvall, Maddison, Pape Sarr or Dejan Kulusevski.
Frank used a variety of formations throughout his time with Brentford. When they first reached the Premier League — after winning the 2021 Championship play-off final — they lined up in a 3-5-2 system with Ivan Toney and Bryan Mbeumo up front. Christian Eriksen's arrival prompted a switch to 4-3-3, while last season it was a 4-2-3-1. That played to Mikkel Damsgaard's strengths as a No 10.
It is a tactic Frank might replicate with Spurs as he spoke about potentially using a No 10 behind a front three. Damsgaard did this operating behind Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa and Kevin Schade, who all scored at least 10 goals in the top flight last season. Johnson was the only player to hit double figures for Tottenham and he only managed 11. Frank mentioned all of the different attacking options in the squad and said it was a 'strong, creative front line'. It will be fascinating to see if he can find a way to fit them all together.
Spurs lost 22 games and conceded 65 goals in the top flight last season. Injuries were a huge factor as they had to cope without first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario for nearly three months after he fractured his ankle in November's 4-0 victory over Manchester City and they constantly changed their centre-back partnerships. But the way Postecoglou wanted Spurs to play left them exposed. Destiny Udogie and Pedro Porro were encouraged to push high up the pitch, which left huge gaps behind them for opponents to exploit.
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Frank built up a reputation for being pragmatic in his previous job at Brentford, adapting to the strengths and weaknesses of his squad. He has far more resources and better players at Spurs but he still believes having a solid defensive base will be crucial.
'I'm convinced we will score a lot of goals but we need to be able to defend also if we want to win enough football matches,' he said. 'I haven't seen one single team have success without being able to defend. That's not saying we don't want to attack. We need to be brave. A nice mixture. We will be pragmatic sometimes when we need to be.'
Frank is personable and friendly. He is more expressive with his vocabulary and body language than Postecoglou but he was more reserved than usual in front of the media. He did crack a few jokes, including one about making a 'rookie error' after mentioning Tottenham's rivals Arsenal, but generally kept his answers short. The most important thing, though, was that his enthusiasm for this challenge came across.
'It's a very exciting squad with a good mix between some experience and some very talented players, but also players that are at a good age that can take the next step,' he said. 'I'm super excited to maximise the potential in the players in the team. If you maximise that, it will give you a better opportunity for competing. If you can compete, you can hopefully win something. It's my job to maximise things.'
Frank explained that the decision to leave Brentford, where he had spent nearly nine years in total as an assistant and then the head coach, was 'difficult' in some ways and 'easy' in others. He wanted a new challenge and knew he 'couldn't turn down' a club of Tottenham's 'magnitude'.
He did acknowledge there will be difficult periods during his time in charge of Spurs. He is following Postecoglou, who was divisive towards the end of his reign but ultimately generated an enormous amount of goodwill and love for winning a trophy. For now, the Dane is enjoying the 'honeymoon period', which will end on August 13 when they play Paris Saint-Germain in Italy in the UEFA Super Cup.
'I'm very aware that it's a big club, there's more scrutiny and there will be more scrutiny because, as I said to the staff on the first day here when we had a meeting, I promise you one thing is 100 per cent sure, we will lose football matches,' he said. 'That will be a natural pressure, but the daily work is natural and I think the biggest pressure is the pressure I would put on myself.'