Why long throws are so important to Thomas Frank, and how he may use them at Spurs

New York Times

a day ago

Earlier this week, Destiny Udogie uploaded a video to social media that showed his Tottenham Hotspur team-mates Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and Pedro Porro dancing in the dressing room at the training ground.
It was a funny and wholesome moment — but there was a tiny, hidden detail in the video which Udogie unintentionally revealed.
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Sarr was dancing in front of a large television screen which briefly displayed the first-team squad's schedule as they prepare for the coming season. All players were due to go for a swim, it read, then head to the gym. After lunch, they would participate in a session called 'back-to-back goals possession.'
But if you take a closer look at the bottom of that TV, you might make out a collection of fuzzy words which seem to read 'long throw auditions'. Naturally, Spurs fans have seized on this. After all, long throws aren't naturally associated with the game's most glamorous or successful teams.
Lots of people describe the tactical approach of Tottenham's new head coach Thomas Frank as pragmatic.
While he was in charge of previous club Brentford, they set up in a 3-5-2 system during their 2021-22 debut season in the Premier League, and one of their main routes of attack was goalkeeper David Raya pumping long balls towards 6ft1in (185cm) striker Ivan Toney. They were a potent threat from set pieces, too.
People who have known Frank throughout his coaching career prefer to call him open-minded.
He is prepared to try different ideas and adapts to the strengths and weaknesses of the players at his disposal. The best example of this is how throw-ins became a valuable weapon for him at Brentford — and he apparently wants to repeat the trick with Spurs after moving across London this summer.
Part of the reason why Frank has this attitude is because Brentford have a long history of employing specialist coaches, including throw-in expert Thomas Gronnemark, sleep consultant Anna West and Bartek Sylwestrzak, who helps players to improve their ball-striking technique. Andreas Georgson spent the 2019-20 season as their set-piece coach and will now perform the same role at Spurs. Keith Andrews, who was in charge of Brentford's set-pieces last season, has even replaced Frank as their head coach.
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Brentford hired all of these specialists out of necessity. When they were in the second-tier Championship, they did not have the money to go out and buy top players, so they focused on improving the talent present within their squad via any means necessary. On the opening day of that 2021-22 season, in Brentford's first game in the English top flight for 74 years, Christian Norgaard scored from a throw-in routine to seal a famous 2-0 win against Arsenal.
Long throw-ins have become fashionable again in the Premier League but nobody has come close to matching the efficiency of Brentford, who were responsible for six of the 20 goals scored from them in the division last season.
According to The Athletic's data model, Spurs generated 0.2 xG (expected goals) within 10 seconds of their attacking throw-ins last season — only Chelsea created less. Under Frank's predecessor Ange Postecoglou, their full-backs tended to wait for James Maddison, Lucas Bergvall or Dejan Kulusevski to offer for the ball from midfield, before playing a quick one-two and recycling possession.
Keane Lewis-Potter and Michael Kayode, Brentford's starting full-backs towards the end of that 2024-25 campaign, took a lot of their throw-ins, but sometimes centre-back Ethan Pinnock, central midfielder Mathias Jensen or forward Kevin Schade stepped up.
It was a strange sight to see Schade, their third-highest scorer (with 11) behind Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, drying the ball with a towel on the touchline, but he had one of the most powerful throws in the squad. Maybe Mohammed Kudus or Mathys Tel will become a secret weapon for Tottenham with their throw-ins; this is the whole point of Frank's auditions.
Brentford generated 5.9 xG from throw-ins last season, which was comfortably the highest figure in the division. Nottingham Forest were a distant second at only 1.4. By way of direct comparison, Brentford attempted 98 more throws directly into the opposition penalty area in 2024-25 than Spurs did.
Do not be fooled into thinking that Porro, Udogie, Djed Spence or Archie Gray will suddenly start aimlessly hurling balls into the box. A lot of planning and creativity went into Brentford's throw-in moves.
For example, in their penultimate game of last season, they caused west London rivals Fulham a lot of problems. Kayode can propel the ball powerfully across large distances and still retain accuracy. In the 21st minute against Fulham, he shaped his body to throw one into the box but shifted it at the last moment and instead found Lewis-Potter.
He receives the ball just inside Fulham's half and rolls Emile Smith Rowe before clipping a pass towards Norgaard on the left wing. Brentford have changed the angle of their attack in an attempt to catch Fulham off-guard.
Fulham temporarily clear the ball, but Adama Traore is dispossessed by Wissa. The visitors' defensive structure is now all over the place, with Calvin Bassey much deeper than his centre-back partner Joachim Andersen, and full-back Antonee Robinson nowhere near Mbeumo.
Mbeumo strides into the box and equalises with a drilled shot low into the corner.
Brentford might not have scored directly from a throw-in in this situation, but it all stems from their desire to be bold in such situations.
Brentford took the lead just before half-time in the same game from another throw-in.
Kayode is in charge again, and Fulham are wary of him picking out Yehor Yarmoliuk on the edge of the area. This unpredictability can create confusion among opposition defences and potentially lead to mistakes.
Fulham have all their outfield players in the penalty area to Brentford's five, yet Sepp van den Berg manages to rise above everybody to flick the ball on…
… and Norgaard nudges it back across the box to provide Wissa with a simple finish. No Fulham player tracked the midfielder's back-post run because they were all too worried about trying to win the initial ball.
Brentford are experts when it comes to every kind of set piece. They even scored straight from kick-off in three consecutive games last season. There are charts on the walls in the canteen at their training ground which show how many chances they are creating and conceding from set pieces. (Don't be surprised if something similar is now introduced at Hotspur Way.)
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After they beat his Liverpool side 3-1 in January 2023, Jurgen Klopp said Brentford 'stretch the rules'.
'If you singled out every situation, you would find five fouls,' Klopp added. 'But because it's so chaotic, nobody sees it. That's what they do, and it's really good; they react to different things.
'They play like this against us, but against other teams, they play football, and it's fantastic. You cannot defend long balls all the time. They were super-direct. That limits them in some aspects, but in this kind of game they are able to create chaos and they organised that extremely well.'
As more teams became aware of their threat from set pieces, Brentford responded by coming up with new ideas and cleverly disguising their intentions.
It happened in May against Fulham, and there is another example from the 3-1 defeat of Southampton last August.
Here, Mbeumo and Wissa drop off to potentially receive from a Jensen throw-in.
But the Denmark international takes a few steps back, signalling his intention to send it long, so his two strikers turn back and head off towards goal. At the same time, Nathan Collins and Pinnock, Brentford's centre-backs, have moved from the penalty spot to the near post. Their presence will prevent goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale from catching the ball.
Jensen's delivery spins towards that front post, and Collins nips in front of the Southampton defenders to flick it on. Wissa makes an arcing run towards the back post…
… and is rewarded with an incredibly easy finish.
Southampton were tricked into thinking Brentford would throw the ball short, which meant they were poorly organised for Jensen's longer effort.
Udogie's innocent, behind-the-scenes video from Spurs training inadvertently highlighted the biggest difference between Frank and Postecoglou.
The latter largely stuck rigidly to his philosophy and dismissed the importance of set pieces, even comparing them to a rugby scrum. Frank will try anything if it helps his team gain an advantage.
Additional reporting: Thom Harris