{"id":246278,"date":"2025-10-23T14:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T14:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/246278\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T14:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T14:30:08","slug":"thomas-frank-is-making-the-same-mistake-as-ange-postecoglou-by-misusing-one-exciting-spurs-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/246278\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Frank is making the same mistake as Ange Postecoglou by misusing one exciting Spurs star"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Thomas Frank era at Tottenham Hotspur is off to a pretty positive start, but there are still some things he needs to fix, including one obvious mistake he keeps making.<\/p>\n

Under Ange Postecoglou, Spurs<\/a> were criticised for being too disorganised and cavalier, while the manager himself was repeatedly told to be more adaptable in his tactical approach.<\/p>\n

He refused to do so, at least in the league, and it cost him his job despite ending Tottenham\u2019s 17-year wait for a trophy with that Europa League triumph.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/ Click to subscribe to the podcast \"\"\/ <\/a><\/p>\n

Now, with Thomas Frank<\/a> at the helm, the Lilywhites are far more solid and consistent. But, one pattern has continued across the tenure of both Spurs bosses, and even an unbeaten start in the Champions League<\/a> is not disguising it.<\/p>\n

\"TottenhamPhoto by Shaun Brooks \u2013 CameraSport via Getty ImagesArchie Gray needs to be played in midfield<\/p>\n

Frank was told he\u2019s using Mathys Tel wrong<\/a> just a few days ago, but it\u2019s actually the repeated insistence on playing Archie Gray in defence that is a crime against football.<\/p>\n

The youngster has proven himself more than dependable wherever he\u2019s played. Last season, Postecoglou employed the former Leeds starlet all the way across the back four, and he never let Spurs down.<\/p>\n

Indeed, playing at left-back against Monaco last night, Gray was tireless, composed, did the dirty work, and made efforts to progress the ball forward at every opportunity \u2014 something that cannot be said of his teammate, Rodrigo Bentancur.<\/p>\n

StatisticsArchie Gray vs MonacoMinutes90Tackles won1Interceptions2Clearances4Key passes1Pass success90%Passes in opposition half19Passes in own half9Data via SofaScore<\/a><\/p>\n

However, his natural position is in midfield, and yet Tottenham fans have hardly ever actually seen him play there. He\u2019s shown time and time again that he has all the attributes needed to unlock the best out of this Spurs midfield, so when will Frank realise he needs to be playing higher up the pitch?<\/p>\n

\"TottenhamPhoto by OLI SCARFF\/AFP via Getty ImagesThe balance of the Spurs midfield is all wrong<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll go back to Rodrigo Bentancur and reiterate that he is quite clearly the weak link in this Thomas Frank system right now. The Uruguayan midfielder has plenty of positive attributes \u2014 he\u2019s good at breaking up play and is always calm on the ball \u2014 but the problem is, he seems terrified of making progressive passes.<\/p>\n

While that\u2019s great for maintaining possession, it seriously harms the attacking momentum and Spurs look blunt in that regard lately.<\/p>\n

Despite injuries to James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, Thomas Frank still has very exciting options in the middle<\/a> of the park, but he just seems to be using them in the wrong combination.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

TalkingPoints<\/p>\n

Poll: Who is Tottenham\u2019s best midfielder?<\/p>\n

Lucas Bergvall was poor<\/a> in the number 10 role against Monaco, a role which should be reserved for Xavi Simons. Instead, the Swedish star needs to drop a little deeper into the pivot role.<\/p>\n

Pape Sarr has been inexplicably absent of late, and that needs to change, with the athletic Senegalese star offering much-needed energy in the midfield.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, someone like Archie Gray can easily cover for, or even play alongside the more defensive-minded Joao Palhinha. We know Frank has been flexible in his system<\/a> and setup for different games, but it still feels like there is another level to what can be achieved there. Using Archie Gray properly might just be the key to reaching that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Thomas Frank era at Tottenham Hotspur is off to a pretty positive start, but there are still…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[89834,84068,403,99,5862,4899],"class_list":["post-246278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ange-postecoglou","tag-archie-gray","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-thomas-frank","tag-tottenham-hotspur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}