Thomas Frank - Head Coach

[Mr Gogolak]

My biggest curiosity with Frank is centre midfield. Ours has been nothing write home about even though we have good players on paper. When I look around I see players like Ramsey at Villa, Gomes at Wolves and other unsung heroes across the PL. The 2 lads I mention have had great games against us over the last 2 seasons.

I'd say the biggest problem with our midfield is the lack of passing ability. Then again, it may be harsh to judge them on last season, since our game completely disintegrated in 2025. Everybody looked poor but the passes in particular looked extra poor to me.

 

[Gutter Boy]

I'd say the biggest problem with our midfield is the lack of passing ability. Then again, it may be harsh to judge them on last season, since our game completely disintegrated in 2025. Everybody looked poor but the passes in particular looked extra poor to me.

Id like to see it in a better setup. Part of the problem was all our players were too high and the opponents half too congested, that any passing and movement was pretty futile.

Player-for-player id say all 5 of our CMs are decent passers. Sarr is probably the weakest, but even he is a million miles from Sissoko

 

[Muttley]

I'd say the biggest problem with our midfield is the lack of passing ability. Then again, it may be harsh to judge them on last season, since our game completely disintegrated in 2025. Everybody looked poor but the passes in particular looked extra poor to me.

It's the reason I've always been impressed with Joao Gomes. He has that blend of close touch, passing, tackling, athleticism that you need in the middle of the park. Way more football smarts and leadership than our current players as well. I doubt he's great at anything, but he seems to make a difference in every match I've watched him. He's the heartbeat of the Wolves midfield.

I do agree with GB though. Playing centre mid for Ange was an impossible task. It should be quite easy for Frank to get improvements from our existing players if organised better.

 

[spurspinter1]

It's a smart, safe appointment with an unknown upside (his team's set pieces are very good, so not worried there). Watkins, Raya, Toney, Mbeumo, Wissa, Damsgaard, lots of player development there.

Not worried about the 6 (we need one, just not the WC/Elite one that would be need for any chance of Ange's system working), he will pay two in front of a disciplined back 4.

I think people will be really surprised at what decent coaching, system adapted to player strengths, and not leaving yourself exposed every game can do. I don't see us ever finishing below 7th with this guy. The real questions is the additional games (he did have two seasons in Championship, more games there) and sub use, Brentford would not have had the bench we do/can have.

2 in front of a disciplined back four is interesting. Many are crying out for a right sided attacker, but maybe Porro will finally get shifted up the pitch to be a fully fledged attacker. Spence and a new RB signing could fight it out for the right back position. It's also been suggested that we'll do more of a wonky presumably with Destiny staying back but time will tell. We won't know until the first game of the season and even then, he's a manager who chops and changes accordingly to opposition, which is a novel idea after Ange's approach. I still don't see a perfect CM pairing for that system, Bents and Sarr maybe (on a good day for Bentancur).

Highlighting individual player development is tricky, Bergvall got loads better as the season progressed, is that due to Ange or to the player himself? It'll come down to preconceived notions. Bissouma turned into a beast for the knockout stages of the EL, a cunning plan perfectly executed by Ange or did the player just wake up after drifting for most of the season?

It's all speculation, whether we predict it's going to go well or not. Moving from one of the smallest budgets to one the biggest spenders around outside of extreme examples like the Chelseas of the world, is a whole different ball game. If in 2, 3, 4 seasons we're floating around 4th to 8th looking more solid but not particularly spectacular, many will wonder what could have been, myself included.

 

[Gutter Boy]

I'd start Bentancur and Bergvall as our double pivot. With an anticipation Gray might start edging out Bentancur in the second half of the season. But initially Gray and Sarr being the second string/midweek partnership.

 

[Muttley]

2 in front of a disciplined back four is interesting. Many are crying out for a right sided attacker, but maybe Porro will finally get shifted up the pitch to be a fully fledged attacker. Spence and a new RB signing could fight it out for the right back position. It's also been suggested that we'll do more of a wonky presumably with Destiny staying back but time will tell. We won't know until the first game of the season and even then, he's a manager who chops and changes accordingly to opposition, which is a novel idea after Ange's approach. I still don't see a perfect CM pairing for that system, Bents and Sarr maybe (on a good day for Bentancur).

Highlighting individual player development is tricky, Bergvall got loads better as the season progressed, is that due to Ange or to the player himself? It'll come down to preconceived notions. Bissouma turned into a beast for the knockout stages of the EL, a cunning plan perfectly executed by Ange or did the player just wake up after drifting for most of the season?

It's all speculation, whether we predict it's going to go well or not. Moving from one of the smallest budgets to one the biggest spenders around outside of extreme examples like the Chelseas of the world, is a whole different ball game. If in 2, 3, 4 seasons we're floating around 4th to 8th looking more solid but not particularly spectacular, many will wonder what could have been, myself included.

Great post.

I think what we've learnt from other successful clubs is that you need several good players for that engine room. It's then how the manager coaches them into a number of different combinations and keeps them all fresh with rotation. It's about seamless switching of them during the match especially when you now get to change up to 5 players in the 90.

That's why I'm not into the school of thought that just buying a new number 6 will solve all our problems in midfield. It's way more about how all our existing players are coached and set up in my opinion. Of course, new players are always welcome if they are better than what we have but they're only one of the cogs.

 

[JerusalemMan]

Most of what I've seen is

- He likes crosses into box, from either wide player or FB (they swap who goes inside/outside)
- The target is center of box to far post
- It is a little more penalty spot distance than to touchline as you said
- They typically get 2-3 attackers into that space

I'm going to post this again as I just put it up in one of the smaller player-specific transfer threads but realised it's got broader relevance.

Frank's adapted and changed a lot with Brentford depending on who he had available and what he thought was the best way to maximise their skills, rather than being wedded to a system and making the players conform.
This reddit post seems to ring true, though if you know more about Brentford's play, you may be able to correct it and me.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

You don't need to hope, go look at Brentford games

- They press high, on triggers (i.e. intelligently, not just all the time), FB's are allowed to get into to attack (but not at cost of leaving huge space or both being stranded high), the defense is helped out by both the pivot and wide players depending on action.

It's a smart, safe appointment with an unknown upside (his team's set pieces are very good, so not worried there). Watkins, Raya, Toney, Mbeumo, Wissa, Damsgaard, lots of player development there.

Not worried about the 6 (we need one, just not the WC/Elite one that would be need for any chance of Ange's system working), he will pay two in front of a disciplined back 4.

I think people will be really surprised at what decent coaching, system adapted to player strengths, and not leaving yourself exposed every game can do. I don't see us ever finishing below 7th with this guy. The real questions is the additional games (he did have two seasons in Championship, more games there) and sub use, Brentford would not have had the bench we do/can have.

Im not sure that we will see many square pegs in round holes with Frank. His well documented adaptability means he fits systems to players. With that in mind I doubt we will see Bentancur in the true "Kante" position - we either need to play a different way, sign someone in that mould or hope that he can get a tune out of Archie Gray. Who excelled filling in at centrehalf (albeit in a team that lost a lot!) but hasn't yet really shown he can do DM at this level yet.

Great post.

I think what we've learnt from other successful clubs is that you need several good players for that engine room. It's then how the manager coaches them into a number of different combinations and keeps them all fresh with rotation. It's about seamless switching of them during the match especially when you now get to change up to 5 players in the 90.

That's why I'm not into the school of thought that just buying a new number 6 will solve all our problems in midfield. It's way more about how all our existing players are coached and set up in my opinion. Of course, new players are always welcome if they are better than what we have but they're only one of the cogs.

I'm going to post this again as I just put it up in one of the smaller player-specific transfer threads but realised it's got broader relevance.

Frank's adapted and changed a lot with Brentford depending on who he had available and what he thought was the best way to maximise their skills, rather than being wedded to a system and making the players conform.
This reddit post seems to ring true, though if you know more about Brentford's play, you may be able to correct it and me.

View attachment 19915

My hunch is next season might reflect badly on Ange.

 

[Gutter Boy]

My hunch is next season might reflect badly on Ange.

Frank said in the High Performance interview that his entry into an elite club might benefit from one with a low bar and lots of low hanging fruit. So us.

 

[braineclipse]

I'm going to post this again as I just put it up in one of the smaller player-specific transfer threads but realised it's got broader relevance.

Frank's adapted and changed a lot with Brentford depending on who he had available and what he thought was the best way to maximise their skills, rather than being wedded to a system and making the players conform.
This reddit post seems to ring true, though if you know more about Brentford's play, you may be able to correct it and me.

View attachment 19915

Think the involvement of Damsgaard too is worth a mention, though not strictly in the front line.

I think he has shown flexibility and a good ability to coach good attacking play. As importantly ability to further develop already good and talented attacking players.

How that translates to a higher level still remains to be seen of course. The demands are very different here. If he's reasonably successful here he'll soon enough be in a position where 50%+ of the games will be games where the opposition are mainly focused on negating our attacking threat. That's rather different to Brentford in the PL at least. And we'll be less accepting of changing to a safety first approach if we're in bad form, and that will be less applicable to our situation too.

So a lot of unanswered questions as is natural. But he's shown qualities that may very well translate well to a higher level.

 

[Silly McSilly Face]

Frank said in the High Performance interview that his entry into an elite club might benefit from one with a low bar and lots of low hanging fruit. So us.

That would definitely be us: "Oh hey Tom old boy, do you think you could finish higher than 17th next season with a £500 million squad full of internationals?"

 

[afsoc4life]

My hunch is next season might reflect badly on Ange.

Unless Frank wins a trophy in an injury laden season while keeping Spurs in top 8, I doubt that very much. Y'all too quick to denigrate Ange.

 

[djp82]

Unless Frank wins a trophy in an injury laden season while keeping Spurs in top 8, I doubt that very much. Y'all too quick to denigrate Ange.

Frank won’t be in Europa league.

Not 100% on Frank. Will certainly be interesting moving forward. My biggest worry is the midfield. Less Bergvail it’s seriously lacking . Bentancur is not the same player post ACL and Sarr is pretty poor passer of the ball at times.

I don’t see Gray tearing up trees either. Need to address that really this window.

Whilst I think we will finish top half I don’t see us troubling the Champs league spots.

Some think our squad is top 4/5. I’ve said i don’t see it. That goes for last couple of summers we’ve not brought that well Bergvail aside. Don’t get me wrong there’s potential in the youngsters but think we need some more experienced quality to supplement that. Striker also.

 

[Bullet]

I think what we've learnt from other successful clubs is that you need several good players for that engine room. It's then how the manager coaches them into a number of different combinations and keeps them all fresh with rotation. It's about seamless switching of them during the match especially when you now get to change up to 5 players in the 90.

That's why I'm not into the school of thought that just buying a new number 6 will solve all our problems in midfield. It's way more about how all our existing players are coached and set up in my opinion. Of course, new players are always welcome if they are better than what we have but they're only one of the cogs.

THIS! It frustrates me that many posters still wang on about the first XI.
In every game we need to refresh the engine room and keep fresh players on the pitch; it is vital to me that Frank generally makes changes on 65 rather than 85 minutes.
Tired players make poor decisions and cannot maintain the intensity; in fact if they CAN maintain their intensity for 100 mins they aren't trying hard enough.
That 65mins:35mins integrates the squad far better than 85mins:15mins.

And the proper 35 minutes rest massively impacts the following game too, as players don't get burnt out.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

Unless Frank wins a trophy in an injury laden season while keeping Spurs in top 8, I doubt that very much. Y'all too quick to denigrate Ange.

Not talking about outcomes...I'm talking about process/coaching/eye test.

Ange was an A+ as a motivator, communicator, environment creator. Luckily I don't think Frank will be far off in those areas as well.

It's just those other bits.

It's just a hunch...it might turn out the opposite?

 

[thfcsteff]

Not talking about outcomes...I'm talking about process/coaching/eye test.

Ange was an A+ as a motivator, communicator, environment creator. Luckily I don't think Frank will be far off in those areas as well.

It's just those other bits.

It's just a hunch...it might turn out the opposite?

They're just different.
Frank will (IMO) look more seemless as he fits every metric by which this club operates.
One thing he will hopefully not have to deal with is an injury crisis like that we had last year. One thing he will surely benefit from is what the club learnt with regards to managing pre-season/phase in of player workloads better.

 

[Silly McSilly Face]

They're just different.
Frank will (IMO) look more seemless as he fits every metric by which this club operates.
One thing he will hopefully not have to deal with is an injury crisis like that we had last year. One thing he will surely benefit from is what the club learnt with regards to managing pre-season/phase in of player workloads better.

Plus we will no longer be topping the "sprints" board in the PL, which will help!

 

[Gazza]

Our midfield needs direction and character, none of them actually give me confidence of giving a good return throughout the season. They get bullied very easily, can’t get a hold of the game and don’t have anything about them.

What are their roles? And how well have they been doing them. I’m not saying that they had a few good games here and there … I’ve never seen any of them dominate or boss a game.

Bergvall, Gray, Starr have potential but who is leading them?

 

[Yiddo]

Or midfield needs direction and character, none of them actually give me confidence of giving a good return throughout the season. They get bullied very easily, can’t get a hold of the game and doing have anything about them.

What are there roles? And how well have they done doing them. I’m not saying they had a free good games here and there … I’ve never seen any of them dominate or boss a game.

Bergvall, Gray, Starr have potential but who is leading them?

You don’t necessarily need an older player in the same position to lead a young midfield. Barcelona have Pedri and Gavi in their midfield and they won the league and got to a semi final of the Champions League.

 

[Gazza]

You don’t necessarily need an older player in the same position to lead a young midfield. Barcelona have Pedri and Gavi in their midfield and they won the league and got to a semi final of the Champions League.

Good point. But it’s the exception. Further to that, our young players have not showcased that kind of ability.

I think our league is physically brutal as well.

Not really like for like.