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***Spurs vs Leeds United***, PL, 4th October 2025 at Elland Road

SpurMeUp said:
Essentially what you’re suggesting is there isn’t more to come from Franks attacking setup. I disagree.

Rome isn’t built in a day. So what does a manager start with? Listen to some of Franks press conferences and a team focus on not conceding has been fundamental.

Why do the best manager have this foundation? If you’re conceding 1 or less goals a game, winning games becomes a lot easier! So of course you start with this.

Yes you can question what else follows. And for some it doesn’t always. Conte aspired to more than just a defensive setup but couldn’t develop the side quick enough for fans or levy and he could only get results that way. Change to more progressive styles and we’d drop points.

Frank in the Chapionship with Brentford played expansive attacking football, so to suggest he’s a one trick pony just doesn’t ring true.

What do you do once you have a goood defensive foundation? Explore and develop pathers and relationships on the pitch, how to move the ball around more effectively and get the players in sync.
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No that's not what I'm suggesting. Your quote was how all good managers setup being hard to beat first. From what I've seen all managers look to implement their style, whatever it may be from the beginning.

Frank's' style at Brentford was effective, direct football with a big emphasis on set pieces - and that's what we have seen here. Nothing wrong with it, but to emphatically announce this is all part of a bigger plan of his where we end up playing more expansively when to date this is simply how his teams play is just wishful thinking at the moment. What Brentford did years ago in the Championship is largely irrelevant, he's in the PL now and this is the way he has chosen. Poch at Soton, Ireola, Glasner and probably more have shown you don't have to be pragmatic at a smaller club to achieve relative success.

I'm happy with how Frank has taken to the job in hand and I haven't seen anyone suggest he's a one trick pony. I would like to think the attacking side of things get better once players return, but I don't think he is going to ever switch up styles from being more pragmatic and why should he? It's what he's comfortable with....
 
SteveAWOL said:
Hopefully Kudus will take his elephant seat in front of the away section next time he scores on our travels, as that bottle / vape was inches away from taking out our star attacker.

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I really wish he would not do that stupid celebration, especially away from home. It's quite clearly going to incite the crowd and is dangerous for him and teammates....
 
Baleforce said:
I don’t think you get one that does everything.

I think Donnarumma is the gold standard right now, head and shoulders above anyone else.

Vic is closer to him than most imo.
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I hate the clams but Alisson is the gold standard for me. Best keeper in the world and has been for a few years IMO.

Donnarumma is excellent too though. Can’t believe City got him at that price.
 
harr1984 said:
I really wish he would not do that stupid celebration, especially away from home. It's quite clearly going to incite the crowd and is dangerous for him and teammates....
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I can see why they felt inclined to chuck Kudus a vape after seeing this angle of his celebration 😲

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Nice post match interview here.

Frank mentions that Romero had a very bruised foot after Wolves and praised the player and fitness team for getting through the Leeds match.

You guys need to remember that when criticising his clearance or challenge, he probably has a black foot.

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Yiddo said:
When did we completely dominate a game under Ange?
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We didn't often. My point was that Ange sent the team out to do so, so to try and dominate the opposition requires huge amounts of effort and we had rafts of injuries and zombie players playing on fumes 2nd half of both seasons. AND as you say we didn't even get rewarded. So best get your goal(s) and manage out a game like we did
 
harr1984 said:
I'm not debating the effectiveness of different styles, I'm debating the claim managers just come in and setup this way to begin with, or this mythical claim that Frank is just playing this way to begin with - perhaps I've missed him saying so himself somewhere.

Managers tend to come in from the beginning of their tenure and get the players to play their way, and Frank is no different - this is exactly how he got Brentford playing. Usually the only time a manager comes in with a 'Be solid first' style of play is when coming in halfway through a season and the team is in a relegation battle.

That's not to say Frank can't/wont change his style over time and of course as has already been mentioned having some of our attacking players back will help out the attacking unit regardless of style. At the end of the day he's done well to negate the injuries and we are effective so it's all good so far....
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One caveat I would mention is that Frank at Brentford has played a more expansive style, specifically when they were in the Championship. He reined it when they got promoted because he knew he couldn't play that openly against PL sides with the players he had at his disposal. It suggests that as we know he is flexible but more importantly he reacts to his situation.

Whoever the manager was that took over from Ange, a hard reset and focus on the defensive aspect was absolutely necessary because we were a shambles in that regard. From looking at his various interviews I do think he will eventually evolve the style but only when he feels secure in what the team is doing. It's cliche but it's still early and for as well as the results have tended to be we are far from fixed and nothing like the complete article. We still don't actually have a fully functioning 11 so I think until we see that over the next couple of windows we have to understand the limitations of what he has to work with.
 
Just saw MOTD. Some unreal passing from Simons. Thought it looked like we counter attacked really well. Vic initially a bit shaky, but made a lot of great saves as well. So happy for Tel! Odobert looked to have done a few good bits as well. Nice!
 
Three points is three points, but once again, there were plenty of holes to pick in the performance. I can only imagine the emphasis in training has been on the defensive shape, which is probably only fair enough considering the ludicrous number of goals we shipped last season, but there's been far too much loose stuff in the midfield recently and it's becoming a concern.

Kudus MOTM is a complete no-brainer, his contribution was head and shoulders above the rest.

I'm holding off on any sort of verdict on Simons until he's had a proper chance to bed in and his main role is better defined, but I can't shake this nagging feeling that he's a bit lightweight for this league. He seems to be too easily bullied off the ball at the moment and that appears to be inhibiting his willingness to carry it into areas where he's going to have to ride challenges.

I'd agree with those who've said it'd be harsh to point the finger too firmly at Vicario for their goal, but at the same time, I don't feel he has grown enough into the role of first-choice keeper and for me, we need to be thinking about replacing him in the medium term. His shot-stopping has never been at issue but he just doesn't command his area well enough.
 
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Bishop said:
No, read what I said again. I said you are assuming that the player will significantly improve. If you have watched lots of football over the years you will know that is not always the case, its not even usually the case. So its an assumption that you are making.

Will Tel improve? Maybe. Will progress into a top class attacker? Maybe. Will he become world class? Again maybe, but none of us know. There is equally the chance that his performance level right now is exactly what he always will be.
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Bishop said:
One caveat I would mention is that Frank at Brentford has played a more expansive style, specifically when they were in the Championship. He reined it when they got promoted because he knew he couldn't play that openly against PL sides with the players he had at his disposal. It suggests that as we know he is flexible but more importantly he reacts to his situation.

Whoever the manager was that took over from Ange, a hard reset and focus on the defensive aspect was absolutely necessary because we were a shambles in that regard. From looking at his various interviews I do think he will eventually evolve the style but only when he feels secure in what the team is doing. It's cliche but it's still early and for as well as the results have tended to be we are far from fixed and nothing like the complete article. We still don't actually have a fully functioning 11 so I think until we see that over the next couple of windows we have to understand the limitations of what he has to work with.
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That's fair, and my point isn't Frank can't/wont change it up - more that it's merely guesswork at this stage. People are stating as a matter of fact we are playing the way we are is because we need to be defensively solid, when Frank has simply spent his entire PL career playing this way - it's not something he has just decided we need to be like for the beginning, it's very much his style.

And yes there was a time in the Championship when he demonstrated a different way of playing, but at this stage we can only hope to see something like this rather than be certain he is going to change - he has had ample opportunity to do so with Brentford, he developed a very good squad there yet still played the same way and other smaller established PL clubs showed you can play more expansive football and be fine. But like you say it's still early, and he's done well to date....
 
Mosquito_Coasting said:
Think Frank deserves a lot of credit for rotating the squad and having the bravery to trust the kids. Udogie looks like an immaculate FB again.
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Agree about the rotation. Third in the league and undefeated in the two CL games, you can't complain with the results.

I don't agree Udogie has looked immaculate, he's still showing inconsistencies and making mistakes. His latest one being letting his man go for him to slot in the equaliser. However he's looking like he's getting back to his best going forward, hopefully the rest of his games comes together as the season goes along....
 
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