Tottenham Hotspur have received a lot of praise in the first few weeks of the season for their effective and inventive set-piece routines.
All of their goals in last weekend’s 3-0 victory over West Ham United came from corners or free kicks, and they caused Paris Saint-Germain a lot of problems in the UEFA Super Cup with a bombardment of long throw-ins. Former head coach Ange Postecoglou compared corners to a rugby scrum, but his replacement, Thomas Frank, values set pieces highly.
Tuesday night’s 1-0 victory over Villarreal in their opening Champions League game reminded everybody that Spurs are still a work in progress under their new boss. It was great to win on their return to the competition for the first time since the 2022-23 campaign, but they looked blunt in attack and struggled to create any chances from open play. The concern is that they might become over-reliant on set pieces as a source of goals.
The gap between defence and midfield felt huge at times against Villarreal. In the 14th minute, Cristian Romero was in possession and frantically signalling with his hand for Pape Matar Sarr to drop into a pocket of space in the centre circle to offer him a passing option. Xavi Simons and Djed Spence showed flashes of a promising relationship down the left wing, but they both struggled to connect with Richarlison, who was an isolated figure for the majority of the game.
The solution on a lot of occasions was to fizz the ball out wide towards Mohammed Kudus and hope he could weave past multiple defenders. By attracting so much attention, he did create space for Lucas Bergvall to overlap, and this exact move led to Luiz Junior’s bizarre own goal.
Luiz Junior scores his bizarre own goal (Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)
In the second half, Romero gave the ball away twice in quick succession while trying to play ambitious passes into midfield. There was no easy option, so he attempted something complicated, which nearly led to former Arsenal forward Nicolas Pepe scoring with a curling left-footed effort.
Spurs need a lot more variety in their attacking patterns, but there is no need to panic just yet. Frank has been in charge for less than 100 days. Patience is required for the squad to adapt to his methods. The 51-year-old’s main focus throughout pre-season was on tightening up their overall structure.
When Brentford were promoted to the Premier League under Frank for the 2021-22 season, he believed their best chance of avoiding relegation was by improving their defence. Brentford signed centre-back Kristoffer Ajer from Celtic for a then club-record fee of £13.5million ($18.4m), and Frank Onyeka arrived from Midtjylland to add more physicality in midfield. They kept three clean sheets in their first five games and only conceded twice using a 3-5-2 system. Opponents found it difficult to break Brentford down until first-choice goalkeeper David Raya suffered a knee injury in October, which ruled him out for three months.
During their second season, Frank started to “add layers”. Full-back Aaron Hickey arrived from Bologna, and he was far more comfortable receiving the ball under pressure than Sergi Canos or Mads Roerslev. Ben Mee showed remarkable composure in possession and forged a reliable defensive partnership with Ethan Pinnock. Brentford finished ninth, one point behind Spurs, and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Europa Conference League.
By Frank’s final season in charge, he had permanently switched to a 4-3-3 formation. Mikkel Damsgaard carved opponents up and created multiple chances for Kevin Schade, Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo, who all reached double figures for league goals.
Frank is following the exact same pattern in north London. No one is suggesting it will take years for Spurs to become more expansive going forward, but clearly it is an intricate process that cannot be rushed.
Compared to last summer when Dominic Solanke was the only marquee signing, Spurs bought three players in the transfer window who have been immediately dropped into the starting XI, in Kudus, Simons and Joao Palhinha. Randal Kolo Muani, who is on a season-long loan from PSG, will fight desperately to become the first-choice striker.
The existing squad members are adapting to new ideas under Frank and his backroom staff. New signings are adjusting to a different environment. New connections are being forged across the pitch.
For example, Brennan Johnson spent the bulk of last season playing on the right wing but has switched to the left. Johnson was used to Pedro Porro overlapping him, or dropping off into space and then whipping crosses into the box. Spence, who has started all of Tottenham’s games at left-back this season, likes to cut inside onto his stronger right foot. It might sound like a small difference, but it impacts the team’s balance.
Simons has played on the left in his first two appearances. Moving the 22-year-old centrally, where he has featured for the Netherlands and at his former side, RB Leipzig, might be the spark the team needs.
Solanke’s persistent ankle injury means someone who was expected to feature prominently under Frank has only made three substitute appearances. Solanke is better at dropping deep to link up play than Richarlison and will offer a different dimension to this side when he is fully fit.
Frank speaking to his players after the match (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
“I know we only scored an own goal today, but we will score goals, I’m not in doubt of that,” Frank said. “I think the big thing was that we needed to defend better. So we worked very, very hard on structure, key principles, and recovery runs. Doing the tough job, that gives you a top opportunity to win games, and we’ve proven that so far.”
The beginning of Postecoglou’s reign might have offered more entertainment, but Spurs were more open. The Australian’s first game in charge was a 2-2 draw against Brentford. Spurs beat Manchester United and Bournemouth by two goals apiece. They came from behind to beat Burnley 5-2 at Turf Moor and then overcame Sheffield United 2-1. Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison both scored in stoppage time to secure a dramatic victory against the latter.
The only goal Spurs have conceded in the league this season was Evanilson’s deflected effort for Bournemouth. It might have felt like Pepe threatened to score a few times on Tuesday, but Villarreal’s expected goals figure (0.5), which measures the quality of chances a team creates, was lower than Tottenham’s (0.6).
“We are building the offensive structure more and more,” Frank added. “Xavi Simons has just come into the club. It’s fair to say he and Djed need a little relationship, of course, to get going.
“No complaints, it’s just natural. I think there was a spell in the second half when we decided to give the ball away every single time we had it. ‘We gave the ball away, let’s bring it back. Oh, give it away, let’s bring it back’. It’s a little bit easier to sit here with a smile, but of course, that level, we will raise.”
(Top photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
