Thomas Frank has attempted to bring change to Tottenham Hotspur and he looks to have succeeded in one area.
Thomas Frank has already been working to make Tottenham Hotspur a more competitive force in the Premier League. He is doing a good job so far, with Spurs currently sitting in third ahead of this weekend’s action.
One of the ways Frank has sought to improve his team is through set pieces, an area which was highlighted as a concern when Ange Postecoglou was in charge.
Frank specifically spoke about using long throw-ins as a weapon shortly after he arrived in North London. Spurs even held long throw-in auditions to help Frank identify which of his players are able to implement the tactic.
Jamie Carragher makes Thomas Frank observation at Tottenham
Tottenham appointed Andreas Gergson as the club’s new set piece coach in the summer and they have looked more dangerous from these opportunies as a result.
Spurs have scored two Premier League goals from set pieces this season, a figure which would have been higher had Cristian Romero’s goal against West Ham not been bizarrely disallowed.
As well as corners, the long throw is clearly important to Frank and Jamie Carragher has revealed something he noticed when the Dane arrived at Hotspur Way.
He told the Stick to Football podcast: “You know, Thomas Frank, when he came in at Spurs this summer. So, he must have done something on TV, and there was a board behind him with information about the day, and one of the items was ‘throw-in auditions’.
“So all the players used to be, so he’s coming new to the club, there was like a note so people would see who has the long throw, basically, yeah, that’s what it was.”
Tottenham have improved across all set pieces
The long throw-in is just one area Spurs have looked to strengthen at set pieces. One of the biggest criticisms under Postecoglou was actually how poor the team were at defending corners.
Tottenham look more stable at dealing with set pieces so far this season and Frank and his set piece coach will keep looking at what they can do help Spurs make the most of any dead ball opoortunities.
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