Micky van de Ven has revealed what he liked and disliked about Ange Postecoglou’s playing style at Tottenham Hotspur, while drawing comparisons between the Aussie and Thomas Frank.
Tottenham Hotspur have played very differently over the years depending on who is in charge of the club.
There is often talk about the ‘Tottenham DNA’, which involves being brave and taking the game to the opponent. Ange Postecoglou certainly embraced this philosophy, orchestrating some of the most attacking football the club have ever witnessed.
Thomas Frank on the other hand has taken a more cautious approach, setting up his team in a way not too dissimilar to the likes of Jose Mourinho and Nuno Santo when they were at the club.
Micky van de Ven outlines the differences between Thomas Frank and Ange Postecoglou
According to Micky van de Ven, Tottenham’s pre-match planning is very technical under Frank and the Dane has made his team more secure in defence.
Although the Netherlands international enjoys an attacking style of play, he is happy that Spurs are not as vulnerable at the back as they were under Postecoglou.
Van de Ven told The Overlap: “The new gaffer [Thomas Frank] came in and has his new way of playing and thoughts about the game. When he came in pre-season, it was [him teaching us] everything about his system, because we’re going to need to play a totally different system compared to Ange.
“Now, it’s a lot of walk-throughs and technical stuff. Before every game, we do some tactical work about the opponent- the meetings and everything is the same as it was under Ange in terms of scouting the opponent.
“It’s different of course, the way Ange thinks about football and how Frank thinks about football. The meetings are the same but it’s a lot of walk-throughs we do with Thomas Frank. You play so many games, so we just go out and walk through everything. It’s Italian-style.”
He added: “I liked the offensive football, but I also like what we have now with Thomas Frank, now that we are more secure in the back and not getting exposed in some situations.
“I really liked the offensive football, but I don’t like to be exposed every game on the counter attack.”
Tottenham have improved in defence under Frank
Some Spurs supporters have been left unimpressed by the club’s displays under Frank and this is not just because of a lack of attacking threat.
Tottenham have been poor in defence during some matches, leading to questions over whether the team are being set up to be overly negative.
However, Spurs have conceded an average of 1.31 goals per game in the Premier League this season, which is a better record than both of Postecoglou’s campaigns in charge.
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