Thomas Frank explains why he does not want his Tottenham players shooting from distance

Thomas Frank has revealed an interesting attacking principle that he reiterates to the Tottenham players in training.

On paper, it is difficult to argue that Frank has not had a good start to his Spurs career.

He took over a team that finished 17th last season, and despite Tottenham’s injury crisis this campaign, Spurs sit fifth in the Premier League table after 11 matches.

Additionally, the Lilywhites are also unbeaten in the Champions League and are on course to qualify for the knockout stages, but questions continue to be raised about Frank’s pragmatic style of play.

Long-distance goals are not encouraged

In an interview with Sky Sports, Thomas Frank has now revealed one of his attacking principles, which once again proves that he is a pragmatist and a man who prefers to play the percentages.

The Tottenham head coach explained that he is against his players taking speculative shots from distance, pointing out that the chances of them finding the back of the net from such efforts are low.

Frank revealed that he always prefers his attackers to play an extra pass or two to get into a more advantageous position, admitting that it is something he works a lot on in training.

Frank’s principle shows why Spurs struggle in terms of xG

While Tottenham are in and around the Champions League spot in the Premier League table, Spurs sit in 15th place when it comes to expected points this season.

While there are several reasons for that, one of them is the fact that the Lilywhites do not take as many shots as other teams do, preferring to work it into better areas and cross the ball.

Expected goals are only calculated based on the shots taken, which is why one would expect Spurs to continue to overperform their xG this season.

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