RHS reliance ➡️ Iraola's side based their entire press around forcing Spurs to play football through the left. Iraola clearly knew how limited they were there, compared to the right, so all of their players made sure to shape Spurs down their weak side.h Every single Spurs goal

But what of their right side? Okay, there is stuff to like 😆 Frank's tactics are based around building up through a deep back four, with Porro given enough space to get his head up and play channel balls. Porro excels at playing this pass, so it's a good idea to create

But can you spot the issue Kudus finds in the above sequence? 🤔 Bar Spence, nobody is close to him to receive the ball. His options are either: ▪️Play Spence, who will probably get blocked off by Truffert ▪️Force a cross in, and hope it doesn't get blocked ▪️ Take his

You can find examples of this in every game. Loading the last line, getting ready to meet a cross.

Now, who's to say this is bad, right? 🤷‍♂️ There's no 'correct' way to breaking down a low block. In fact, you could even call it the Arsenal-fication of Spurs, looking to hammer crosses in, as you only need one to pay off. That Arsenal comparision can extend further too imo, as

Were you annoyed that Tottenham didn't sign a progressive passer to play at No 6? If you said yes, and answered, Alex we need one we have nobody in the squad who can play this role, I say fair enough. But take a look at these screenshots and ask me: who would your theoretical

Now granted, this shape didn't form so much in the Burnley game. It mainly came to the fore against Bournemouth. But, I think that was also down to Burnley having to press Spurs after going 1-0 down, which opened up space in midfield for Romero to ping passes into Richarlison's

Now anyway, the reason Spurs are playing like this is because, I think, Frank wants his forward players to all be ready to either run in behind onto through balls, or pack the box for crosses. And once again, this isn't meant to be a complaint that you have to build through the

High press 🗜️ Oof, this will be controversial. There's been huge praise about how Spurs have defended under Frank, the organisation he's added to a side that flailed under Postecoglou. I'm not going to strip away too much from that. But I do want to temper the hype, and we can

Where I have complaints though, are the seemingly confused moments between Spurs' backline and their midfield. Okay, to put it simply once more, Thomas Frank clearly values keeping his back line intact 🧲 So, Porro, Romero, Van de Ven and Spence have all tended to stay in their

And here's a sequence against Bournemouth, where Kudus is tracking Truffert and Porro on Semenyo. But, when Semenyo moves inside, Porro is reluctant to follow him - because he wants to stay at home at RB. Yet, nobody else is available to pick Semenyo up, so he simply receives

These were just two examples, but there were more in both City and Bournemouth games. It's not that Spurs are bad, it's that they seem confused at times in how they want to defend. So, while their high press has led to one goal already, against City, I don't think it's all good

To recap my thoughts then ▪️Spurs have struggled to build down their left ▪️They've barely attempted to go through the middle ▪️Their moves down the right are quite reliant on Porro nailing his passes and Kudus doing hero ball ▪️Their methods of chance creation come from their

@AlexanderBrkr I also think if there was a progressive number 6. Other players around him would be intelligent enough to make angles for passes whilst keeping to Franks structure