Tottenham manager Thomas Frank is anti-chaos but not risk-averse. They take necessary risks but only in the right conditions. The football is super simple. It is similar to Nuno Espirito Santo’s defend-to-counter blueprint at Nottingham Forest.

They should defend against the initial build-up man-to-man with one midfielder surging out from the second line to challenge the ball. Between defending the buildup and the final third, the central midfielders are sort of passive. Then once the ball is played forward centrally, the left center-back has to be ready to charge the receiving player from behind. Then they create chances off of those duels, but the problem so far for Tottenham in preseason is that they have lacked coordination or ideas after winning the challenges.

The right center-back is more passive because they have to cover the space behind the defense as the ball-side lunges one hundred percent into each challenge, but once the ball is worked into their own defensive half, all defenders meet each pass with heavy pressure immediately until the central midfielders can help double up centrally or out wide.

The fullbacks and left center-back are active, the forwards are active in the piston press, and the right center-back and central midfielders are covering. The center of the pitch is passive until or if the ball is worked into the final third. You need that balance initially central to maintain control of the speed of the opposition’s attack. Once the ball is worked into the middle third or final third, then the far side becomes passive and the near side is active, but they maintain that close man-to-man distance for as long as they can.

The two keys to the tackles are distance and speed. Most tackles are at a full sprint to ensure they are within one or two yards of their man. The man with the ball wants to play slow, but the defender is at full boar for each challenge. The man receiving the ball can never relax.

Passes into the fullback’s man, central midfielder’s man, and left center-back’s man are immediately met with a hard challenge. The left center-back challenges balls behind the second line of midfielders. All challenges are at full force; they shouldn’t let out of the challenge until they make full contact with the ball, and the skill will be to not draw a yellow. Cristian Romero and Joao Pahlinha should have trouble not accumulating yellow cards.

They signed Joao Palhinha because he is a monster at winning duels in the midfield. Listen to this stat. Only Moises Caicedo (305) and Idrissa Gueye (303) have made more tackles than Joao Palhinha (300) in the Premier League since the start of the 2022/23 season, and Joao Palhinha didn’t play in 2024/25 because he left Fulham for Bayern Munich. Rodrigo Bentancur is another decorated midfielder, and Archie Gray and Yves Bissouma are young, exciting options off the bench. Either could start ahead of Bentancur, but it seems that Thomas Frank favors Palhinha and Bentancur. I like the experience both of them bring, but Palhinha is older, and Bentancur is injury-prone. If Bissouma can get back into form, he should unseat either Bentancur or Palhinha.

That’s one thing that Thomas Frank will have at Tottenham that he didn’t have at Brentford: more quality in depth in every position.

Once you win the ball, it is direct and quick, with no waiting around. You need runners like Mohammed Kudus, Brennan Johnson, and Wilson Odebert to attack the wings to generate chances for Dominic Solanke. It can be switch-heavy at times to give the man receiving more time and space. It can also become a slow buildup to try to vary the pace of the game, to help slow down the opposition’s attack.

This is of the mold of what Nuno Espirito Santo managed to do at Nottingham Forest last season. Under Steve Cooper, they were a disjointed side. More disjointed than Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham, Steve Cooper had problems in attack and defense, whereas Postecoglou had massive issues in defense. Nuno came in, and he simplified things. The edge they gained was their duels and fast counterattacking play. It has become a cliche to say “every ball needs to be challenged,” but with Nottingham Forest, every ball is challenged. Last season they ranked top of the Premier League in combined defensive actions: tackles and interceptions (1020), blocks (427), and clearances (1220). They had over 132 more clearances than Crystal Palace (1088) and Everton (1088). Classic nonsense defending, heavy into challenges and clearing the ball. Simple counterattacking play.

Every team needs an edge to compete in the Premier League at the top. At least one to outperform the squad they have. Tottenham have similar profiles to try to steal that edge quickly, and Thomas Frank is a flexible and tactically astute manager.

Thomas Frank has inherited a much better defense than he had at Brentford with Cristian Romero, Kevin Danso, and Mickey Van de Ven at the core. Frank may feel obligated to play Destiny Udogie, Djed Spence, or Ben Davies at left-back to save the legs of the center-backs, but the left center-back is the most important player on the pitch because of how active they are jumping out from the back to defend, knowing when to jump or stay back to not constantly put the defense at risk, and they have to win each duel because when they jump, they leave the defense naked behind them.

For that reason, starting with Romero, Danso, and Van de Ven at the back together with Pedro Porro attacking down the right wing is probably their strongest lineup. Kevin Danso is a better tackler and has more positional awareness compared to Mickey Van de Ven. Having fast athletic players like Mickey Van de Ven and Pedro Porro on the wings to challenge every ball wide quickly, Kevin Danso jumping out from left center-back, and Cristian Romero back to cover sounds like the most promising combination.

I’m excited to see how well they start the season. Thomas Frank will first need to lay the defensive foundation quickly and then eventually try new things in attack, like he was doing at Brentford last season. They will concede goals because this is an aggressive way of playing that requires time and practice, but they should be more defensively sound in the long term. Then of course he will be working on set-pieces. I’m less concerned about how well they defend and more concerned about their ability to create chances.