Once again, Tottenham Hotspur picked up a professional victory, following up a 2-0 win over Thomas Frank's old club Brentford with a 3-0 win against Slavia Praha on Tuesday night in the Champions League. And central to both wins was the young center midfielder Archie Gray.
At the start of the season, Gray was on the periphery of the squad, with Frank favoring more veteran players. And even though Gray turned heads against Doncaster in the League Cup and other games against bigger opponents while Rodrigo Bentancur was quietly dragging, Frank continued to stick with the veteran pairing of Joao Palhinha and Bentancur - dubbed Bentinha - week after week.
That has changed, though, in recent fixtures, as fans have twisted the arm of Thomas Frank to pick an XI that actually reflects his best players. And the young Gray has now become a fixture in the middle of the park, with the results against Brentford and Slavia Praha sealing the fact that the young phenom's place is here to stay.
Archie Gray was the missing piece
All along, though, Frank had to have seen the quality in Gray and the fact that Gray has now unequivocally set himself apart as THE piece that was missing the whole time for Frank to turn this midfield into a cogent unit.
Because back in the summer 2024 transfer window when Tottenham splashed the cash on the English midfielder from Leeds United, Thomas Frank was the one smitten with Gray even more over at Brentford. He and the Bees pushed very hard to sign Gray, but they were simply outgunned by the bigger club in Tottenham Hotspur.
And now, Frank gets to work with Gray. It took him long enough to trust Gray, but it is also possible he was protecting him and figuring out his own identity of the squad at Spurs and how he wanted to play in a new environment before letting Gray loose.
Whatever the case, Gray is the main stabilizer and such a key to how Spurs play now. Most of what is good in midfield comes from him with Gray spraying the passes and keeping the spine intact at the base. He is nearly flawless with his passing even at the age of 19. He is far more progressive and brave than either Palhinha or Bentancur, and he is just as good defensively as either of them, given his superior reading of the game merged with an active ball winning motor.