Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank has been the opposite to Ange Postecoglou in many ways. His focus has been on bringing more stability to the squad, especially defensively, and his calm demeanor runs in stark contrast to the hot-blooded and often animated Big Ange, who was never afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve in the press conference room.
Frank has brought many positives to the side that have made Tottenham more consistent and more grounded defensively, but the Danish manager has also run into the opposite issue of making this team a lot more boring and lethargic offensively.
As much as Frank is a polar opposite to Postecoglou, though, he's also making some of the same mistakes with how cavernous and, often, useless the midfield has been over the past couple of weeks in the attacking phases.
His unwillingness to start Archie Gray over Rodrigo Bentancur - among other young players superior to Benta - has been another source of frustration, and the criticisms of Frank for his usage of Gray may just boil over after he was played as a left back in the awful 0-0 draw with Monaco.
Thomas Frank's explanation is terrible
Frank tried to offer this justification of using Gray at left back, "I think he solves it very well, as he's done a lot of times last year, left-back, right-back and centre-back. I think he can play all three positions. I think his best position is still midfielder. But I think he can play all three. I like his character and effort in the left-back today. He just carried on when he came into the midfield and did well there as well. Final one on the back, please."
If this utter load of waffle from Frank is reminiscent of anything with Gray specifically, then it is Postecoglou also hampering the young man's development and the very success of his own team by playing Gray as a center back. Perhaps Gray as a left back isn't quite as awful as a center back, but it's pretty much - there it is again - the opposite side of the same coin of incompetence.
Gray is a deep-lying playmaker who resists the press, breaks lines with athletic dribbling, and makes progressive and often risky passes with high reward to get the attack going. He has massive upside as potential the next great English midfielder, hence why Tottenham paid a pretty penny to pinch. him from Leeds.
What Frank is doing with Gray defies logic, and by siphoning his minutes out of position, Frank is doing the same thing Postecoglou did. He is hurting Gray's development, messing with the team's structure, and wasting everybody's time in doing so.