There is clearly no love lost among Tottenham Hotspur supporters for manager Thomas Frank, and as time has gone on, the criticisms of the Danish manager have become even more pronounced. While Frank was a decent guy and did have a bit of success at Brentford, not only is it telling that Brentford were better off without him, but it is even more telling that Tottenham were the worst they had ever been in their history under Frank.
As Frank's tenure lengthened, Spurs results got worse. The way he had set his team up was beyond cowardly, and it was almost as if he was content wtih losing. Roberto De Zerbi has changed a lot about how Tottenham are playing and the culture of the club, and Spurs are finally believing and winning. Their 2-1 victory over Aston Villa to pull them out of the bottom three above rivals West Ham United really drove home how much the Italian coach has already improved the Lilywhites.
But the quickest and most decisive change that De Zerbi has made to show that he's already understood how to coach Tottenham Hotspur much better than Thomas Frank ever did is entire psychological.
Roberto De Zerbi is a major upgrade
Watching a Roberto De Zerbi press conference and comparing it back to the drivel Frank was spitting out at reporters is completely night and day. Frank offered no motivation for his players. He would just sit up there, hype up nobody, make excuses, imply that his squad stinks, and then inexplicably state that Tottenham fans should expect the team to lose matches.
De Zerbi is completely different. He invoked the old "there's no crying in baseball" quote and unlike the others, doesn't sit there making excuses about injuries or anything else. Everything to De Zerbi is about results and is about winning and losing. Nothing else matters to the new manager, and nothing should. Football is a results oriented business, and De Zerbi is all about extracting maximum results for his squad.
He is getting the experienced players like Conor Gallagher and Rodrigo Bentancur to produce their best football under his tutelage, whereas pretty much everyone in the squad looked like a shell of themselves under Frank. And that comes down to leadership, motivation, psychology, and actually coaching the team.
Big clubs like Tottenham need charismatic leaders. Frank didn't have that and didn't understand how to be a leader for this club. De Zerbi does. That makes a bigger difference than even the tactics.
Add us as a preferred source on Google