By now, it's quite apparent that Thomas Frank and Ange Postecoglou couldn't be more opposite in their tactical approaches, and Tottenham Hotspur already look like a signiificantly better side to start the 2025/26 Premier League season with the Danish manager in charge.
Frank has Spurs lurking just behind Liverpool as one of the teams with a real outside shot at challenging for the title, and while there have been some hiccups along the way against inferior opponents, Spurs have shown that they can play up to anyone in the world right from the get go when they drew Champions League winners PSG across 90 minutes of action.
Now, this past Saturday, Frank managed to differentiate himself further from his predecessor Postecoglou, whose own start with Nottingham Forest is going far less swimmingly. Frank and Spurs gutted out a tough 2-1 win on the road against Leeds just before the October international break.
While, yes, it is "just" Leeds, the counterpoint is that Leeds have been pretty decent in their Premier League return this season. But the more important point is that this is the exact sort of game Spurs would have lost under Postecoglou, because, it is, in fact, the exact sort of game that Spurs lost under Postecoglou week after week last season en route to being ranked a historically poor 17th in a Premier League with three atrocious Championship bounce-backs behind them.
Thomas Frank doesn't blow games
Frank is able to get Tottenham to obtain results and avoid losing matches. Even though Spurs didn't look particularly great against Leeds and still have some serious question marks in the middle of the park, they only gave up one goal that was the result of a goalkeeping error.
By and large, Spurs stayed in the game and let their stars do the winning while avoiding any calamities that would gift the game to Leeds. Meanwhile, if this were last season, Spurs would have wilted on the road and given up boatloads of chances with a cavernous defense whilst a hobbled Cristian Romero and Mikcy van de Ven did the work of five players at once.
Big Ange couldn't help Tottenham survive these games, whereas Frank is already instilling a winning mentality in the Premier League and a semblance of structure that is able to safeguard the team when the midfield, as it did against Leeds, isn't capable of controlling the game. Spurs are a more consistent and balanced side under Frank, yet, as Mohammed Kudus and Mathys Tel can attest, there is still room for the attackers to shine when called upon. It's starting to come together.