Tottenham Hotspur finally look like a competently run team, and though the bar is set on the ground, Spurs were unable to even clear that for months under Thomas Frank. Although Igor Tudor is no tactical genius and his standoffish attitude can be a bit, well, off putting, the 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid was a clear sign that he is moving Spurs in a better direction than where they were before.
Spurs were actually defending well as a unit, minus a couple of blips, and they were actually capable of driving the ball forward and creating chances against a good team. Similarly, they looked quite good for most of the game against Liverpool, and the biggest difference is that they can actually string passes together and get on goal more than once or twice in a game.
It raises the question of how Frank even got the job in the first place. He must have been an all time fraud to have taken a team that started the season very well when they were still running on Ange Postecoglou's ideals, then turned them into the biggest embarrassment possible. He was the coach of the first 4-1 Arsenal loss, but even the second 4-1 Arsenal loss under Tudor clearly had Frank's thumb prints all over it.
Igor Tudor is already fixing Thomas Frank's mess
That's the thing. Tudor's slow start and the horrible play of Tottenham Hotspur as a team was likely a consequence of Frank bleeding over, and now the Atleti and Liverpool performances are signs of Tudor already fixing those ills after needing that adjustment period. Even the tough losses to Atletico Madrid in the first leg and Crystal Palace were more down to bad luck out of Tudor's control, because outside the Antonin Kinksy slips and the Micky van de Ven red card, Spurs were outplaying those opponents.
The fact that Thomas Frank pushed this team into relegation and could not make use of talents like Archie Gray, Mathys Tel, Lucas Bergvall, and more speaks volumes, and immediately Tudor has turned some of these guys into the studs that they are.
Brentford must get a ton of credit for not only being better this season without Frank, which is a red flag in its own right, but they also deserve a ton of credit for propping up a manager as seemingly incompetent as Frank so that Tottenham hired him to universal praise. Frank is Tottenham's most dreadful manager in memory, and if Spurs can survive the drop this season, the fact that they survived him should excite supporters for what could be to come in 2026/27 under someone much better.