Sometimes in life, the obvious must be stated, so here goes: The closer a player is to the opponents’ goal when they shoot, the more likely they are to score. Yes, it helps to occasionally shoot from outside the box to open up space by keeping the opposing defense from cheating towards their goalkeeper (plus, it looks really cool when those shots go in), but generally speaking, the point-blank headers and the close-range tap-ins are what win games over the course of a long season.
What does this have to do with Spurs? Well, when Thomas Frank coached Brentford last season, the Bees were shooting from closer in than any other team in the Premier League. It was by a fair margin, too. Their average shot was from 14.8 yards away, almost three feet closer than the average shot by Liverpool, who were second closest.
We've seen this Thomas Frank play before
Thus, the post on X from Sky Sports journalist Lyall Thomas this past week saying that Frank is trying to implement something similar at Tottenham, and that fewer shots for a team do not matter if those shots are of higher quality. Thomas was counseling that this would take some time and patience to put in place, but that Frank’s tactics were already paying dividends.
The thing is, Spurs were already doing well in that department. Last season under Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham were shooting from 16.1 yards away, tied with both Aston Villa and Brighton (who both finished far above Spurs in the standings) and just behind Newcastle and Arsenal.
Lyall Thomas posted on Twitter after Spurs’ 2-2 road draw with Newcastle, in which Magpies dominated the possession in the early going and squeezed off 19 shots to Spurs’ eight. His point, answering the frustration of Spurs fans, was that the visiting team scored the same number as Newcastle because of the higher shot quality, as Cristián Romero’s first goal came from a header in the six-yard box.
Yes, they needed a near-miraculous bicycle kick from the Argentinian captain in stoppage time to salvage the draw, but Spurs might even have snatched the win if Lucas Bergvall’s first-half backheel flick from seven yards out had gone in instead of hitting the crossbar.
Spurs’ 2-0 home win over Frank’s old team this past weekend offered further proof of concept. This time Spurs dominated the shot count 15-4, with two shots (including Richarlison’s early goal) coming inside the six-yard box and nine overall from inside the penalty box.
The addition of Randal Kolo Muani has helped in this regard by giving Spurs a more diverse attack and generating more breakaway opportunities, which tend to lead to shots from closer in. Creating more close-range scoring chances like Spurs are doing will help them avoid the lows of last season and perhaps enable them to qualify for Champions League play again.