While it was just a pre-season clash far off in Hong Kong, given what the Lilywhites did against Arsenal in the North London derby, it had a lot of weight, as it showed how ready the Tottenham side is to go into the new campaign. And the readiness is not in the result when that final whistle goes (1-0), but it is rather in the things that you see in how the North Londoners are evolving into Thomas Frank’s mould.
And that is exactly what we spotted in the given; there were a lot of tactical tweaks in how they are adapting to the new structural football under the Dane head coach.
And here are five key takeaways from the North London derby in Hong Kong that we spotted, which showed that Tottenham are now a different beast brewing under Thomas Frank‘s tutelage.
5 things we learned from Tottenham vs Arsenal in HK
Tottenham finally has a set-piece threat?
We saw just in the last season how every time the ball went to corners, it was more of a pessimistic atmosphere from the supporters at N17, given how poor the North Londoners were from such situations.
But we saw against Arsenal that Thomas Frank has done quite a brilliant job at tweaking the strategy from set pieces. We saw Tottenham nearly score thrice from corners alone, and none of that seems accidental to us.
Suddenly when the player is taking a stride to push a cross from the corners, you see runners peeling, and there were blocks set for the goalkeeper with deliveries hitting the danger zones. Now this shows that the Lilywhites have a structure and an intent, but then there should also be a lot of credit going to the backroom staff under Frank because, let’s be honest, we saw none of this sharpness under Ange Postecoglou last season.
This is clearly coached. And it might just be one of the fastest things that Tottenham are improving on under Thomas Frank.
Wilson Odobert on the left
While he has not had a lot of opportunities to play in the last season given his injuries, he looked right at home on that left channel.
He didn’t get a lot of the ball, but when he did we saw glimpses of tight control as he tried to go into dribbles, but then we also saw him showing some sense of maturity given that he was understanding the difference between when to link with players around him and when to isolate against his marker (Ben White).
While he didn’t have anything to show for it, it did show that many are not considering the quality that Odobert may bring to the table at Tottenham.
Kudus is more than just flair; he is fire
We saw Kudus pull strings going forward, and we thought it warranted a whole article given how he caused the Gunners a lot of problems drifting inside.
But what many Tottenham fans would possibly be ignoring is the Ajax academy graduate’s work when it comes to off-the-ball situations.
And that might have been even more telling given how he was pressing with venom, and then he was tracking the runners in his channel deep into the defence, which bought a sense of structure, especially when facing attacks.
Let’s be honest, Tottenham has not had attackers who have had that grit for a while, and having Kudus can be a game changer.
High line no more
Last season under Ange Postecoglou we saw the North Londoners live and die by the sword, given how they squeezed high and ended up leaving oceans of space behind, and more often than not they went on to pay the price for this.
But in Hong Kong today, we saw a Tottenham that was sitting much deeper into their half. Emphasis on that much given how they were really compact and narrow, which blocked a lot of space for Arsenal to attack.
And let’s face it, this was not as flashy as Ange’s high line, but this is far more effective and organised.
There are not any first-phase nerves in the side as well
I believe that one of the most underrated things about this performance that many supporters will not talk about is the first-phase buildup.
Tottenham were lining up against an intense pressing side like Arsenal, but surprisingly a lot of the players looked really calm, and there were not many wild hoofs or those blind save-me diagonals. There were more patient movements where Vicario and the centre back were trusting each other.
And this speaks volumes about the work that Thomas Frank has done in no time at N17.