What the $%*!@ is Going on With Managers this Season?
By David Best
This season of football has been a strange one for several reasons, not just in the prem but all over Europe. In the Premier League so far, we have seen Amorim, Frank, Nuno, Pereira, Dyche, Postecoglu, Maresca and Potter all get sacked or leave by ‘mutual consent.’ What is going on? Frank took over from Postecoglu at Spurs and had a miserable time of it, leaving the club arguably fighting relegation in 16th place with just 29 points from 26 games. Postecoglu found himself at the City Ground with Forrest after Nuno was sacked and set a new record for the shortest stint as a full-time permanent head coach ever in the premier league by lasting just 36 days. Here I am going to lay out exactly what has gone wrong for Thomas Frank in particular, and why he was relieved of his duties as Tottenham Hotspurs’ head coach.
Frank, as previously stated, took over from Big Ange Postecoglu at Spurs in the summer of 2025. Frank had been massively successful at his earlier post with Brentford, bringing them from a midtable championship side to a midtable/European challenging side in the premier league within just a few seasons. He was widely viewed within the footballing world as being a top tier manager who was not only tactically proficient, using various setups at Brentford, but also having an excellent eye for player recruitment bringing several players to Brentford who became stars. Notably these players include the likes of Bryan Mbeumo, Yoane Wissa, David Raya, Ivan Toney, Kevin Schade, Igor Thiago – truly the list could go on and on.
So, what went wrong for the Danish manager at Spurs? Are the results a true indication of their performances?
Well, the data would suggest, absolutely. If we break down their defence this season, they have sat back in a 4-4-2 mid-block mostly as their defensive shape. This seems like a sensible structure. Simple, back to basics, a system that any professional baller should know like the back of their hands. Frank has always been known for his high-pressing, ordering his men to relentlessly counter-press when having lost the ball and trigger the press much more often than most others would when sitting in a defensive shape. However, if we look at the data, they have performed well below average defensively – despite the relatively safe strategy employed. They are 11th in goals conceded per game in the league[1], 13th for xG conceded[2], 17th for interceptions per game[3] and have an overall team rating of 6.81 for the season according to Fotmob[4], which puts them 13th in the league. What this data means is that they are ridiculously easy to play through. Specifically, the stat on their horrendous interceptions this season is truly damning. This is a team whose entire defensive identity under Frank has been high pressing, preventing teams from building from the back, and trying to intercept passes between the lines. These are seriously poor numbers.
Looking at their attacking numbers, the situation does not become much brighter for Tottenham. The team’s top goalscorer this season is Richarlison with a measly 7 league goals, top assister is Mohammed Kudus with 5 league assists and overall, the team sit 10th in the table for goals per match with just 1.40 having scored just 36 all season. Both players are currently out injured, making life even harder for the Dane at Spurs. Now, the good part about this is that it’s a far simpler explanation. They haven’t scored because they haven’t been generating chances and they haven’t been generating chances because they have been missing their most creative players all season. James Maddison was by far their best player last season, he had the highest overall rating in the team with an average 7.29 out of 10 throughout the season, and he was both their second highest goal scorer (9) and their second highest assister (7). However, before the 2025/26 season got underway, he suffered a critical ACL tear and is missing this entire season of football. Furthermore, Dejan Kulusevski was another key threat who is yet to see the pitch at all this season due to sustained injury. Last Season Kulusevski was 3rd highest goalscorer (7) and 4th highest assister (4). What is not reflected in these two statistics are the key passes these individuals can play. Maddison especially has become renowned for his line breaking through balls or over-the-top balls.
At the start of the season, many top football commentators and pundits were applauding Spurs for signing Frank as head coach. This was seen as an excellent appointment and sure for success. But in reality, it could not have gone much worse. In fairness to the Dane, it is not entirely his fault, the list of injuries he has faced has meant that he has never once been able to field a team that you could reasonably say were Spurs’ ‘best 11’. However, the constant losses, painful draws and woeful performances got so bad that he could no longer be tolerated as head coach. To the point where towards the end of his time at Spurs, fans were even booing him and the players after matches, several times chants calling for Frank to be sacked could be heard. And incidents like the infamous Arsenal Cup debacle where the manager showed up to a match drinking from an Arsenal branded cup only served to deepen the resentment the fanbase felt towards him. Ultimately, his downward spiral at Spurs was mostly just a string of extremely bad luck. He is a top coach, expert tactician and will only go on to succeed elsewhere. Had he been able to play with Tottenham’s best players and stay long enough to create a system that suited them, I don’t believe any football fan would deny he would have been a success.
References
[1] https://www.fotmob.com/leagues/47/stats/season/27110/teams/goals_conceded_team_match/team/8586/tottenham-hotspur-teams –
[2] https://www.fotmob.com/leagues/47/stats/season/27110/teams/expected_goals_conceded_team/team/8586/tottenham-hotspur-teams
[3] https://www.fotmob.com/leagues/47/stats/season/27110/teams/goals_team_match/team/8586/tottenham-hotspur-teams
[4] https://www.fotmob.com/leagues/47/stats/season/27110/teams/rating_team/team/8586/tottenham-hotspur-teams
