One interesting thing I've seen discussed: what Frank has done is take how our defence is comfortable building from the back as they've been doing that for a couple of years under Ange, but by placing a far more solid midfield structure in front of it that means our defence has both the protection if they want to continue pushing forwards but also the protection for when they want to reset as the buildup is entering the next phase
Our record in the league v City since we moved to the new stadium is the stuff of fairytales: 2-0 2-0 0-3 1-0 3-2 2-4 1-0 3-3 0-2 4-0 2-0 P11 W7 D1 L3 F20 A15 It's the 6 clean sheets that also boggles the mind.
I don't want to get swept up the the customary Spurs new manager hype or go for a ride on the usual emotional rollercoaster with a new manager, but Mozart's achievement pales next to the Spurs team Frank rolled out against City. While it's good to keep in mind the statistical anomaly of how many Spurs managers have had an initial run of success, there are reasons to think Frank may be different. He's shown an ability to play on the counter and on the attack. The three games so far Spurs have looked both to have better tactics and to be playing them more skillfully and in a more practiced way. Every game has followed the same pattern it seems Frank designed. Knock the other team onto its heels, create the better chances, grab the lead, shut the game down. It failed against PSG only because the quality of subs wasn't high enough. The squad somehow looks to stack up reasonably well in terms of skill and athleticism with the best squads in the world. It's also young, and so has a better chance of improving as the year goes on. Seems to me they most need another goal scorer and a Bissouma like player since relying on two sixes who are 28 ? and 30 should mean getting a third. I picked Spurs to finish second in the PL to City Wednesday, incidentally.
Spurs vs Pep era Citeh in the PL speaks nothing to me other than dogma and hubris on the part of the latter. Specifically, that he on a whim playing his "way" can beat a Spurs team that comes to play with Citeh as the specific opponent. The only times this has not been the case was peak Pochettino (where the team backed themselves to beat anyone) . If these games were the CL final would he be such a moron and not himself play to how he thinks Spurs will.
As has been pointed out by Opta, during Fraudiola's time in the PL he's only been down by two or more goals at half time six times And three of those were against us
