Cliff Notes – ‘Who’s Eze?’ Tottenham’s Frank laughs off Arsenal derby questions
- Thomas Frank dismissed questions about Eberechi Eze, who joined Arsenal after Tottenham’s interest, emphasising his focus on current squad members.
- Ahead of the north London derby, Frank described the match as a “madhouse” and highlighted the importance of set-pieces, noting both teams’ recent successes in this area.
‘Who’s Eze?’ Tottenham’s Frank laughs off Arsenal derby questions
Thomas Frank has brushed off the topic of one-time summer target Eberechi Eze ahead of Tottenham’s trip to rivals Arsenal.
Spurs were set to secure a major statement signing in August when they made a move for England playmaker Eze, but the transfer was hijacked at the last minute by north London rivals Arsenal.
Tottenham instead switched focus to Xavi Simons and although Eze has only two goals and three assists in 17 appearances for Arsenal, all eyes will be on the ex-Crystal Palace talisman before Sunday’s clash at the Emirates Stadium.
Frank joked: “Who’s Eze? Very good player. He plays for Arsenal. A team we want to beat on Sunday.”
Pressed further on Eze, Frank reverted to his stock answer on transfer targets, but insisted he is happy with his squad.
“I really like to speak about players who are here. The only other two I will speak about are [Lionel] Messi and [Cristiano] Ronaldo,” Frank smiled.
Frank has, meanwhile, warned his players to prepare for a “madhouse” derby and plans to get the better of the “two traitors” in the opposition squad.
Eberechi Eze joined Arsenal after initially looking set for Tottenham earlier this summer . HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images
Spurs visit their archrivals on Sunday in search of only a second Premier League win the Emirates since it opened 19 years ago.
Tottenham boast a poor recent record in the north London derby, but nevertheless it often provides drama and excitement in equal measure.
Frank claimed a point at Arsenal last season with Brentford and his first ever Premier League fixture in 2021 ended with a memorable 2-0 triumph, but two members of his starting line-up that night have since been signed by Mikel Arteta in David Raya and Christian Nørgaard.
Reminded of that and the frenetic nature of this fixture, Frank smiled and joked: “Two of them are now traitors and moved to the wrong club!
“The interesting thing is that probably both Mikel and I would like a little bit more control, but it will probably be a madhouse and very, very enjoyable to watch for the outside people or fans.
“I expect a difficult game of course, but a game that can go anywhere and anything can happen in games like that. Everything also evens out a little bit more because it’s so competitive and the atmosphere in the stadium.
“Definitely embrace controlled chaos or chaos we like to create if that makes sense, because chaos can also be good. It can be too disruptive, or too fixed and too stop-start, so we need a bit of chaos.
“And chaos can be transitions, high-pressure and set-piece second phases and all them areas are of course areas we would like to exploit if we can.
“We will never go for a 0-0. It maybe will end 0-0 but we will always try to win. Always, always, always.”
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Set-pieces are expected to be decisive with Arsenal way out in front with 12 goals from corners and free-kicks in the division this season.
Tottenham have also been productive with five in the Premier League after Frank hired Andreas Georgson as set-piece coach this summer.
Georgson worked with Frank at Brentford and Arsenal’s set-piece guru Nicolas Jover also started out under the Danish coach in west London.
“Both of them are very curious, both want to learn and develop constantly by studying the game of set-pieces so in that way they are quite the same mindset in many ways,” Frank reflected.
“So, in that they are quite similar. One is Swedish, the other French so a little bit different temper!
“Mikel and I with our coaching staffs will have a battle — how can we get the upper hand? And it will be the same with Nicolas and Andreas.
“I’m pretty sure the bits I’ve done at Brentford have inspired a lot of clubs to focus more on set-pieces and it is quite interesting that this year I go from Brentford to Tottenham, the spike in focus on set-pieces for all the teams, especially the long throws, is crazy.
“It seems like everyone are very, very focused on them, which we should be. They’re a third of our goals. So why not be very good in that phase, and very good in high pressure. We need to be good in many phases.”
