Inside Thomas Frank’s plan for Tottenham squad that players are expected to love
Thomas Frank will do things his own unique way at Tottenham
tottenham’s squad should brace themselves for a unique pre-season with Thomas Frank, who is known to buck traditional gruelling regimes. Ex-Brondby player Martin Albrechtsen, once of West Brom, sang the praises of Frank’s pre-season regime, contrasting it with his demanding experiences in the Premier League.
Under Frank’s system previously seen at Brentford, players need to zoom through 1km on the pitch in approximately three minutes and 15 seconds; a task which seems almost leisurely compared with Conte’s notorious ‘death runs’ in Seoul three years prior, wherein Spurs stars were pushed to the limits with 42 sprints following a two-hour workout in sweltering heat.
Harry Kane, then Spurs captain, famously fought off jet lag enough to throw up mid-drill, while Son Heung-min visibly faltered under the exhaustive trial.
Albrechtsen elaborated on how this year’s training would differ, telling the Mirror: “I’ve had a taste of both worlds, the totally crazy pre-season regimes and also managers that think differently.
With Thomas, his coaches and physios organise the sessions but he’s mindful of the bigger picture, it’s not just about running 20km, there was a clear plan and he knew how to schedule things.
“He thought about recovery and that if we’re training tomorrow, we don’t want injuries.
“His mindset was not about short-term gain and smashing people to their absolute limit, it was more about improving our conditioning and sharpness.”
Former West Brom defender Albrechtsen, who hung up his boots last summer, still has vivid memories of his pre-season training during his 2004–2008 stint at The Hawthorns which continue to haunt him.
Now 45, he reflected: “Life under Gary Megson was a bit special. We had this coach that would make us run in this park in Sutton Coldfield, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my career.\
“I lost around 5kg, I wasn’t very big back then anyway so it was a real culture shock.
“I don’t know any player that would enjoy running in a forest for two hours non-stop, they thought we were in good shape but we weren’t ready to play football because our bodies were so fatigued.
“Thomas likes to involve the ball a lot, there were still interval runs but you were getting a feel for the ball which goes a long way.”
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has praised Frank for his prowess in nurturing young talent.
However, Frank will now have to manage high-profile players at Tottenham and Albrechtsen remembers him being rather “soft” during their time together at Brondby.
He added: “I think he was maybe just a bit too soft.
