Tottenham: Thomas Frank turns to ex-Arsenal and Man Utd coach to fix biggest problem | OneFootball

New boss aiming to swiftly rectify a major issue that blighted Spurs’ final season under Ange Postecoglou

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Of all the sales pitches he has done, convincing the Tottenham players to buy into his methods should be one of Georgson’s easiest.

Defending set-pieces was a real issue for Spurs under their former boss Ange Postecoglou. In the Premier League last season, they conceded 13 goals from them and only three teams had a worse record.

Postecoglou insisted that his side practiced set-pieces, but Tottenham did not have a dedicated coach for that area.

Frank’s outlook on the importance of set-pieces is in stark contrast to Postecoglou

“There are far more important things that we need to concentrate on at the moment in terms of the team we are building,” Postecoglou said in May of last year.

Such an outlook is in stark contrast to new Spurs boss Thomas Frank’s approach. The Dane is a big believer in set-pieces, both from an attacking and defensive point of view.

Last season, Brentford conceded just two goals from set-pieces - the fewest of any Premier League side. Across the past four Premier League campaigns, only Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City have scored more goals from set-pieces than the Bees.

“Set-piece goals are important,” Frank previously said. “It’s a strength we’ve had for many years and we work hard on them.”

Brentford have been at the forefront of the set-piece specialism and first employed a dedicated coach back in 2015/16, before Frank was their manager.

Gianni Vio, who later went on to win Euro 2020 with Italy and work for Spurs, was the man that the Bees hired and since then their impressive alumni has only grown.

Chelsea’s set-piece coach Bernardo Cueva and Nicolas Jover of Arsenal both spent time working at Brentford before moving on.

Georgson also came through Brentford’s ranks. He first visited the club when studying for his UEFA Pro License and was impressed by the work of Jover.

When Jover left to join Manchester City in 2019, the Bees brought in Georgson. He was given the role of head of set-pieces and individual development, but his talent for the former quickly became clear.

When Georgson arrived in November 2019, Brentford had scored one set-piece goal in 16 games. They went on to score 16 in the final 34 matches of that season.

Mikel Arteta was made aware of that remarkable record through his goalkeeping coach Inaki Cana, who worked with Georgson at Brentford, and Arsenal hired him in the summer of 2020.

“I just realised this guy (Arteta) does not give anything to chance, he wants to have the most effective processes in every aspect of the game,” said Georgson.

The Swede worked to revamp Arsenal’s set-pieces and had success in the defensive area, which had been a real problem for the Gunners in Arteta’s early days.

Georgson, however, was less effective from an attacking standpoint and will heed those lessons ahead of starting at Spurs.

“I think Arsenal at that point was more of a traditional club in terms of what level of focus set-pieces got,” he said.

“I came from Brentford. They had worked for many years very deep into set-pieces and made it part of their identity.

Georgson spent time at Arsenal and has also worked with Southampton, Brentford, Lillestrom and Malmo

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

“I came in [to Arsenal] with, I think, a too big level of detail in the set-piece process. In the beginning it was impossible for the player to take it all in.”

Tottenham are in a similar situation to Arsenal, with many players not used to the high level of detail regarding set-pieces they are about to get.

Georgson may need to simplify his approach, which is what worked so well when coaching defensive set-pieces at Arsenal.

“On the defensive structure, the level of detail was probably perfect,” he said. “It was not too flexible, it was quite firm, and we did the same things week after week to improve step by step.

“I made sure the principle was as clear as possible. Then the key people in the process - some players in our hybrid defence - I actually fed back with them after every game.”

Georgson spent a year at Arsenal, before moving on to Malmo in Sweden. He has since had stints at Southampton and, most recently, Manchester United.

Now the Swede is back in north London and hoping that, once again, he can work his magic to transform Tottenham’s set-pieces.