Spurs need new signings before the window closes but it has been so refreshing for a manager to improve a team through coaching

Perhaps the paradox of Frank’s Tottenham is that he seems to be making a team out of keeping with the club’s identity – more solid, more streetwise – to take them back to where they used to be. If Spurs go from 17th to fourth, they could show the new unpredictability of the Premier League. And yet they could be restoring predictability.

Thomas Frank clearly wants a playmaker for Tottenham, but his team’s forward press is another great way of making