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Ange Postecoglou has been sacked, and the powers that be at Tottenham are looking to capitalize on his parting gift of Champions League football. Two favourites have emerged to take over the helm, but they couldn’t be more different from each other.
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We’ll take a look at why their odds reflect their allure and whether there’s value in betting on them.
Thomas Frank (1/9): The conduit
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has reportedly been an admirer of the recruitment models at Brentford and Brighton. With that being the case, why not just hire the manager of one of those clubs?
The tricky part with Frank is identifying how much of the Bee’s ability to punch above their financial weight all these seasons had to do with him. Managers tend to get a lot of credit for team success, but it’s often not that simple. Players have always been the key driver of success and Frank has benefitted from working for a club that excels at turning bargain buys into productive Premier League players.
The only real consistent statistical trait of Frank’s Brentford sides is that they excel in the end product – in attack and defence. Since their return to the top tier in 2021, the Bees have made it difficult for opponents to consistently generate big chances while being amongst the best at making the most of every shot they take.
Frank’s sides have never finished worse than seventh in the league in non-penalty expected goals (xG) per shot. This past season was Brentford’s stingiest under his tenure as they allowed just 0.09 non-penalty xG per attempt, good enough for second in the league.
On the other end of the pitch, the Bees were even better. After being roughly league average in their first season back in the league, Brentford has spent the last three seasons ranking either first or second in non-penalty xG per attempt. For a team that can’t drop the GDP of a small country on coveted attackers like other clubs, that’s an impressive feat.
What’s impressive about Frank’s run at Brentford is that, whether it’s a 3-5-2, a 4-3-3 or any other formation, he’s found a way to engineer good shots in attack while forcing bad ones in defence. Spurs, like Brentford, aren’t capable of going out and spending above market value on players a manager “needs” to make his preferred system work. Frank has proven he doesn’t need a particular type of footballer. Just get him some good ones, and he’ll figure out the rest.
This has to be the appeal to Spurs and why Frank is a good bet to be their next manager despite the low odds.
Where next, mate? 💼
— Betfair (@Betfair) June 7, 2025
Marco Silva (5/1): The idealogue
The manager with the next best odds to wind up in North London couldn’t be more different from Frank. Silva has been known for his toil and moil, and when it comes to the Portuguese manager, it’s a high-pressing, 4-2-3-1 shape or bust.
To Silva’s credit, he has clearly shown he can make those tactics work. One of the best advertisements for Fulham’s current manager is with his previous club: Everton. At the time of his firing, Silva was considered to have stalled Everton’s aspirations for Europe. In hindsight, he was stalling the collapse of a club now consistently on the fringes of the relegation fight. But his work at Everton is the double-edged sword of hiring Silva.
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In order to accommodate their new manager’s system, the Toffees didn’t get Silva one No 10, they got him three: Gylfi Sigurðsson, Davy Klaassen and Wayne Rooney. Silva made it work, but after he was fired in December of 2019 Everton were forced to deal with the fallout of investing a lot of money to acquire players for a manager who had one way of playing.
Though the club has been up and down during his tenure, Fulham’s results this season have shown the upside of hiring Silva once again. Football wage information is often spotty, but the Cottagers payroll ranked 14th in the league. Thanks in part to getting the most out of players who fit his system perfectly – like Antonee Robinson and Alex Iwobi – Silva had his side competing for European places up until the last month of the season.
Fulham ultimately wound up with the 11th-best xG differential per 90 minutes. And that’s the reason you look at Silva’s odds and see a path. Hire the Portuguese manager, get him the right players and Spurs’ performance could exceed their expectations as well.
The best of the rest
Roberto De Zerbi (16/1) is the antithesis of Frank – a manager who left a club renowned for their data-driven decision-making due to clashes with their approach. Xavi Hernandez (16/1) doesn’t looking like an attractive candidate after we all witnessed Hansi Flick completely revitalise Barcelona with mostly the same players.
The Mauricio Pochettino odds certainly seem intriguing (25/1) if you are a fan of nostalgia. The problem for Poch fans is the thing that likely would make him available – a sudden departure from the United States national team – is also the reason Spurs may not want him anymore. Every club Pochettino has guided since he’s left London has made his success at Tottenham look increasingly circumstantial.
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And bless your heart if you can find the hope in taking Luis Enrique’s odds (50/1). But maybe living in Paris and defending your Champions League title with one of the world’s most dynamic young rosters is worse than it seems.
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