Why Tottenham Play So Badly Before Half-Time — and So Much Better After It

Tottenham have become notoriously slow starters under manager Thomas Frank.

After Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Fulham, Spurs have now been losing at half-time in six of their opening 13 Premier League matches this season, while they have only been ahead at the break on three occasions.

They rank 16th out of 20 based on their half-time results alone. Conversely, Spurs would be third in the table if games started at half-time.

Worst Premier League teams before half-time

Best Premier League teams after half-time

Why are Tottenham so bad in the first half?

One major criticism of Spurs under Thomas Frank is that they are reactive, rather than proactive. Frank tends to base his tactics on the threat of each opponent. While on one hand this is intelligent management, it can leave his team struggling for fluency and looking disjointed at the start of games.

It sometimes feels like Spurs start games as if they are chess matches. They are waiting to see what their opponent will do before they make the first move. This can be effective in away games as long as they nullify the opponent early on.

But the problem at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is that this kind of mentality does not encourage Spurs to assert their home advantage and potentially overwhelm the opposition right from the start.

Instead, it allows the visiting team to settle into the game and even punish Tottenham’s lack of intensity by catching them cold — just as Fulham did on Saturday night. That result saw Tottenham’s awful home form worsen, leaving them with just five points from their first seven Premier League games in N17.

Why are Tottenham so much better after half-time?

Tottenham’s impressive stats after the interval are very much linked to their terrible first-half record.

When Spurs are losing, Thomas Frank is forced to make attacking changes in the second half. Xavi Simons, Frank’s chief creative midfielder, was only introduced at half-time in Tottenham’s 4-1 defeat at Arsenal, before he entered Saturday’s loss against Fulham on the hour mark.

It almost feels as if Tottenham sometimes lack attacking urgency until the need for it becomes more pressing.

Tottenham’s pattern of starting slowly and improving after half-time is a relatively new phenomenon. Last season, under Ange Postecoglou, Spurs won 15 first halves and only 12 second halves.

While Tottenham’s class of 2024/25 should perhaps not be viewed as the benchmark, considering they finished 17th in the Premier League, it does seem as though Frank’s side might benefit from a little more Big Ange energy starting from kick-off.