The overlooked change that shows Tottenham have toughened up under Thomas Frank | OneFootball

Spurs go into this international break on a high but one key improvement that shows their new mentality has gone under the radar

Thomas Frank and Mohammed Kudus after his winner gave Spurs a 2-1 win at Leeds on Saturday

Getty Images

Your matchday briefing on Tottenham, featuring team news and expert analysis from Matt Verri

Sign up

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

You had to look fairly hard to find Tottenham top of the table for anything Premier League related last season.

A miserable campaign brought 22 league defeats, a 17th-place finish and ultimately the end of Ange Postecoglou's tenure.

Spurs, though, did lead the way in particularly metric - points dropped from winning positions. In the 22 Premier League matches in which they held a lead, Spurs won only half of them. The tally of 29 points given up from those winning positions was more than any other side.

This season under Thomas Frank, it is comebacks that have garnered the most attention. Spurs have come from behind against Brighton, Wolves and Bodo/Glimt to grab a point and ensure Bournemouth remain the only side to have beaten them.

What has gone more under the radar is how good Spurs have become at front-running. That is unsurprising, with the eye less drawn to things that don't happen, but Frank's side have swiftly and quietly become adept at not surrendering the initiative when they have it.

Spurs are third in the Premier League after their win at Elland Road

Owen Humphreys/PA Wire

Spurs have won every game this season across all competitions in which they have scored the first goal. By contrast, when the opposition have opened the scoring, Spurs have not won once.

There is a calmness to the team when they lead, even late in matches when pressure is inevitably being put on the defence.

Against Leeds on Saturday, Guglielmo Vicario made a superb stoppage-time save to keep Spurs in front, but it did not have the feel of a match in which the visitors were hanging on for dear life at Elland Road after Mohammed Kudus put them ahead on 57 minutes.

Pedro Porro took his time at set-pieces, Kevin Danso spent an age wiping the ball with a towel for one throw-in in his own half in the closing stages, and Cristian Romero squared up to Noah Okafor for seemingly no other reason than to eat up time.

Cristian Romero squared up to Noah Okafor as Spurs saw out victory against Leeds

Action Images via Reuters

It was a similar scene at the Etihad Stadium earlier in the season, when Spurs had little issue in seeing out a statement win over Manchester City.

Spurs now look a far more professional and mature outfit, capable of doing what is needed to get over the line. Unlike last season, there is no insistence that they must stick to attacking principles and keep pushing for more goals, nor a desperation in defence characterised by a brittle mentality.

Frank's pragmatism is naturally better suited to his side scoring the first goal, rather than falling behind and having to find a way to unlock a defence. That is why it has been frustrating at times to see Spurs so passive in their approach earlier in games, particularly away to Bodo/Glimt.

The comebacks are unsustainable, with the equalisers against Wolves and Bodo/Glimt both coming very late and largely out of nothing. The draw at Brighton is perhaps the only match this season where it could be said Spurs ever looked like winning after falling behind.

Spurs' front-running capabilities, though, are built on much sounder foundations. In the Premier League, only Wolves defender Santiago Bueno has scored a second-half goal against Spurs, that coming in the 54th minute.

After a typically chaotic 4-3 win over Manchester United last season, Postecoglou proclaimed: "Are you not entertained?"

Under Frank, once Spurs have the lead, the late late show has been shut down.