LONDON -- Tottenham's winning return to the Champions League will earn them precious few style points, but that is hardly something that concerns Thomas Frank early in his tenure. The Dane is in building mode and is acutely aware of the importance of getting the foundations right before adding too many embellishments.

Though Spurs proved in one of Ange Postecoglou's final games that they could dig deep and hold firm in the biggest games, you rarely saw last season's side hold a lead as effectively as they did the one handed to them by Luiz Junior's spilling of Lucas Bergvall's cross three minutes in here. Gifted a one-goal lead, Spurs concluded they needed little more to hold Villarreal at bay. They backed their defense and were largely rewarded for it, El Submarino Amarillo running ag

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