Ball-playing defenders passing their way out from the back are nothing new - the best I ever saw were Mark Lawrenson and Alan Hansen in the great Liverpool team of the 1980s.
I was a player at that time and a defender too - although not a ball-playing one! I recognised that although Lawrenson and Hansen were brilliant on the ball, their defensive attributes were also top drawer.
If you have players like those two, then playing in your own half is fine. If not, you are asking for trouble, as the data shows.
As a manager, I had some absolutely fantastic defenders at all of my clubs and most of them were competent in possession.
But I also had wonderful ball players like Matthew Etherington, Chris Brunt and Yannick Bolasie so I wanted people to give them the ball as early as possible, because they could play and make things happen.
I wanted us to play through the pitch, whether it was with short passes or long passes, rather than keeping the ball deep and bringing teams on to us.
Tottenham under Frank seem to have the same approach, which is very different to the way they played under Ange Postecoglou last season. They were seen to be gung-ho, and very rarely was there a balance between scoring goals and conceding them.
Now they are playing in their own half less, and conceding fewer chances and goals. The two things are not a coincidence as far as I am concerned.