Here's every word Thomas Frank said on Thursday afternoon ahead of the FA Cup third round tie against Aston Villa on Saturday
Thomas Frank dished out plenty of injury news and the latest on Cristian Romero at his press conference ahead of Tottenham's FA Cup third round clash with Aston Villa.
The Spurs boss was speaking the day after Spurs' 3-2 loss at Bournemouth on Wednesday night in the Premier League. Mathys Tel and Joao Palhinha strikes were futile as Evanilson, Junior Kroupi and Antoine Semenyo brought the Cherries' run of 11 matches without a win to an end.
There were further problems after the game with Micky van de Ven having an altercation with one of the away supporters, captain Cristian Romero blasting people within Tottenham in an Instagram post and a photo of Frank drinking coffee from an Arsenal cup going viral.
There' was also bad injury news to come from Frank on Thursday regarding Mohammed Kudus and Rodrigo Bentancur.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Frank. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at Hotspur Way
Do you have injury updates on Bergvall, Bentancur, Kudus and Kulusevski?
Yeah, Lucas is being assessed today, we know more later today with him. Same with Rodri, Rodri's hamstring injury looks like a bigger one, unfortunately, we don't know the timeframe of that, we also will know later. Kudus is unfortunately a bigger one to the tendon in the quad, so that's one where we expect him back after the March international break. And then the latest on Dejan Kulusevski is that we know it's a complicated injury, if there's one person that can accelerate that, it is Dejan, he's a top pro and got a top mentality.
The most important thing is to remove the pain in the knee. Got an injection to help that 10 days ago, we know in three to four weeks if it's settled, and when it's settled hopefully he'll be on the grass and from there we'll see what's happening.
How tough is it to turn around the tide after the fall out from Bournemouth result?
I think it's, as I said last night, I think our away fans were very good throughout the game, they were backing us, singing, supporting, exactly as they should do and we hope they would do. Everyone will be happy when we win more games, it's as simple as that.
What did you make of Cristian Romero's Instagram post?
I think after Cuti became the captain, he's done a lot of good things right. I said it when I named him the captain that even though he's an experienced player, he's tried a lot, he's still a young leader. And I think a lot of the things he's done well on and off the pitch, I'm happy with.
I'm actually very happy with his performance last night, I think he was a true captain in many ways throughout the game. Speaking up at half-time when we were 2-1 down, keep believing, keep doing the right things. But also when you're a young leader sometimes you make a mistake, of course it's good to keep it internally. Johan and I had a good conversation with him this morning about everything, which we of course keep internally.
Was it along the lines that a message like that doesn't help?
No of course, I think we all know that, so we had a good conversation about things.
To turn things around, do you need to bring players in? If I were to say to you that the squad will remain unchanged between now and February 2, is that acceptable?
I think there's a couple of things in it. I think the last five games we played, Liverpool, Crystal Palace, Brentford, Sunderland and Bournemouth, I think it's been consistent, good competitive performance through the roof? No, but good competitive, consistent performances and that's what you need in a long season. Those five games should have given us more than the five points we got, probably eight, nine, 10 points.
And if you get that from those games, it's different. So that's what we're focusing on. Can we produce performances like that last night? Overall, like the performance, it's my job to deal with all the scrutiny. It's no problem, I can face all the questions, I'll take all the blame, I'll take all that.
Also, my job is to look through everything and look through the defeat last night. Of course, it was very emotional and tough to take for everyone, but I think it was in many ways good and we deserve more from that. So we just need to keep doing that, especially the last two games, it's a minimum of four points we should have, if not more. So we just need to keep doing that. And the next thing is, it's almost the perfect storm.
In a storm, some are building fences and hiding behind it, others are building windmills and getting stronger and getting more energy and learning from it.
In terms of bringing in players though, is that not imperative?
Oh, I forgot to answer that. Oh. I will repeat my answer. We're working very, very, very hard to see if we can improve the squad. Johan, Fabio, Vinai, everyone in and around the club, recruitment department is doing that. January is a very, very, very difficult window.
It's very important to get short-term success and long-term success. Everything is linked. So players we are bringing in, it's because we think they can improve the squad and the team.
Is there any positive injury news you've got on the horizon, like maybe Destiny or Dom close to being back for you?
Yeah, both of them trained. Both of them are getting closer, definitely. Dest is a bit closer than Dom, obviously, because he's only been out for five weeks-ish. So that's, of course, less than six months. But both of them are positive and improving.
When you're trying to attract players in the transfer window, Is it unhelpful for the image of the club to see the captain talking out against or about the club as it creates a bit of a sideshow when you're trying to get people through the door?
I think, especially in football, the most important thing is to keep the noise out. Then you can see there's this situation with the post from Cuti. There could be others where it's maybe not that positive or a lot of people speaking.
When we want to attract players, we need to tell our, as close to possible, unbiased story and a good story about this fantastic, beautiful club and why you should come to the club. I'm pretty sure that clever players and agents can look through if there's a little bit of noise.
I think it's very important to stress that even though there's noise, the club is very aligned. Johan, Vinai and I are very aligned. Ownership is very aligned. We know it's a tough spell that we need to get through.
Do you feel like Romero was trying to protect you in a way by saying other people should be speaking?
Yeah, could be. Could be. I have a very good relationship with Cuti and he has done well, but long-term success, everyone is aligned. Me, players, captain, leadership, which we are.
It seems from Romero’s post that he is not aligned with certain key figures, saying it is the same people not speaking, is that fair to say and is that a worry?
I think as I say, that I can’t and you probably need to ask him. It is not that often he does do the press, so you need to wait until you speak to him, but what I know he is has been here for five years, that’s one thing and what I know is I look at where I have been here for seven months and I see a very aligned club, so it’s just up to us to prove that.
You've been here seven months and only won 11 of your 30 matches, 14th in the table after 21 games, which is the exact same position after 21 games last season, do you feel like you have shown enough to get more time and do you think you will get more time?
No doubt about that. Put it this way, would we love to be higher in the table and have more points? 100 per cent. We are working very hard every single day to make sure we perform well and we land in the best possible position at the end of the season. The thing we need to look at is the game on Saturday. FA Cup, good opportunity against Villa. A very good team who is flying at this moment of time but a good opportunity to progress in the FA Cup, a tournament that is very important for the club and the fans. We’ve won it eight times in our history and I am working hard with the staff, with the players, with the leadership and this is just a tough spell. We will get through this."
You say you are working hard and you obviously are, but have we seen enough in 30 games from an attacking point of view to justify you getting the time you want?
Erm, we definitely want to do more. I think we have scored not enough (goals) but an acceptable amount of goals.
Is the style of football entertaining enough? You’re right, you have scored goals but is it in the dominant and attacking flair way that has always been in Tottenham's history?
That is absolutely right and also is a fair question, also we spoke about that. That frustration of course I share. I know the ethos of the club, it’s something we’re working very hard on and I see myself as above average, intelligent, so I am very aware of that. My teams have always produced chances and scored goals. This team will do the same. I think it is fair to say we may be lacking a little bit of the top free-floating attacking players we had in the last season. That is part of the challenge and then part of other bits that we need to work hard on every day to improve is another area.