Here's every single word the Tottenham Hotspur head coach said on Thursday ahead of the Premier League match against Fulham
Thomas Frank was back at Hotspur Way for his fourth press conference in five days ahead of Tottenham's Premier League game against Fulham.
The Dane and his Spurs players had landed back in the UK in the early hours of Thursday morning following their dramatic 5-3 defeat at PSG in the Champions League. Frank's men threw away the lead twice at the Parc des Princes as they eventually gifted the European champions a flurry of second half goals despite a brace from Randal Kolo Muani and a first half header from Richarlison.
It left Tottenham with just three wins in 12 matches and now they must address their dreadful home form for another London derby as Marco Silva's Fulham make the trip across the capital on Saturday night.
Here's every single word Frank said at the press conference at Hotspur Way on Thursday afternoon as he was asked for the latest updates on injured players like Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski among plenty of other topics.
What's the latest team news?
Nothing changed from the Arsenal or PSG game, apart from the suspension to Cuti. Radu will not be able to start yet. Progressing, training, yeah, so that's it.
Anyone else close to coming back?
No.
How much more do you think you'll know about the true progress of your side on Saturday against a Fulham team that's going to play a totally different way to PSG?
Yeah, that's the beauty of it. We are facing a completely different game on Saturday. A game where we hopefully will be more on the ball and then need to, how can you say, open Fulham up.
I think actually Fulham, maybe they don't have the points they maybe want, but I have watched a lot of their games and watch even more now that they perform well. I think they've been quite unlucky with some of the results.
So that will be a different challenge, but that's what we're up for. I'm looking forward to it. I'm happy, very happy that, not happy, I'm pleased with the performance and response we got from the players against PSG.
I think we did the aggressivity and the high pressure, the forwardness, the intensity we played with, should have earned us a point or points against PSG. But a bit of randomness, two set piece goals we can't concede and some game management that we didn't. That's the bit we need to learn from.
We said from the beginning when I walked in the club, every decision I take is to do everything I can to win the next game. But it's for the long run. If you can't build something that lasts, it doesn't matter.
I'm very aware that I need to win tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and the day after the day, and so on. But that's what it's all about.
I think football is extremely fascinating. It's so complex and we all try to analyse and understand it.
If you look at Liverpool now, the manager, Arne Slot, I admire massively. Did fantastic stepping into the first season in the Premier League and won it. Incredible in every way and now they are struggling a bit, and they have a bad spell. I'm convinced they will find a way out of that. Convinced, convinced.
But I don't think anyone has predicted that before we started the season. That's just sometimes football. But that's the thing we sometimes ask for, to understand.
Do you think that's become more reactionary since when you started? You lost that game on Sunday and the narrative was really negative towards you. You put in a good performance last night and suddenly that shifts again. Has it become very much more all or nothing, because you're talking about Slot who's won a Premier League title?
That's what I mean. Arne is clearly an unbelievable coach. Incredible. So he will 1000% find a way out of that. And I don't know him personally, but he will stay calm. He and his coaching staff will find a solution and they will go again. And in football, some managers, some clubs are privileged not to have too many setbacks. Maybe it's just one game.
Others have a big spell. So yes, there will be setbacks. But how you handle them and come back from them is the key.
And I agree with you that I think sometimes one game is like oh, it starts over here and then you're suddenly here. Maybe a little bit in between. Maybe not the best coach in the world after we beat Man City away, probably not the worst coach in the world after we lost the game. So that's just the way it is. It's how we build something over time.
I know you're always very calm and you don't get sucked into that narrative, but there must be the sense that given what happened on Sunday and at home on a Saturday night when you haven't won since the Burnley game, there's that sense that you have to, as a group, go out and deliver?
Yeah, of course, and I promise you we will do everything we can to deliver. And we will do everything we can to come flying out, to be positive, intense, energetic, forward. But I'm also pretty sure that Fulham will do everything they can to avoid that.
But it's our job to make sure that we perform. And if we perform well, we've got a very good chance to win the game.
I interviewed Brennan Johnson earlier this week and he said perhaps the players overthink things and overplay because they really want to win at home, is that something you've noticed the players are doing and how is that something you can address?
No, I think any player, any team need to do what we can to play with confidence. And then the best performance is where you're just playing intuitively. You don't think about it, you just do what you do.
Before you receive the ball, you know that you need to take a touch forward or you play forward or you turn that way or whatever you do. That's where you perform the best. So I think that's key.
I'm fully aware, that I said from the beginning, it hasn't changed. I want our stadium, our home, to be fortress. And to get there, we need to perform.
Again, we need to be the fans and us. We need to be both together. You need to feel that when we play at home ' wow, this is impossible to beat us here'. And that's what we need to work towards. We are not there yet, but that's what we need to work towards.
In terms of Brennan, how would you rate how he's developed this season and where he fits into your attacking line-up?
I'm very aware that Brennan's got some very good qualities. One of them is scoring goals and running in behind and arriving in the box. I really like everything about him. He also scored goals this year as well. Four, I think, in total. So I'm very aware of them.
So it's all about how you create that team, where we perform, how we get the best players in, where do we play them. Is it Mo to the right, is it Brennan? Who plays the 10? What kind of player do we play in a different position to make it click?
And then we also need a little bit of depth, because we play every third or fourth day, to keep the freshness, the energy. So that's a challenge.
Is Randal Kolo Muani fit enough to start again against Fulham?
Yeah, he would be fit enough to start against Fulham again. I think he performed well. Obviously, his best performance, not only because of the two goals and the assist, but the overall performance, pressing game, the energy and the touches. I liked that from him in the game yesterday.
And that's, as you say, the challenge that we are facing, that we are embracing, is that away to Arsenal, three days later away to PSG, three days later home to Fulham, three days later away to Newcastle.
So how can we find that perfect balance of energy, intensity, freshness and the right structure and relationship on the pitch? So that's a nice coaching challenge, let me put it that way. But anyway, Kolo has been good.
Five months ago, when you got the job, you said the only thing you can absolutely be certain of is that you will lose games, which you are now doing...
I promised that, I succeeded.
How do you keep calm?
Of course, I think, trust my experience, trust my staff, trust my players, trust the club, the leadership. I think that's key. Trust the process, the structure. I do.
Just keep doing that, keep believing that, keep working, you know. The power of one, so always one more conversation, one more video clip, one more meeting, one more training, you know, constantly trying to improve bits.
Know where you want to go, and then try to improve those bits, the culture, the style of play, everything, every single day. I think that's the key. Then there's days where you perform badly, you feel pain, and you're angry.
Yesterday, it was painful in a different way because we lost, more irritation, but a better feeling because we competed. I saw more the identity of the team, character, the team I want to build, gave me hope, and then there's still irritation when we concede five goals. We had an unbelievable opportunity to get something away from Paris, and we missed that, so that's irritation. And, yeah, just keep going.
Is Fulham at home a must win?
Yeah, but unfortunately, I think the stats is not like there's 100% sure that we will win the game. That's the beauty of it. I'm very aware that a top performance and a win will be very, very helpful, but, you know, I go into every game believing we'll win. I go into every game believing we have prepared well and we will do a top performance.
So what I can affect is that I need to make sure that we are well prepared, I need to make sure that we pick the best possible team with the best possible opportunity to win the game, and I need to make sure we are in the perfect condition to come back out. And then we need a little bit of margin. That should be enough to win.
Is part of the problem this season, the home form, because you play in such an amazing stadium, people raise their game to play there against you?
I've never thought about that, I must admit. I think the key thing for us is just to focus on us. What can we do? How is it we want to attack? How is it we want to defend? How is it we want to perform? Just only focus on that and then get that cohesion with the fans and then the rest will take care of themselves.
When are you going to get Kulusevski and Solanke back? Because they walk into a lot of teams in the Premier League and you've done your spell without them. You talk about being judged after so many games, is it almost unfair to judge you without these two players?
It's part of it. We get judged if we walk into a club like this. A fantastic club, Tottenham. Tottenham Hotspur. There will be expectations every day. For every performance, the performance adds together.
So, that's part of the game. So, no problem with that. Of course, I would love to have Dominic and Kulusevski ready to play for us.
But they are not available right now. Then other players need to step up. I need to find solutions. But that I will do.
Are you any closer to getting them back? Are we talking weeks or is it close to January?
I think we've had a few of these press conferences. In one of the last ones, I said I think it's much easier for me to say, now they are ready to be selected. Instead of, when are they back? Right now, relatively, they are not available.
How do the players feel about what happened on Sunday and what they have got to do against Fulham on Saturday?
For me, we look forward. We can't dwell too much on the past. Because if we do that, we are too much sucked into everything. So, for me, it's still 24 hours from last night.
For me, it's about taking the positive out of the game in PSG. And there was a lot of positives in that game. Learn from the mistakes you made and then bring all that to Saturday's game against Fulham.
You said that Kolo Muani is not fully fit yet. How excited are you for when he is fully fit? And what sort of difference can he make? Because it feels like his link-up play and that combination play is something that will be really useful going forward.
Yeah, definitely. I think it was exciting. I think you can just see the three, both the link-up play, the pressure, that was everything last night. I think the exciting thing was around the first goal. The way the header, the vision he had to hit it back towards goal to Richie.
His goal, how quick he reacted and saw it and his finishing there. And then the third one where he's got it, got through, showed that little bit of pace. Got the ball with him and just clinical in the finish.
So now it's about doing that consistently every game. So that's the next step. But it was promising.
Archie and Lucas were brilliant, they've played a lot of games this season, but only started once together in midfield in the Premier League. Would you have any hesitation in them starting together in the Premier League? Or are they not quite ready?
I think if you perform like they did against the European champions away from home, I think you're ready to start in the Premier League.
So no hesitation to play them against Fulham?
Absolutely not.
You conceded five goals last night, but you go over to the away fans and they're all there, applauding you behind the team, which is obviously a contrast to Sunday. How much have you learned this week about the expectation of the Tottenham fans and how much they'll give you in terms of leeway if you have that bravery and attacking intent?
I don't know. I massively respect all the fans. They're a hugely important boss, home and away. I fully acknowledge and appreciate and am very happy with how they've travelled to Paris and how they've backed the team throughout the game. It means everything to me personally.
And then it's just up to us to keep performing, keep being brave, keep doing all the right things going forward and constantly add layers.
The team looked set up in a slightly different way last night, was that a very specific plan for PSG or is that something we can see more often here?
I think that was what I would say, let's say the general identity of the team. I liked a lot of the intensity and aggressivity in the pressure. I liked the forwardness and the running forward, playing forward. I think we played four midfielders across the midfield. That could be for some games.
It could also be different for some games. I think it's fair to say it's one game away to Paris and it's a different game for Fulham.
Could you play like that more at home?
Everything is possible, but I think it depends on the opponent. It depends on the type of game. I think we need different types. I've said that before. Being pragmatic is not having the same principles in all the phases. But maybe choose different types for different games.
What do you think of the theory that the reason the home form is struggling this season is because the team is not so good when they have to be proactive with the ball and take initiative?
I think that's two different things, of course. It's different to press and have more open spaces to run into. And then to open up when there are 11 players behind the ball.
It's two different scenarios. The demand. Not two different kinds of skill set, but some abilities to one and some abilities to something else.
I think the most difficult thing in football is to break down the opponent at a low block. And that is difficult. We have a lot to develop and improve, and on that journey, we need to find solutions that can create enough chances.