Here's every single word the Tottenham Hotspur head coach said on Monday ahead of the Premier League match against Bournemouth
Thomas Frank faced the questions at his press conference on Monday afternoon ahead of Tottenham's game at Bournemouth ln the Premier League.
Spurs began their 2026 home campaign at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with just a point against Sunderland after Ben Davies' first half goal was cancelled out with 10 minutes remaining by Brian Brobbey's powerful strike. Sunday's draw left Frank's men in 13th place in the table ahead of their trip to the Vitality Stadium on Wednesday night.
Mohammed Kudus suffered an injury early in the game and Frank gave the latest news on the Ghanaian as well as an update on Dominic Solanke. Frank was also asked for his opinion on the sacking of Ruben Amorim at Manchester United and what the future holds for Ben Davies and Mathys Tel.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Frank. Here's the full transcript from Monday's press conference at Hotspur Way.
What is the latest on Mohammed Kudus' injury?
He's going for a scan here, one o'clock, to clarify the issue. So, unfortunately, I don't have, how can I say, a big update on it.
Is he ruled out against Bournemouth?
Yeah, most likely ruled out for Bournemouth.
But Destiny Udogie is due back, right?
Yeah, we haven't talked about that before, so he's training, and he's looking better, so that's positive.
Is there a likelihood of Solanke being involved against Bournemouth?
Nope, we will not, but positive going forward.
You tried to sign Brennan Johnson at Brentford, what changed?
Yeah, you know, two different situations, two different clubs. Brennan has made himself a club legend in some ways, scoring the winning goal in Bilbao, winning the fantastic Europa League trophy.
Done well, was the top scorer last year, I think, in all competitions, doing well. Then Mo Kudus came in, playing on the right wing, which is also Brennan's best position, not that he can't play to the left, best position.
And then for the long-term plans, there was an opportunity to sell Brennan now, and give him an opportunity to try something else, so that was the right decision.
Do you feel you got good value for Johnson?
That is [a question] for someone who is very good at negotiating prices and buying and selling players, much better than me, so I think that's a question for them, if I'm fair. I think that's fair.
With what's happened to Ruben Amorim, did you have a lucky escape after the failed United interview?
I'll probably repeat my answer from the last press conference [about Maresca]. We don't know what's happened behind the scenes, that's up to you guys, or journalists following Man United closely.
It can be something with the head coach, something with the ownership, leadership, it can be misalignment, whatever. Most likely, the most common reason that a head coach is either stopping or getting sacked. I think it's just another example from my point of view, that it's very difficult to achieve sustainable success if you change key personnel in clubs, like the head coach, like the sports directors.
I think if you think you have the right ones and you're aligned, you need to do it over a long time. So now it's two clubs with one and a half years. Again, I'm not judging it, I'm just saying that's actually the fact.
In that sense, there could be many reasons for it, I just don't know. In this fantastic, beautiful football world, you win one day and play well, you're in heaven, you lose, and you don't play that well, and you're in hell.
The best clubs they are aligned, ownership, leadership, and head coach, over time, and you keep the noise out, and you look at the progress behind it.
It goes up and down, and hopefully over time, more and more up. Then you achieve something big together. The three biggest, latest examples of that, of course, are Liverpool, City, and Arsenal.
You mentioned there that you worked quite happily as a head coach here and at Brentford. Amorim seemed to think he was a manager, even though his title was head coach. Is that only a subtle difference or is there a big difference?
I don't know, I think these days it's more or less that in all clubs there's a sports director or a technical director or whatever we call it. There's definitely one above you, no matter if you're a manager or a head coach. If you're a manager I guess it's the chairman of the board or what is it? Sometimes the CEO, I think there's different constructions in clubs. Most likely, no matter if you're the head coach or the manager, it's not like you just got the key for the money box or whatever you call it.
You just open it and pull out millions and just buy players and have no responsibilities. So for me, no matter what kind of title you have, it always needs to be collaborative between the head coach, the sports director, ownership, leadership, whatever. So you're completely aligned in what you do.
Then sometimes there'll be disagreements. Hey, we all push, we're all competitive, but that needs to be completely aligned. And again, that's where the biggest success you see is coming.
Thirteenth in the table doesn't sound so good, but then if you're saying four points off the top five, that sounds a bit better. It's a crazy league, isn't it?
It's a very crazy league, very even league. I said that I think the competition between teams is very big. The difference between teams is very small. It's small margins. So we need to look optimistically and positive on the future, but also understanding where we are and keep working very hard to improve and make sure we are ready against a very good Bournemouth team. I know they haven't won as much lately, but they are a team that is very competitive with Iraola. Watch the game against Arsenal. That was a very tricky game that Bournemouth easily could have at least get something out of.
With Cristian Romero, he's got that FA charge, did the club appeal that?
Yeah, we have appealed that, yeah. (Technically Spurs have responded to the charge and are awaiting the outcome. Any appeal would happen after the outcome).
When do you expect to find out?
That, I honestly don't know. I know he's available for Bournemouth. That's the game ahead for me.
Ben Davies came into the team, played 88 minutes even though he hadn't started a game this season. How important is it to have someone like him who presumably is not a guy that moans or strops behind the scenes and just carries out what he's asked to?
I think those type of characters are so underrated in many ways. Ben is a fantastic character. A true pro and I would say ambassador for this club. The things he experienced the last 11 years here with all the ups and the downs and the ups and the downs. With 15 different managers or something like that...or at least a few. He's a fantastic guy to have. The way he stepped on the pitch with composure, personality, just helped us a lot. I think he did very well.
Can Mathys Tel get the minutes under you that he needs this season or will he have to head off on loan if you were to bring someone else in?
I think it's pretty fair to say that we are maybe a little bit short on offensive options. Hopefully. I think also it's fair, there's no one who's really grabbed that shirt on the left-hand side. So I think that's definitely up for grabs. I think it was a positive performance from Mathys. I think he did some positive things and got into good situations.
He had actually one where he bent it to the far corner where I think he's probably the best finisher from that position. Where I think he is a little bit disappointed in himself. It's fair, he's young. It's not like he played five games in a row. I hoped of course for him and for us that he could do it and we've seen it. So that was good.
I think he was also taking more care of the ball. I think it's a big thing. We spoke about that against Brentford and Crystal Palace. We lost the ball maybe 20-25 times. You should never lose the ball. That's also part of it. You can't break through. Okay, you protect it. One more pass, two more passes. Okay, then we go again. But overall positive.
Spurs dominated the first half against Sunderland, but actually overall possession-wise they had less despite being the home side. How has that happened against a newly-promoted team?
I think the first thing is that I agree with you. The first half was by far better than the second and even in the first half, it was not like we had 65 per cent or whatever. Sometimes it's not only about the possession. You like to dominate, but they went man-to-man, so there was a lot of open spaces to run into. For me, that's more the critical areas that we didn't manage to punish (them) from this game. Second half, I felt we dropped off in our drop-off runs to open up and keep the ball. I think also, it’s not like we won five games in a row and everything is just free and smooth. So, when you're up 1-0 and you really badly want to win, that can be a little bit, maybe a little bit nervy. One thing is our name and our fantastic history, another reality is where we are right now.
Going back to Mathys Tel, tried a lot of options on the left, are you eager to give him a run?
I would say that he definitely did a positive impact. Let's see what will happen against Bournemouth, but I'm with you, it's also that fine balance of giving some players the trust for a run of game, so they can maybe hopefully find a bit of rhythm and also increase their performance level. Then the tactical approach of the opponents, which players fit to that and get the right mix and balance in the team, but Matty in general was positive.
Bournemouth is next, an important game but you've got the FA Cup on Saturday, a hugely important competition. Does that come into your mind first for the team at Bournemouth or are you head down and focused on next one?For me, it's head down and focus on the next one. The next one is always the one ahead of me, ahead of us. For me, the FA Cup is also hugely important. Both games will be treated very, very importantly. If there's rotation, then it's because of rotation of getting freshness and energy into the team and that will be the main focus.
Because it’s Bournemouth, Dominic Solanke feels an easy topic. How has he looked in training and what gives you confidence he can hit the ground running straight away?
Today you could see in training that he's nice and composed on the ball, good decisions, good touches and then when we’re a little bit more competitive in the small-sided (games), he is of course lacking (sharpness) and he looked a little rusty, which is completely normal. Now he's unfortunately been out for at least six months, right? Yeah, six months, a little bit more than that, so, of course, it will take a little bit of time. So, even if he's ready for whatever time in the near future, hopefully (soon), then I think you will be surprised to just see him hit the ground running. Very few players do that.With Andoni Iraola, you beat him three times at Brentford, but what makes his team’s so difficult to play against?
I think Iraola has done a top job down there. First and foremost being part of creating an interesting team, with interesting players that have done well and developed them, so they've also gone to on paper play for big addresses (clubs). They play a very aggressive pressing game, one of the best pressing teams in the league, if not the best. They play with incredible intensity. They also play fairly direct, so if you press, boom there's a ball behind, so you need to deal with that. They have a very lively front four, no matter who plays, so that's where we need to be good and compete, but also be smart.