Thomas Frank spoke to the media at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after our 2-1 loss against Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday evening.
Here's what he had to say...
How did you see the game?
Thomas: "Definitely conceding two goals in six minutes gives us a mountain to climb. I think it is the classic thing when you are in a bad spell or a tough spell, things go against you. The first one is a deflected shot and the second one is a mistake from Vicario. It happens.
Then we rushed first half. I think the team was a little bit shell shocked after the two goals. Big ambition to do everything right and come out and turn it around and get that home win, and then you are 2-0 down it just makes it so difficult and they are human beings. We rushed it too much. Second half, I liked much more. Scored a good goal, had opportunities to score the equaliser. Unfortunately couldn’t get it.
Have you spoken to Vicario?
Thomas: "No, but I will."
The formation felt overloaded on the right...
Thomas: "That’s true."
What was the thinking behind that?
Thomas: "I wanted two strikers in and around each other, which looked good at times but of course the game plan was definitely way more difficult after the 2-0."
Do you understand the fans' frustration?
Thomas: "Yeah but I think we need to be clear on what I talked about. I talked about after Vic, that I didn’t like. That is unacceptable. You can’t be after one player. I think that is very important because if you want anyone to perform you need to be behind them. In my opinion, that’s how you get people to perform in the best possible way. After, no problem."
You want to come out and put on a big performance, get a big win, and within six minutes the team is 2-0 down. Do you understand the fans' frustration after six minutes when the team is 2-0 down?
"Of course I understand that. That's not what I said. I understand completely the frustration when it's not working. I think we were all a bit that it's going against us and it's frustrating in many ways, so that I understand. No problem."
Do you sense a disconnect between the players and the fans?
Thomas: "I think the players, I, everyone want to get the win here. Nothing we want more. And I hope the fans can see that they were running out there today, giving everything. But football is so beautiful and complex. It's 11 players that need to be in sync and play and run at the same time and there are small setbacks during games, you need to get through it and stick to the plan, stick to the bits. Sometimes it's just more tough. Sometimes you're in a spell where it's difficult, which it is right now. But there's only one way, it's going forward and do everything you can to get out of it together. So, there's only one thing, we keep going and do everything we can to win the next home game."
You mentioned with the formation, you didn’t want too much on the left, wanted the two strikers and more on the right - does that not leave you too predictable that everything will go down the right if Fulham can lock that off?
Thomas: "Yeah, I think for me the first half was clearly we were rushing things too much. We were going in behind when we shouldn’t go in behind, we were playing in the middle when we shouldn’t play in the middle and all those bits because we were rushing too much. I think it is difficult to judge the first half. Of course, it is a part of everything and it looked much better second half and also before I made three changes."
With that first half in mind, are you worried the players are not taking on board your messaging?
Thomas: "No, I am not, because I think we have seen clearly other times it has worked much better. Maybe we haven’t been absolutely free-floating, but it looked much better. I think it is isolated in two different games. The Arsenal game was hopefully a big one-off in terms of the overall performance. I think PSG it looked like they took on board my messages it is fair to say and second half, it looks like they took on my messages. I think this game we are 2-0 down after six minutes with all the nice, good questions that we want to do so well to get back on track. I think there are so many things into it."