Thomas Frank confirmed Tottenham were still ‘working very hard’ to strengthen in the transfer market after his side surrendered a two-goal lead to lose to Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup final.
The Dane appeared on course to steer Spurs to a famous victory in his first competitive game in charge, with Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero scoring either side of half time in Udine.
But PSG, the Champions League holders, mounted a spirited second-half fightback to force penalties as Lee Kang-in’s arrowed strike reduced the deficit before Goncalo Ramos headed home deep into stoppage time to level.
Vitinha failed with PSG’s opening effort from the spot, but Lucas Chevalier denied Van de Ven before Mathys Tel struck wide from 12 yards to put the Ligue 1 champions within touching distance of a fifth trophy for the year.
Nuno Mendes looked confident and clear-headed as he stepped up to take the decisive spot-kick and Guglielmo Vicario hardly stood a chance as the Portuguese almost burst the back of the net to cue rapturous scenes among PSG’s travelling support.
Despite PSG enjoying 74 per cent of possession across the contest, it was an otherwise encouraging night for Tottenham, especially given the club’s less-than-ideal preparation during what has been a summer of upheaval following Ange Postecoglou’s dismissal.
Romero was announced as Spurs’ new captain just hours before kick-off in Italy and deals have been struck for Mohammed Kudus, Tel, Kevin Danso, Luka Vuskovic, Kota Takai and Joao Palhinha across what has been an active transfer window.
But with talks reportedly ongoing for Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze and Manchester City’s Savinho and, Frank told TNT Sports: ‘We would like to strengthen the squad, no doubt about that.
‘We do work very hard to see if we can do that.
‘In general, I’m very happy with the squad, but of course, in every window, you’d like to see if you can make the squad stronger before the window closes. That’s what we’re working hard on.’
Luis Enrique conceded that Tottenham probably ‘deserved’ to win after his PSG side eventually prevailed on penalties – and Frank was ‘proud’ of his players’ overall performance.
‘We played a very good game against one of – maybe the best – teams in the world,’ the Spurs head coach added.
‘I think we had them exactly where we wanted them for 80-something minutes, until the 2-1 goal, which shifted momentum.
‘There are so many positives. I’m so proud of the team, the players, the club, the fans. It’s a lot to be happy with. It’s a coin flip when it goes to a penalty shootout.’
According to Frank, his side’s first-half display was ‘almost perfect’ in every aspect.
‘We showed that we can be adaptable and pragmatic. We needed to do that against a team like PSG,’ he continued.
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‘The way we wanted to defend – both high pressure and low defending – was exceptionally good. The first half was top, almost perfect.’
The former Brentford boss felt his squad had come on leaps and bounds with their set-piece work since he first took over the reins from Postecoglou in June.
‘The set pieces were also very good and very dangerous,’ he went on.
‘It’s key. For any team it should be a weapon. We definitely will focus on that, because it’s a key area.’
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