Thomas Frank has said Tottenham deserved to be booed after the loss to Chelsea, but urged Spurs fans to do one thing during matches.
Former Spurs interim manager Tim Sherwood has said that the Tottenham players are struggling to cope with the pressure from the home fans, and that the team’s results this season suggest he might be onto something.
Spurs have not won at home in the Premier League since the opening day clash against Burnley, and supporters are clearly not too happy with the performances they are seeing.
The boos were ringing around the stadium after their latest defeat to Chelsea, and some Tottenham players were abused when they applauded the fans in the South Stand after the final whistle.
Thomas Frank tells Tottenham fans they can make a big difference
The Tottenham head coach acknowledged that the supporters were fully within their rights to boo the team after the final whistle against Chelsea.
However, the Dane urged Spurs fans to get behind the team as much as possible during the game, especially when they are in tough situations, suggesting that their support could be the difference between a loss and a win.
Frank said (via The Guardian): “I want to get the point across that the fans were fantastic in the first 30 minutes. It seems there was a little bit of a turning point when we conceded the goal, where we all get a little bit frustrated, which is natural.
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“After the game, if we perform badly and on top of that we lose, it’s more than fair enough that they boo us. We are in the performance business and if we can’t deal with the pressure, the negativity or the criticism, we shouldn’t sit here. But during the game, we need a little bit of help. And especially when it’s not going the right way.
“They [the fans] can be the turning point. We were 1-0 down in the last 15 minutes … imagine they carry us over the line and we got a little bit of an unfair 1-1. What a feeling! That point can be the difference in a long season.”
Just like the players, Spurs fans also have to take some responsibility
When a player or the manager suggests that the fans can do something a little better, they are often met with angry responses from the fans.
That has predictably also been the response to Frank and Vicario’s comments as well, with many fans asking how dare the players question them when they pay such high ticket prices.
However, those kinds of arguments are deflections and fail to deal with the actual point being raised, which is that booing your own team during a game helps no one, certainly not the team.
The players and the coaching staff want to win more desperately than any of us and are not playing badly on purpose. Many supporters fail not to realise this simple point.
The supporters’ role should be to do their part by getting behind the team throughout the 90 minutes. Any criticism of the tactics and the players should come after the game.