Thomas Frank shared his opinion on a 2-1 defeat for Tottenham against Aston Villa in the FA Cup.
Spurs have struggled for home form in the Premier League under their new head coach, and trend seemed set to continue after goals for Emiliano Buendiaand Morgan Rogers in the first half. The third best team in the division went through the gears after the Argentine’s strike, and it looked like the hosts would have a long afternoon at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium if things did not change.
There was a response, helped through a goal from Wilson Odobert, but the pressure continues to pile on the Dane, who was determined to take positives from the performance after the boos of full time.
“I think the first 20 was probably relatively even. After that (first) goal, we couldn't really get near them. We needed to react quicker to that. The four, five, six times we went high pressure, we actually won it, but we didn't get that enough. That changed in the second half.
“The second half was excellent. That's the game we want to play, with intensity, passion, aggression, good high pressure, playing forward, penetration with runs and passes, good goals.
“The first half was not as good. The second goal is what kills us. We're facing a good team, they scored a quality goal, the first one. The second half, when we’re all together, the fans, the energy, how they feed off each other, that's brilliant.
“There were a lot of good things in the second half, no doubt about that. I agree, Xavi Simons was excellent, especially in the second half. He wanted to get on the ball, he wanted to be decisive, he wanted to make the final action, either with a pass or a goal or an assist or a second assist.
“The intensity from the whole team driving forward, I loved that. We need to put that together over two halves and cut out the mistakes, particularly the second goal.”