Here’s the good for Thomas Frank: Tottenham Hotspur fought back from a goal down (twice) to rescue a point against Newcastle on Tuesday.
Here’s the bad: The goals — scored by captain Cristian Romero in the 79th minute and 95th minutes — were Spurs’ first (and only) two shots on target, and the second one came via bicycle kick from the edge of the box.
NEWCASTLE 2-2 SPURS — Video highlights & recap
Below is the latest Thomas Frank reaction, speaking after Spurs showed a bit of fight still left in them.
Thomas Frank reaction — What did Spurs boss say after Cristian Romero’s heroic comeback?
“The performance showed fantastic mentality and character. Every team needs that. It is fair to say it has been a tough week — fourth game in 10 days, third away game. St James’ Park is always a difficult place to come. Last 60 minutes, I am very happy with that performance overall. The ability to react to setbacks was great.”
“It says a lot about the mentality of the team. It’s been a tough week, coming here after four games in 10 days against a good Newcastle team. We suffered the first 25 minutes. The way the team handled two setbacks showed a lot about the character of the team, which I love.”
“Sometimes you need to suffer. After that, we were very brave, calm on the ball going forward. There’s a lot to love about the performance.”
On Cristian Romero’s goals: “Cuti is a top player, we all know that. His performance overall today was very good. He handles Nick Woltemade, and his header was a striker’s goal. … I haven’t seen many strikers score a better header than the first one. The second one tells you everything that he scored a bicycle kick.”
On the penalty decision against Rodrigo Bentancur: “At 2-1 down, it was an absolute mistake from the VAR. The ref did good [with the on-field call] and they encourage the refereeing call on the pitch. For me, that is never a penalty.”
Spurs captain Cristian Romero, on the comeback
“The first goal was very important. In the last three or four games, the team weren’t good enough. It has been a difficult time, but especially in this game I love the mentality.