Thomas Frank says he understands the heavy booing from Tottenham fans following the defeat by Chelsea as he again insisted that blunt Spurs will turn around their woeful home form.
Despite heading into the weekend sitting third in the Premier League table with only two losses and just five points adrift of early leaders Arsenal, four of Tottenham’s five top-flight wins so far this season have come on the road, with no victories in front of their own fans since the opening day defeat of newly-promoted Burnley.
That paltry home record is on par with strugglers Nottingham Forest and only better than free-falling West Ham and Wolves, against whom they needed a late equaliser just to pick up a draw in September.
Bournemouth and Aston Villa have also won at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season, and Saturday evening’s latest London derby slip-up against Chelsea means that Spurs have now won just three of their last 19 home league games.
Spurs hit a new attacking low in the 1-0 loss sealed by Joao Pedro’s first goal for 10 games in the first half after Moises Caicedo forced a costly mistake from Micky van de Ven inside the box, with their xG of 0.05 the club’s lowest on record.
Tottenham fans voiced their frustration after the full-time whistle with loud boos, while Van de Ven and Djed Spence both appeared to snub Frank as they headed straight down the tunnel.
“Yes, 100 per cent,” Frank said when asked if he could understand the frustration from Spurs supporters. “We all sense the frustration and the emotions. That is part of football.
“It is extremely painful and of course that is part of the job to face you guys now and answer the very good questions when you just are burning inside.
“And you like to find solutions, watch the game back and see what went wrong, but I think it’s about trying to stay calm. In general, I think Chelsea were good and we were definitely second best.
“We performed badly. I think we lacked energy and intensity and that freshness, we didn’t have. Then I think the high pressure they came with, I don’t think we solved it well enough even though we worked on it, so that we need to keep working on.
“I think our high pressure, we lacked a little bit in the beginning until we got on top of it and then they went up 1-0 and we are chasing. Then it’s a bad circle where we are chasing, lacking intensity and energy and bad decisions.”
Despite his disappointment, Frank remains adamant that Tottenham will return to winning ways at home soon as he delivered a new message to fans over their chronic lack of creativity.
“Couple of things,” he said. “Today of course everyone will be frustrated. I'd say we have 24 hours and then we need to look forward again.
“Today was one snapshot that didn't look good. I think there have definitely been other spells that have been better. There's no doubt, and I keep saying it, that we have a front four that is new.
“We have to build together with short turnarounds in games. We'll do that. I'm not in doubt that will happen. I think every team I've coached has scored a lot of goals. It will happen again in the future here.”