Tottenham Hotspur play host to Liverpool on Saturday night with manager Thomas Frank feeling the heat after four defeats in seven games
Thomas Frank is steadfast in his belief that he can fix Tottenham Hotspur if given time and has no doubts about the buy-in of his current squad. Spurs host Premier League champions Liverpool on Saturday night in another important fixture for Frank after a positive start to his tenure has been followed by painful recent defeats to Chelsea, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest.
The build-up to the visit of Liverpool has been dominated by a revealing interview from centre-back Micky van de Ven, who expressed his shock at the dismissal of Frank's predecessor, Ange Postecoglou, and claimed to "still believe" in the system of the Australian.
Asked if buy-in had been difficult, Frank replied: "No, I think it has been a good buy-in. You could say that from the beginning of the season we started quite well without being sensational.
"I thought we were very good in some games and good in other games. And then, like in every season, you have some setbacks and spells where it is maybe not going the right way, but I don't see anything that they are not with me or going in the same direction."
Tottenham took baby steps with much-needed home wins over Brentford and Slavia Prague earlier this month, but a 3-0 collapse at Forest on Sunday has sparked further debate over Frank's long-term prospects.
"I feel supported. I've done that the whole time," Frank said.
"This is not a quick fix. This will take time. That's not to say that we're not going to do everything we can to beat Liverpool. I believe we have a good chance of doing that, but this is something where we are building.
"I'm very comfortable and confident that I will, how can I say, fix it, but just to make sure it's not me. When this club comes out on top, there will be a lot of good people working together, aligned at the same time through the years.
"I just know one thing I'm pretty good at, I'm good at analysing things. I know what good looks like and I know where we should get, and one thing is I'm 1000 per cent sure, we haven't seen any club be successful unless they had key people in the right decisions for a long time.
"And I'll back myself to be one of those key people to be in that position."
Frank revealed he had not watched Van de Ven's interview on The Overlap, but was made aware of his comments.
The main focus of the Danish coach is to ensure Spurs end a torrid run of form at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2025 on a high – with the club only able to register four home wins in the Premier League in 17 matches this year under Frank and Postecoglou.
"If you are not respectful of a team that won the Premier League and what kind of threat they pose, then I think you don't do well," Frank said.
"As far as I know, in the last four times we played them, we got a good 1-0 win and then I know the three other scores you can check them. We conceded a few goals in those games.
"We work very hard on our breakthrough phase. We work very hard on our positions and then also worked very hard on our defensive side of the game."