Thomas Frank blames Ollie Watkins for full-time brawl after Aston Villa's win at Tottenham
Tottenham boss Thomas Frank blamed Ollie Watkins for what happened after Aston Villa's win in the FA Cup
Thomas Frank accused Ollie Watkins of “provoking” Joao Palhinha during the brawl that followed Aston Villa’s FA Cup victory over Tottenham.
Emi Buendía and Morgan Rogers scored Villa’s goals in the first half before Wilson Odobert halved Spurs’ deficit after the break.
Villa held on for their second win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this season, booking their place in the fourth round of the competition.
However, the match became ill-tempered at times. Palhinha fouled Boubacar Kamara early on, forcing the Frenchman to hobble off injured and ending his involvement in the match.
Palhinha was later involved in a small melee after the full-time whistle, appearing to put his head towards Watkins after the striker celebrated in front of the Villa supporters.
Spurs boss Thomas Frank claimed that Watkins had provoked his Portuguese midfielder, as the Villa forward was seen celebrating in close proximity to him.
"It is about keeping a cool head, the players gave everything. Losing a tight game, season not going perfectly and Ollie is very provoking," said Frank in his post-match press conference.
"He can easily just walk around. Everyone who has been in a competitive nature, that can trigger things.”
The incident arrived just days after Palhinha and Micky Van de Ven were caught in a heated disagreement with their own fans following a 3-2 loss to Bournemouth on Wednesday.
"You need to play with passion, sometimes you play to the line and sometimes borderline," Frank added when he was asked if his players needed to be careful.
"I see players with big passion and that is important but we also need cool heads."