Thomas Frank looked like a proud Dad at the full time whistle as his injury-ravaged Tottenham Hotspur side fought back from 2-0 down at half time to Manchester City to draw 2-2 on Sunday.
Given all of the negativity around Spurs’ results (they’ve won just two of their last 15 league games) and general play, the boos rang out from the home fans as City cruised into a 2-0 lead.
But Spurs were much better in the second half and Dominic Solanke’s double grabbed a point for them, which some of their fans will be frustrated with because it now leaves Spurs’ north London rivals Arsenal with a six-point lead atop the table.
Here is the latest Thomas Frank reaction following Spurs’ spirited comeback against Man City.
Thomas Frank reaction
On how he and his players took something from that match: “First and foremost I am extremely proud of the players and the character and mentality they have shown,” Frank told Sky Sports. “I am so happy that they, and we, got something out of it. And a well deserved point. I think there was a moment in the second half where we could have scored the third goal. I think it is even more impressive with the injury situation we have. Captain needs to be subbed off at half time because of illness. So we are down to the bare bones with everything. That character and never say die attitude from the players and the fans, the fans second half, it means so much. They helped us so much to come back in this game. I think it was a very good example of what we can do together. Building also from the Dortmund performance and togetherness. So that I am very happy with. I am also happy we finally got something out of a big second half because we showed that never say die attitude against Bournemouth, West Ham and I think it was Villa and now we finally got something. As I said before the game I think we are on something on the right track, I would say.”
On that being the best and most important 45 minutes of his time as Spurs boss so far: “I don’t know if it was the best but I think there are always big 45 minutes or big games in the season. I think that character the players showed, at half time they still stayed calm, we did the changes, we tried to instill belief, staff, players, everyone and how they went out in the second half and came back in a situation where fans are saying we are a little bit not in the best place because you are 2-0 down and all the injuries, captain needs to go off and all that, that just shows everything about the group. I think that never say die thing, they have shown that quite a long time now. But now we got the result as well. Which is big.”
On if a lot of people and team might have given up at half time: “Maybe. I don’t know. I can just say what we tried to do, the players tried to do and what we tried to create that never say die attitude. That is where we are resilient and we respond well to setbacks and I think we’ve shown it a few times and now we finally got something out of that. Inner belief was big. All of the players showed a fantastic attitude.”
On if he told the players at half time to give the fans some energy and things would turn: “I always believe. I know football, anything can happen. I always believe. We talked about the football bits, when we need to go high, go high in the pressure as we’ve done also in the first half but on the goal we need to be really strong in the 50-50’s. We go lower they can’t go through us, when we can play behind, then do that. If we can’t then keep the ball and take it minute by minute and eat away into the game.”
On how hard it is for him as a person when things are going wrong: “It is more fun when it is smoother, of course, but this is football. This is life. It can happen. You need to show resilience. You need to stay as calm as possible, need to carry on, but of course I feel a little bit that was started okay and then in one moment they just take two against five players and we make a mistake. We get very hardly punished in the first half. Not everything was perfect but also more punished. I am quite sure if we look back at the game the first half was not that bad. Of course the second half is much better.”
On the Spurs crowd signing late on and if they meant something to him: “It means not only to me, to the team, to the players, to everyone, I just think we’ve seen two good performances. The Dortmund game and this second half, when we are united fans and players, we can create magic. That is what we need to keep doing, keep pushing together. It meant the world to me, to all of us.”
On if he needs some more support with injuries and 24 hours of the transfer window left: “I feel 100 percent, plenty of support from Vinai, Johan, Lewis family, everything. We are definitely still in the market. But of course we are hit a little bit hard with injuries but let’s see.”
On what he said at half time: “I said a few things. We changed the system to 4-4-2. That is one thing,” Frank told the BBC. “But it is not about the system, we had to adjust the high pressure a bit so we were even better in that and won the ball back better. What we did in the middle pressure, also nothing through us, they did their bit as well. I think offensively especially playing a little more behind them when we could, put them under more pressure. And then that big belief. One minute at a time, one step at a time, one moment at a time, eat our way into the game. There is always an opportunity. That was the message.”
On playing to the strengths of Solanke in the second half: “It is quite evident now that Dom has been a big miss for us so we’ve been without him for six months. Now we have him back, four goals in four games speaks its own language. Today he was very impressive and he’s not fit yet. You see in the last 15 minutes he couldn’t run. That makes it even more impressive.”
On Pape Matar Sarr’s performance: “Very happy with Pape as well. I agree, I thought he was exceptionally good. Actually also happy with him at Frankfurt. But he just came back from five, six weeks away at AFCON without playing too much. We could not go with him from the beginning but second half very impressive.”
On how the fans reacted, especially at the end: “I think we can create something magic together. The players and the fans. When we are united, as we were, especially second half but also the Dortmund game. That atmosphere, that intensity, that is what pushed the players. They really needed it.”
On if he’s been hurting due to the criticism: “I prefer it going more smooth. I think that is fair to say. This is football. In these spells I think we have done more good things than bad things but we haven’t turned the performance into enough results. But I am very happy now we actually got four decent performances unbeaten and in a long spell showed character, mentality. But today we got that result as well.”
