Here's every single word Thomas Frank said on Friday afternoon ahead of Tottenham's Premier League match at Manchester United
Thomas Frank was grilled about Cristian Romero and the transfer window in particular at his press conference on Thursday afternoon ahead of Tottenham's trip to Manchester United in the Premier League.
It is the first time the Dane has been in front of the media since the transfer window closed with Spurs supporters left frustrated at the lack of signings in the final days despite the club's big injury crisis with mostly long-term absentees. Frank had spoken about the merits of a loan signing or two but in the end Tottenham could not find anyone of the required quality.
After the window closed, Tottenham captain Cristian Romero spoke out in an Instagram post about the lack of players at the club 24 hours after the 2-2 draw with Manchester City and Frank was asked about that post from the captain and the latest on the skipper's illness and Micky van de Ven's injury as well as Dominic Solanke's ankle ahead of the trip to Old Trafford on Saturday.
Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Frank. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at Hotspur Way.
What's the latest team news?
Everyone or most are okay. Micky [Van de Ven] is good. He trained today. He is available for selection for Saturday. Djed (Spence) is getting closer. He will be a little bit touch and go but there is a good chance he could be ready. (Frank later confirmed Dominic Solanke is also available for selection as he left the room).
Do you expect Cristian Romero to be back this weekend?
Yes, I do.
Romero's comments about it being 'unbelievable and disgraceful' to only have 11 players available against Manchester City. What do you think he meant by that and what was your reaction?
If you want to know what he meant, you of course need to ask him. That’s the right way to take that question. Cuti is a very passionate character and player who wants to leave everything on the pitch and is very ambitious. He wants to win every single time. Sometimes when you are like that, sometimes there can be an outburst. It happened this time and it’s something we of course dealt with and dealt with internally.
This is not the first time Romero has expressed his frustration on social media. How do you feel about him doing that?
I think I said to you again, there are a lot of ways of doing things. Cuti has been very good for us this season and the past seasons. I think that is very important to be aware of. I wouldn’t have done it. That is my message.
Romero's post was criticising the transfer window. Are you happy with the club’s business?
I think we signed Gallagher, which is a quality player for the starting XI. Of course he needs to perform and no one is promised a position but we signed a quality player and then we signed a young player for the future..
I think if you compare it to the other Premier League clubs I think that is very good. I think where we are is okay. We tried to do more but it was not possible for whatever reason. I said it the whole time, it’s very, very important that we take good decisions and are calm. So it needs to be for the short term and long term.
How good is it to have a player as versatile as Joao Palhinha?
Joao has been very important for us in many ways. To have that versatile player like him who can play the No 6 (role), outside centre-back or one of the two which he did in the second half (against Manchester City) is very impressive. He has been part of driving the team and I agree with him. I said it for a while the performances are more competitive and consistent. Are they perfect? No but we are getting closer and closer. I think especially the last four performances we have a little bit of an unbeaten run. Can we, instead of having some top second half performances, can we add more in the first half. I think we are in a place where we can look forward.
What have you made of Michael Carrick so far?
I think he has had a great start. It seems like there was injected a little bit of energy into the team. I think it looks like some of the players are in a good place. I think we need to know the threats. I also think the post before from Bryan (Mbeumo) Amad, (Matheus) Cunha and Bruno Fernandes is getting this team ticking. He has done that the last, I don't know, four or five years. It has been incredible. It is a threat, it is a challenge, but we are looking forward to it.
Is this what you wanted to see from Xavi Simons in terms of taking risks and enjoying his football?
Yes, but I think he took plenty of risk also when he started. I just think now, of course, naturally, he is more consistent. He is knowing his teammates better, the teammates know him better. We have become a little more consistent. He is adapting more and more to the Premier League, and also to play in the Premier League and Champions League is just different. I agree that his last performance has been very good, and the way he is creating for the team in different ways, I like that. If it was a touch ball in behind, he was driving the ball, slide pass, outside the foot, cross. I think he is getting better and better.
Is the message getting through to Romero after four social media posts now?
First and foremost, I don’t know if it’s four. Maybe you got better numbers than me. I know after the Bournemouth game and this game (Manchester City), those are the two (incidents) I can relate to. Of course, like with a lot of things, we’re dealing with it internally in terms of what we’re taking care of it. That’s my main message to that.”
Would you prefer your squad not to go on social media?
Social media, I think, I can't get rid of it. I think it is what some people call the future, or is the now, whatever it is. So, it is out there. One thing I do know, we all definitely put too much attention to social media, all of us. It seems like everything that is written on social media is the truth. It is such a small number of people who are actually writing something out there, and everything we take, we just say that is the truth, which I think is a challenge in general, overall. But of course, with everything, that is the way it is, and we just need to deal with it.
United got off to a slow start, but are now looking at getting back into Europe in the Champions League. With Spurs, what is the ambition in the Premier League from here until the end of the season?
I also think it is maybe a nice little context to say that Man United don't play European football. I think we can all acknowledge there is a little bit, it is an extra challenge, something we embrace and we are happy with.
So I think let's judge us when we are on the same challenges. The ambition is that we want to do very well and carry on with the good performances and beat Man United in two days' time.
With Cristian Romero post. I know it is social media and you can't take too much, but so many of the players liked the post. Does that make it even more of a delicate thing for you to have to deal with internally, in terms of punishment, because of this feeling among the squad it seems?
First and foremost, we don't know what a like means. I don't know how many words were there in the text. Is it, well done guys, you did amazingly when I had to go off on a half-time. If that is a like, then perfect, then there is nothing.
Can you understand the fans' fears about the lack of activity towards the end of the window? You spoke to us about maybe a short-term solution might be a loan signing. The fans fear that the position in the table, if you can't put out a full team or have options on the bench to change games, you could end up sliding down further into real danger?
What I like is that the fans are very passionate and they want the best for the club and are very ambitious, which they should be. Tottenham is a fantastic club and we should achieve great things. It's also, you say the challenges, we have a few players out. Some of them are coming back and a lot of them are coming back also this season and hopefully sooner rather than later. So that's one thing.
Of course we look into loan options, of course we look into other options, but for different reasons, nothing more happened. And I still think it was not like we wanted to buy five players, it was not the case. So we got a very good player in, in Conor Gallagher and a good young one in Souza.
Do you look back at all on the Brennan Johnson sale, bearing in mind we now know no more attackers came in after that, and still feel the timing was right and maybe it could have been a summer move rather than a January move?
There's a lot of moving parts in every decision, in terms of when you sell a player or when you buy a player. You can say if you play 3-4-3, we have right now five available players for the front three, which is a decent number. Hopefully Richy back soon, then we are six and when Mo comes back, then we are seven. So if you look at it from that perspective, I think it's okay.
On Romero, the last time this happened after the Bournemouth game, yourself and Johan spoke to him and I know you said you dealt with it internally this time, but was it yourself and Johan, Vinai or whoever, who spoke to him again?
That I can clarify that we dealt with it internally.
Fabio Paratici has left the club now, he's been unveiled at Fiorentina today and said Fiorentina have a serious set of owners and he repeated that statement a couple of times. I was just wondering what you make of those comments?
One, I haven't seen them. Two, I don't know them, so I back Fabio, that's probably the truth.
Spurs have conceded the third highest amount of goals from outside the box this season, why is that the case?
That can be a big analysis on that. There can be unbelievable quality in the moment from players, it can be a coincidence, it can be that we didn't put enough pressure on the ball in a specific moment. I would like us to… you can say we scored two goals in the last four or five games, so that should have given us more points than we got. No doubt there's a lot of things we can improve. One of them is to concede less.
Can you confirm if you have fined or disciplined Cuti Romero in any way?
I can confirm that we dealt with everything internally.
We don’t know then if you have or not but what would be the argument for fining and disciplining Romero when factually he’s stated he was ill, that he felt he had to play because the team only had 11 players and that’s disgraceful. Has he said anything that’s not true?
I think the beauty of written text is that you can read a lot into it and nobody really knows what was the purpose of it except Cuti or the guys who have spoken to him. And everything is dealt with internally.
Romero could not have said this, could have kept his head down but he is speaking up, it does show that he cares for the club right?
I think it shows that Cuti is extremely passionate, he wants to win, he wants to do everything he can together with his teammates to achieve great things, but you need to ask him next time you speak to him.
