Thomas Frank had plenty of positive things to say after Tottenham Hotspur opened their Premier League season with a 3-0 win against Burnley on Saturday afternoon.
Spurs opened the scoring just 10 minutes into the encounter at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when Mohammed Kudus worked his way down the right before picking out Richarlison in the box with a low cross and the Brazilian hooked home the ball into the bottom left corner.
After a quiet spell either side of the break from the home side, Richarlison doubled his tally with a wonderful scissors kick from Kudus' cross which drew gasps from the crowd each time it was replayed on the big screen.
Brennan Johnson then put the game beyond doubt and made it 3-0 to the north London side not long after. Richarlison held the ball up and Pape Matar Sarr took it on and played a pass through to the Wales international. Johnson took it into his stride and flicked a deft finish past Martin Dubravka.
Our Spurs correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Frank after the game as he was asked about Richarlison, his young midfield and those links to Eberechi Eze. Scroll down for a full transcript from the press conference at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Was that the perfect way to start, three goals and a clean sheet?
Yeah probably. Perfect start or dream start we all know we need to follow up on it. Today I will just enjoy it and I hope the players, the club and the fans enjoy it because that is important.
I think overall it was a good performance, not through the roof. A good performance against a difficult opponent. It’s never easy in the Premier League we know that and after the very short turnaround against PSG.
No complaints. If there are two days, three days, four days, one day (between games) I will make sure I do everything I can to get the team ready. But just a reminder that PSG are playing tomorrow night and we play today. Anthony and I spoke about that, I think City a few years ago also played Saturday instead of Sunday. I don’t know who decides that but the ones who decide that maybe need to think a little bit about the players.
But big positive our medical department and performance department did a top job to make sure the players were ready to go. I think we had eight starters again so that I am happy with.
And Richarlison with two great finishes?
Fantastic he is scoring. The first one is definitely easier to score without being easy, but I have a striker that takes those two chances and helps us win the game. He deserves a lot of praise. He was very good against PSG and today he was exceptional, with his work-rate, driving the team, link-up play, hold-up play, just dominating and then the two finishes. So happy on his behalf and again performance department, medical department did a top job to build him. I think a few of you know he was not involved in the first friendly because we had to build him.
That will be continuous and something we need to look at throughout the season. It is only the second game of the season, there is a long way to go but very positive with him. Second goal 17 passes in the team I have been told, every player touched the ball and finished with two top actions. First from Mohammed Kudus and then second an exceptional finish by Richarlison. I’m a little disappointed that so early we have goal of the season, but must be a contender.
You picked a young midfield, you must be happy with them?
I’m very happy. Pape I have praised so much, so I will not say so much about him today. I will give the praise a little bit to others. Archie Gray did well, I think. Fine first half, really grew into it in the second half and as a reminder to myself and everyone else young players take a little bit of time. It can’t be we put them out there and suddenly they are exceptional. That demands incredible, incredible, incredible talents. Normal, very, very good talents, which I think Archie is and Bergvall is, that demands some time, so happy with his performance. Lucas overall was very good as well. Top actions from both players.
What did you say to Richarlison when he came off?
Just very well done, really liked his performance, his work-rate and yeah, we’re looking after him.
What skills does Archie Gray possess to play the number six role?
We need to be aware of not putting players in different positions. I think he’s a player that is a flexible player. He can definitely play the centre-back and the right-back, but I think he is more natural as a midfielder. But he can play all three positions. I like his dynamic, he’s covering a lot of ground, he’s good in duels. Good in the pressure and great to carry the ball forward as well.”
Why was Yves Bissouma not in the squad?
Unfortunately he got injured in training yesterday so very unfortunate. An injury we [will] look into how much it is.
With Richarlison, is it being a World Cup year an extra motivation?
Yeah but I think before the season started I had an expectation that he would be an important part. That hasn’t changed. Of course we’re all very happy, he should be very happy today.
But again, we shouldn’t get carried away. It’s one game today. Happy. Enjoy it, 24 hours and move on. Then we prepare for City.
Were you always clear that you wanted Richarlison to stay?
Yeah, I think I always liked Richarlison. I always thought he was good when he played for Everton and when he came to Tottenham we know he struggled with some injuries. He was unlucky also. So we're very aware that we need to build him and protect him, because we can't say we just did as he played two games back-to-back.
He did well in both and then we're out of the woods, that we need to prove over a little bit longer time, but the first signs are good.
Is it the dream scenario to have him and Dominic Solanke pushing each other?
The dream scenario is to have two good strikers. We need that. We're hopefully playing more than 60 games this season, that'll be great as we'd have done something right and for that you need double positions. You need that.
With Richarlison, are you suggesting that to manage him he will be dropping out of the team sometimes?
I think it's fair to say that he hasn't played every game in the last three or four seasons because of injuries, so I think we need to be smart with him. What is the right answer to that? I don't know. That can be getting out earlier, that can be coming from the bench.
There can be various ways, there can be playing five games in a row, you know. We need to get to know him as well. That's the next thing. I don't know him, know him.
There was a nice moment when Mathys Tel was warming up, and the fans gave him a big show of support, what was your reaction to that?
Yeah, extremely happy with how the fans reacted towards Mathys. As I said yesterday, I think the true Tottenham fans, they are behind him and they showed it today.
Are you expecting some transfer business this week?
We are definitely in the market. I said it before, Daniel and Johan and Vinai are working relentlessly to try to do their best to improve the squad, but we only want to improve the squad if we can't get players in that can improve squad. I want to keep it like is.
Is there anything you can say about Eberechi Eze, as there's been a lot of talk over the past 12 to 24 hours about a deal edging closer for him?
I have that nice principle that I would like to speak about the players that are in-house and all the other speculations I don't want to speak too much about that.
