Thomas Frank spoke to the media at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after our 1-1 draw in the Premier League against Wolves on Saturday evening.
Here's what he had to say...
Was this a reminder that it's still early days for everyone here and the squad?
Thomas: "Yeah, you can say that. I think first half was good, I was happy with that in many ways. I felt we were on top, controlled it, created two or three very good chances and got into a lot of dangerous situations where we didn’t create a chance where we should have created more. You know you are thinking, ‘it's very good, produce a lot of crosses and we are on track’, but football is not like, 'Wolves, please roll over'. It is the Premier League and it is extremely competitive. So, you’re going into the second half and thinking it could be good. I think the big change in the second half was probably their goal - that changed the momentum of the game. They also changed to a 5-3-2. That made it more difficult. Not that we didn’t know they could do it, but of course how do we get the message across to the players? The goal meant we probably lost a bit of structure and coolness to put more passes to get up into the right positions, cross it from the right area or produce from the right area instead of a cross with your weaker foot or a difficult position and a shot from 30 yards even though they crowd scream to shoot. I like the effort and mentality and I think it is huge actually, and I meant that, to get a point on a night where it is not perfect, especially not in the second half. That is two times in a row we come back. I think that tells a lot about the players. Yes, we want more and we did not hit our highest performance level today, but when you are down at 90+ and get a point, that’s positive."
What did you think of Xavi Simons - did he struggle to get into his rhythm?
Thomas: "That's fair. I think Xavi had some good actions, also carrying the ball forward and you had to foul him three or four times, but there was a lot of situations where he was not as sharp, I think that's fair to say. I think he would say the same himself. I also think it's natural - you're coming into a new team, a new league. To find that rhythm quickly is difficult. I think we're very happy with the Brighton performance in many ways, the first half was also positive, but that free flow, that we need to keep working on. And then there are just some days where we don't hit the highest level."
Are you suffering from not being able to bring on the likes of Dominic Solanke and Randal Kolo Muani to change what you have up front?
Thomas: "I think there were enough offensive actions but, of course, it's to have one natural striker - I think Mathys can play striker, but he's probably a striker and a winger - so, a natural striker as Richy and Dom and Kolo Muani would have been nice to have that extra option. I think we could still have won the game anyway."
Did you have an issue with Joao Palhinha's celebration when there were still two or three minutes left?
Thomas: "I didn't know, I celebrated myself! I noticed after, I could see he didn't have his shirt on. I know we wanted to go for the next one, but you can see the next three minutes we were a little bit disjointed. Should we go for it? I think it's fair to say we struggled a little bit with creating that chance. So, the 1-1 was probably a good point. Of course, it feels like we, at this point, we didn't win the game, but I think the positive is we kept us in the game and got a point."
Does it feel like a missed opportunity?
Thomas: "I think if you look before the game, you would say that there was a good chance for us to win. But that's why I also said it before the game, we haven't beaten Wolves the last five times, no, six times in a row. Also, a team that has lost the first five, there's a time where they will get something. And also I said before the game, they had played very, very even games. It's never easy. That said, I hoped and believed if we hit a top performance, we would win. We didn't hit a top performance. I think we hit an average performance. But you do that sometimes. So yeah, we got a point on a day when not everything worked and then we move forward."
With Palhinha and Bentancur, do you feel there is enough creativity?
Thomas: "I will always look back at it but a good, old coach told me once that the line-up you picked, you did that for a reason and you don’t know what would happen if you pick the other one - maybe you would have lost 2-0. So, I need to go with what I believe in of course. That is not to say I am not watching the game back and not reflecting and thinking about could we, should we, you never know? I actually think first half was quite good and we created enough. We would like to create a bit more, yes, but actually after I took Rodri out, you could say it didn’t work because we lost the structure. So, who knows? One thing is for sure, we need to do a little bit better in the second half."
How difficult is it for players to be calm and patient when there is maybe some impatience in the stands?
Thomas: "I definitely think it's not easy. Now, I need to look at the situations back but at the top of my head it looks like we could have also helped him a little bit more in those situations, open up a bit more, give him more options. There was also one or two where he could have done better but, hey, that's part of it. It's not easy but that's not to say he couldn't have done better."
Do you have a theory why Spurs can't put away games like this where they are expected to win? Is it a mental issue?
Thomas: "I can only really speak about when I've been here. I think the two games you can see that Bournemouth also doing very well. I think they are a very difficult team to play. The one thing with Bournemouth is that was a bad performance. Overall, just bad. Today, I think there was much more positive in our performance. But unfortunately on the day we couldn't get the three points. That happens. I think it's still a small sample for me to just myself in that aspect."
Xavi Simons hasn't started as a 10 in the Premier League yet - is that because he's not quite up to speed yet?
Thomas: "No, I think it's trying to get the right balance into the team. For me, also to learn and find out how we can get the best players on the pitch at the right time. So, that I'm of course looking into. I'm very aware that Xavi he can play as a 10. He also got in as a 10 against Brighton because that was the third game in a week. That was positive. I think today when he got in as a 10, it didn't really work, and that was not only because of him, by the way. I think the whole team was out of sync in the last 35 minutes. I'll try to look into what is the best midfield. I think it's fair to say both Rodri and Joao have been very good for us so far in the season, and Lucas has been fantastic, so you like to keep your players that are a little bit in the flow."
How do you get Richarlison more into a game like tonight?
Thomas: "I think, for example, at Brighton he did many good things but I liked him a little bit more in the box. I felt today he was more in the box and the cross maybe didn't land for him. It's also fair to say that especially the first half, we mainly played against a team with 11 players behind the ball which always made it a little bit more difficult, even Haaland can be eliminated in that situation."
