Thomas Frank spoke to the media at Hotspur Way on Thursday afternoon, ahead of our Premier League clash against Fulham at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (8pm UK).
Here's what he had to say...
Can we start with team news? We know there is no Romero (suspended) for Fulham. Is Dragusin ready to start?
Thomas: “Nothing changes from the Arsenal-PSG games. Of course there's suspension to Cuti. Radu will not be able to start yet – he’s progressing, training, that’s the latest."
Anyone else close to coming back?
Thomas: “No.”
How much more do you think you'll know about the true progress of your side on Saturday against a Fulham team that's going to play a totally different way to PSG?
Thomas: “That's the beauty of it. We are facing a completely different game on Saturday, a game where we hopefully will be more on the ball and then need to, how can you say, open Fulham up. I think actually Fulham, maybe they don't have the points they maybe want, but I've watched a lot of their games and watch even more now, and they've performed well. I think they've been quite unlucky with some of the results, so that will be a different challenge, but that we're up for, looking forward to it, I'm happy. I'm pleased with the performance and response we got from the players against PSG. I think we did the aggressivity in the high pressure, the forwardness, the intensity we played with, should have earned us a point of points against PSG, but a bit of randomness to set piece these goals we can't concede and some game management that we didn't, and that's the bit we need to learn from. We said from the beginning when I walked in the club, every decision I take is to do everything I can to win the next game, but it's for the long run. If you can't build something that lasts, it doesn't matter. I'm very aware that I need to win tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, and the day after, the day after tomorrow, and the day after the day, and so on. That's what it's all about. I think football is extremely fascinating, and it's so complex that we all try to analyse and understand it. Look at Liverpool now. A manager in Arne Slot I admire massively, stepping into the first season in the Premier League, he won it, incredible in every way, and now they are struggling a bit. They have a bad spell. I'm convinced he'll find a way out of that, but I don't think anyone predicted that before the start of the season. That's just sometimes football. That's the thing we sometimes struggle to understand.”
Do you think football has become more reactionary since you started? You mentioned Arne Slot there, he’s won the Premier League…
Thomas: “Arne is clearly an unbelievable coach. What he did at Feyenoord, how he stepped into Liverpool, incredible. He will 1,000 per cent find a way out of that. I don't know him personally, but he will stay calm, he and his coaching staff will find a solution, and then he'll go again. In football, some managers, some clubs, are privileged not to have too many setbacks, maybe it's just one game. Others have a big spell. There will be setbacks, and how you handle them and come back from them is the key. I agree that I think sometimes one game is like, oh, it's a disaster and then you're suddenly here. It's probably a little bit in between. I maybe not the best coach in the world after we beat City away, probably not the worst coach in the world after we lost a game. That's just the way it is. It's how we build something over time.”
I know you’re very calm, but there must be a sense that, given what happened on Sunday, you're at home on Saturday, you haven't won since the opening game, you have to, as a group, go out and deliver…
Thomas: “Yes, of course. I promise you, we will do everything we can to deliver, and we will do everything we can to come flying out, to be positive, intense, energetic, forward, but I'm also pretty sure that Fulham will do everything they can to avoid that. It's our job to make sure that we perform. If we perform well, we've got a very good chance to win the game.”
Brennan Johnson suggested maybe the players overthink things and overplay in home games because they really want to win at home. Is that something you’ve noticed?
Thomas: “Any player, any team, need to do what we can to play with confidence, and the best performance is where you're just playing intuitively, you don't think about it, you do what you do and before you receive the ball you know that you need to take a touch forward, or you play forward, or you turn that way, or whatever you do, that's where you perform the best. I think that's key. I'm fully aware that I said from the beginning, it hasn't changed - I want our stadium, our home, to be a fortress. Tso get there we need to perform, we needs to be the fans and us, we need to be both together, we need to feel that when we play at home, ‘wow, this is impossible to beat us here’. That's what we need to work towards. We are not there yet, but that's what we need to work towards.”
How would you rate how Brennan has developed this season and where he fits into your attacking line-up?
Thomas: “I'm very aware that Brennan got some very good qualities. One of them is scoring goals and running in behind and arriving in the box. I think I really like everything about him. He’s also scored goals this year as well, four I think in total. So, it's all about how do we create that team where we perform, how we get the best players in, where do we play them. Is is Mo to the right? Brennan to the right? Who plays the 10? What kind of player do we play in a different position to make it click? Then we also need that little bit of depth, because we play every third or fourth day, to keep the freshness, the energy. That's the challenge.”
Is Randal Kolo Muani fit enough to start again against Fulham?
Thomas: “Yes, he will be fit enough to start against Fulham. I think he performed well. That was obviously his best performance, not only because of the two goals and the assist, but the whole performance, the pressing game, the energy and the touches. I liked that from him in the game yesterday. That’s the challenge that we are facing, that we are embracing, away to Arsenal, three days later away to PSG, three days later home to Fulham, three days later away to Newcastle. So how can we find that perfect balance of energy, intensity, freshness, the right structure and relationship on the pitch? It's a nice coaching challenge, let me put it that way. Anyway, Kolo is ready.”
When you took the job, you said the only certainty you can absolutely be certain of is that you will lose games, which you are now doing…
Thomas: “I promised that - I succeeded!
You said that managers need to keep calm, stay calm during these times. How do you keep calm?
Thomas: “Trust my experience, trust my staff, trust my players, trust the club, the leadership. I think that's key. Trust the process, the structure. I do. That, that, that. Just keep doing that, keep believing that, keep working. The power of one - always one more conversation, one more video clip, one more meeting, one more training, constantly try to improve bits. Know where you want to go and then try to improve those bits, culture, style of play, everything, every single day. I think that's the key. Then there are days where you perform badly, you feel pain and you're angry. Yesterday, it was painful in a different way because we lost, more irritation, but a better feeling because we competed. I saw more the identity of the team, character, the team I want to build. It gave me hope. Then there's still irritation that we conceded five goals. We had an unbelievable opportunity to get something away from Paris and we missed that, so that's irritation. Just keep going.”
Is Fuham at home a must-win?
Thomas: “Unfortunately, I think the stats are not 100% sure that we will win the game. That's the beauty of it. I'm very aware that a top performance and a win will be very, very helpful, but I go into every game believing we'll win. I go into every game believing we have prepared well and we'll do a top performance. What I can affect is that I need to make sure that we're well prepared. I need to make sure that we pick the best possible team with the best possible opportunity to win the game. I need to make sure we are in the perfect state of mind and we come flying out.”
I think Spurs have the best stadium in the country – is that part of the problem this season with the home form? That teams raise their game to play there?
Thomas: “I've never thought about that. I must admit, I think the key thing for us is just to focus on us. What can we do? How is it we want to attack? How is it we want to defend? How is it we want to perform? Just only focus on that and then get that cohesion with the fans and then the rest will take care of itself.”
When are you going to get Kulusevski and Solanke back? Is it almost unfair to judge you without these two players?
Thomas: “It's part of it. We get judged if we walk into a club like this. A fantastic club, Tottenham Hotspur. There will be expectations every day, for every performance. That's part of the game. So, no problem with that. Of course, I would love to have Dominic and Kulusevski ready to play for us, but they are not available right now. So, other players need to step up and I need to find solutions. That, I will do.”
Are you any closer to getting them back? Are we talking weeks? Is it potentially January?
Thomas: “I think is much easier for me to say, now they're ready. Now they're ready to be selected. Instead of, when are they back? Right now, reality, they’re not available.”
How do the players feel about what happened on Sunday and what they've got to do against Fulham on Saturday?
Thomas: “For me, we look forward. We can't dwell too much on the past, because if you do that, that's why I say I have that 24-hour rule, then you're too much sucked into everything. For me, it's still 24 hours into last night. For me, it's about taking the positive out of the game with PSG, and there was a lot of positives in that game. Learn from the mistakes we made and then bring all that to Saturday's game against Fulham.”
How excited are you for when Kolo Muani is fully fit? What different can he make?
Thomas: “Yeah, definitely. I think it was exciting. You can just see the three... I suppose the link-up play, the pressure, that was everything last night. I think the exciting thing was around the first goal, the way the header, the vision he had to hit it back towards goal to Richy. His goal, how quick he reacted and so on, and his finishing there. Then the third one, where he got through, showed that little bit of pace, got the ball with him, just clinical in the finish. Now it's about doing that consistently every game.”
Archie and Lucas have played a lot of games this season, but they've only started once together in midfield in the Premier League. Would you have any hesitation to start them together in the Premier League?
Thomas: “I think if you perform like you did against the European champions away from home, I think you're ready to start in the Premier League.”
So, no hesitation to play against Fulham?
Thomas: “Absolutely not.”
How much did you learn this week about the expectation of the fans and how much they'll give you in terms of leeway if you have that bravery and attacking intent?
Thomas: “I massively respect all the fans. They are hugely important for us, home and away. I fully acknowledge and appreciate and am very happy how much they've travelled to Paris and how they've backed the team throughout the game. It means everything to me personally. Then it's just up to us to keep performing, keep being brave, keep doing all the right things going forward and constantly add layers.”
The team looked set up in a slightly different way last night - was that a very specific plan for PSG or is that something we could see more often here?
Thomas: “I would say, let's say, the general identity of the team. I liked a lot of the intensity and aggressivity in the pressure. I liked the forwardness and the running forward, playing forward. I think we played four midfielders across the midfield. Four. That could be for some games. It could also be different for some games. I think it's fair to say it's one game away to Paris and it's a different game home to Fulham."
Could you play like that more at home?
Thomas: “Everything is possible, but I think it depends on the opponent, it depends on the type of game. I think we need different types. As I said before, being pragmatic is not having the same principles in all the phases, but maybe choose different types for different games.”
What do you think of the theory that the reason the home form has been struggling this season is because the team is not so good when they have to be proactive with the ball and take the initiative?
Thomas: “I think that's completely two different things, of course. It's different to press and have more open spaces to run into and then to open up the opponent when there are 11 players behind the ball. It's two different scenarios. They demand not two different kinds of skill set, but some abilities to one, some abilities to something else. I think the most difficult thing in the world in football is to break down an opponent that is low. That is difficult. We have a lot to develop and improve and on that journey, we need to find solutions that can create enough chances and win enough games.”
