Thomas Frank spoke to the media at the Emirates after our 4-1 loss against Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.
Here's what he had to say...
What disappointed you the most about that performance?
Thomas: "Where should I start? It's hugely disappointing that we didn’t perform better in the game against Arsenal, our biggest rivals. I can only apologise to the fans for that. I was very confident on Friday when we spoke that we would be competitive today and weren't over the 90 minutes. We tried to come here and be aggressive and press high and in spells go after them. We didn’t succeed with that bit, didn’t manage to get near enough them in the situations we could. It means we got pushed back and got a little too passive. It looks like we are running after them. When we finally got on the ball, we were not good enough to get out of those situations. No matter how painful it is to admit, they are definitely six years down the line and we are four months down the line, but even with that I was still expecting much more from us today. Not that we could dominate over 90 minutes but that we could be as competitive as we were against City and PSG."
It's another game with a lack of creativity, is it concerning that it's still not clicking?
Thomas: "It is concerning, of course. We are working very hard to try to make that better but sometimes it’s not only playing out and finding a nice pass and the final pass, but also in a game like this if you see some of the situations where they won it high, Arsenal, then there was a little bit more open space. We didn’t win it enough in those situations and then create from that. For me the creativity, I know it was very low, but it was not my biggest concern today."
Did you get it wrong by setting the tone with a negative formation?
Thomas: "I’m a very big believer that no matter what system you play you can be successful. I completely understand the question and I will always take the full responsibility. The full responsibility will always be on me today when we didn’t perform. I picked a team that played 5-4-1, changed it half-time, very clever, one minute into it they scored, 3-0, the rest is history after that. What I would say is that no matter if we played another system we needed to be more aggressive and better in the duels. That doesn’t matter to the system but I take responsibility for everything today."
Was the plan with the back five to sit back and frustrate Arsenal or was that imposed on you?
Thomas: "I think the question before, I know we are working very hard on the offensive part of it, so we could be extremely defensive solid, but still be aggressive, still go after them, which we've done, which we also did, for example, against PSG. But we didn't succeed with today in the same way. So, as I say, if you have a back five, you can still be very offensive in many, many ways, but today it just didn't succeed."
In that first half, tactics aside, did you see enough fight from the team? Was that lacking?
Thomas: "I think we were 100% too far from them in these duels we wanted to create, or getting pressure, getting close. In those duels, as I talked about before, we didn't win enough of them. If that's a lack of fight, a lack of whatever it is, we just didn't do it well enough."
You said you didn't win enough duels, weren't aggressive enough - was there concern that the team just didn't believe they could win here?
Thomas: "No. That would surprise me, if I'm honest. Why shouldn't we be able to win here? I think that's two different things. Maybe it was, I think in any game, you need to get through tough spells. I don't think that. Maybe that came during the game, I don't know. That I need to ask the players about."
After Bournemouth you stressed about not having these bad performances - but you've had that one, Chelsea, today - how alarmed are you by the fact that the team is still capable of putting in these kinds of performances?
Thomas: "That, of course, will always be a concern. I would like the team to have very few bad performances. There will always be average performances, because it's football we're dealing with. That's definitely something I need to look into, because today, I felt we were fresh, I think we were ready. The Chelsea game was a little bit on the back end of a tough spell. There could be that but the performance was still bad. Today, I didn't expect us to be not competitive."
Xavi Simons has been playing better in the last few weeks, why didn't you pick him?
Thomas: "Yeah, better and better. That was a tactical decision. Wilson has done well. So it's one of him or Xavi or Wilson."
The fourth Arsenal goal starts with Tottenham buried deep in their half and there's not a player who wants the ball so it ends up back with the goalkeeper, he clears it and they get the ball and score. Is that an issue with confidence or bravery, just to want the ball in that situation?
Thomas: "I think you are 3-1 down, the 82nd minute... we always want bravery. You need to be consistent. You need to keep going. You need to do all the right things. I think I would be more concerned if that was 0-0 or 1-0."
One point for the last three league games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United - teams that you want to be competing against - what have you learned from those last three games and where the areas of improvement are?
Thomas: "I think it's three different games. I think the United game was a much better performance than today and the Chelsea one. I also think there's a difference in the Chelsea and the Arsenal performances, even though both of them look bad on paper. I need to watch this back as well. I think there's definitely a lot to work on still. I think it's fair to say that we are very disappointed and unhappy with the performance today. I don't want to run away from that. As I said, I apologise to the fans. I think it's also fair to say where we're coming from. We finished 17th last year. We're trying to build something, which today didn't look like we tried to build something."
You just mentioned that there are differences between this performance and the Chelsea one. Lots of people would look at the XG and the chance creation and say it's very similar. Can you just elaborate what you've noticed was different?
Thomas: "I think it's also fair to say I need to look at this game back. I have more just fresh in mind. I'm very emotional and frustrated, of course, right now. So, please ask me about that question next time we see each other."
Would you accept that maybe in lining up in a back five before the game, which you've not done in a long time, you're sending a message to the players and maybe encouraging a degree of passivity by lining up with that extra defender?
Thomas: "You can say that, but there are so many ways you can see it in that aspect. I've seen lots of teams, including my own team, playing also 3-5-2 or 3-4-3, being very aggressive, positive, forward-thinking. That was not the case today. I don't think it's about the system."
