What did Djed Spence say to Thomas Frank as he stormed off the pitch after Tottenham’s 1-0 defeat by Chelsea on Saturday? That’s the question on everybody’s lips – and we can answer it.
Spence and Micky van de Ven stole the headlines when they blanked Frank, refusing his handshake and leaving him alone on the turf. A worrying sign, as Oliver Holt has written.
Now, an expert lip-reader has told the Daily Mail what Spence said as he vented at his boss, who appeared to be asking him to applaud the home fans, and damaged the team’s image of unity.
‘I ain’t doing it… go away,’ is what the new England star told Frank, according to lip-reader Jeremy Freeman, before waving off his manager’s entreaties.
In between those comments, Spence is believed to have said ‘leave me…off’, although it is not entirely clear.
Tottenham podcaster Chris Cowlin caught the flashpoint on camera as Spurs were booed off after coming up short at home again.
Djed Spence told Thomas Frank ‘I ain’t doing it… go away’ as he refused his handshake
Frank has tried to play down the significance of Spence and Micky van de Ven’s behaviour
Afterwards, Frank tried to downplay the incident’s significance, saying: ‘All the players are of course frustrated. They would like to do well, they would like to win, they would like to perform well, so I understand that.
‘I think it is difficult to be consistent in good times and in bad times. That is why I went around to the fans as I did. It is more fun when we win, I can tell you that.
‘I think that is one of the small issues. We have Micky and Djed who are doing everything they can.
‘They perform very well so far this season and everyone is frustrated. We do things in a different way, so I don’t think it is a big problem.’
Van de Ven and Spence had both been at fault in the match in the build-up to Joao Pedro’s goal.
Considering that Van de Ven is in the club’s leadership group, it is not a good look for the club and there will be questions over Frank’s authority.
He has Tottenham fifth in the Premier League, a vast improvement on their 17th-place finish under Ange Postecoglou last term, but the football has been uninspiring.
Their expected goals tally of 0.05 was the worst they have ever managed since the metric was introduced in 2012.
The Spurs boss revealed that he understood why his own players gave him the cold shoulder after full-time, admitting they are ‘frustrated’
Meanwhile, they have won just three of their previous 19 home Premier League games – hardly the way to get supporters onside, though most of those matches were under Postecoglou.
On managing only 0.05xG, Frank continued: ‘I would say that of course hurt massively. I’ve never been in charge of a team that created that little in one game. Never. That of course I will look into what we can do to make it better.’
On the boos at full-time, he added: ‘Yes, 100 per cent. We all sense the frustration and the emotions. That’s part of football. It’s extremely painful.
‘Of course it’s part of the job to face you guys now and answer your very good questions when you are just burning inside and you would like to find solutions and you want to watch the game back and see what went wrong and all that.
‘But it’s about trying to stay calm. In general, I think Chelsea were good, we were definitely second best, we performed badly.’
