Thomas Frank admits it is tough to enjoy the struggle to lead Tottenham out of the gloom.
The Spurs boss was booed by disgruntled fans during a goalless draw at Brentford on New Year’s Day.
There were chants of ‘boring, boring Tottenham’ from the away end, and they rankled after two clean sheets and four hard-earned points from two away games in five days at Crystal Palace and Brentford.
‘When you need to put in a big, big shift and it’s not smooth and it’s tough, it’s probably difficult to enjoy it,’ said Frank. ‘If I run hard, I don’t enjoy that moment, but I know I need to keep my head down and run hard to get through it.
‘We are in a situation where you need to run hard, to stay in it, to get through it. On the other side, when we look back on this spell or maybe this first year when it was tough, we will think what an experience, what a privilege to be in charge of this fantastic club in a period of big transition.
‘It’s definitely a marathon. It definitely seems like it’s one of the more heavy miles I’m on now, but head down and keep going. But in reality you can’t enjoy it.’
Thomas Frank said there are multiple reasons behind Tottenham’s blunt attack
‘It’s not perfect, we want to be free flowing,’ said Frank, but he was keen to reinforce some things about taking four points from the last two away games, a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace and the 0-0 at Brentford.
‘We were very good defensively. Actually, fantastic defensively on Thursday night. We gave them more or less nothing. That’s hugely important. We understood how to close down their transitions.
‘I understand the frustrations. I share them too. We’re working very hard on the offensive part of the game. There’s a few things in that we need to do to improve. For example, at Brentford we lost the ball unforced errors 25 times.
‘I showed those 25 clips to the players today. That’s focus, that’s concentration. Of course, football is a game of mistakes. You lose the ball, that can happen because of bad decisions, bad touch, whatever, or concentration. So, could just half of them be better? That will provide us with more attacks.
‘And there was maybe five at least good counterattacks, where a better touch and we are suddenly three-v-three. Then it looks more lively, more open, a little bit better. So that’s the one level we need to do.’
Frank added: ‘The next bit is the patterns and the structure, getting in the right positions. We didn’t get that right on Thursday night and that is my responsibility, together with the coaches. I always take that.
‘Then the third thing. It’s also okay to mention we still lack some very important offensive players that’s been out for a while. I don’t want to mention it again. I’m getting a little bit bored, very bored, and sick and tired of naming them. And on top of that, we didn’t have Xavi Simons or Lucas Bergvall.’
James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski have not played this season. Dominic Solanke has made just three fleeting appearances from the bench and been out since August.
Up front at Brentford were Mohammed Kudus, Richarilson and Wilson Odobert. Randal Kolo Muani is another option and Bergvall, injured at Palace, could be back to face Sunderland. Brennan Johnson was another forward absent, finalising a £35million transfer to Palace, which is now confirmed.
‘The ones on the pitch, I always trust them, always believe in them,’ said Frank. ‘Wilson is a very promising player I believe in a lot. So lively against Crystal Palace, but also natural with a young player to be a little bit up and down. I am convinced he’ll be very good for us.
‘On top of that, you play every third or fourth day. And when you do that, the ability with the concentration level and the physical level to be on the top, to keep producing, is what, how can you say, splits the good players from the very best. That’s where we are right now. It’s unfortunately very boring, but that’s the fact.’
Wilson Odobert (left) was namechecked by Frank as a player who will improve with time
Asked if he had to be more ‘daring’ as in the Spurs motto ‘To Dare is to Do’ he quipped back: ‘I think I’m very daring. I’m sitting here.’ And went on to promise they would work hard to put some of those things right against Sunderland but that he expected another difficult game.
‘I’m confident in my own skill set,’ said Frank. ‘I’m also very humble about who I am, where we are, and what we need to do. And I know what we’re facing against Sunderland, because I’ve been there myself. That’s going to be tough, but we need to be on it. That was a long answer. It’s a long answer because I’m explaining the situation of where we are.’
He refused to criticise Spurs fans and expects them to be fully behind him once his team perform with more consistency.
‘If you are successful, the Tottenham fans will be behind you,’ he said. ‘Yes, I am booed last night but I am pretty sure there is a lot of fans behind us.
‘Expectation is good and we are probably in a bit of a transition. Not that we don’t want to play a lot better but the club, the squad, the injuries, all that taken into consideration is part of that.
‘That Crystal Palace win, I am happy with it because it’s very important to have the ability to do that, but I’m also very aware that we didn’t play as good as I want. Also, I acknowledge where we are. It is fair that I understand it a little bit better and the fans want more.
‘What I am 100 per cent sure will happen is that I know we will be able to score a lot of goals and I know we will be much more dominant in a lot of games, but with the current situation with too many of the top players out, playing a lot of games that makes it more tricky, also with no time to train, it’s just reality.
‘It’s just small steps in the right direction every day, keep walking forward, keep improving and then things will take care of itself. Probably answer a few more questions in press conference like this, improve a little bit, get the wins and then it will be forgotten.
‘Right now it’s the talk of the town, fair enough. Tomorrow, it will be forgotten, it will be a new thing and behind the scenes we need to be calm and work on the things very hard and keep improving.’
