Thomas Frank is “1,000% sure” he can make a team at Tottenham and has promised to learn from this bad spell as he prepares for an ominous meeting with Paris Saint-Germain.
Spurs are in the French capital to face the Champions League holders just days after beating rivals Arsenal 4-1.
That humble performance at the Emirates Stadium came three weeks after a sluggish performance in the home defeat to Chelsea and the external noise around Frank’s situation has increased despite Wednesday’s Champions League clash being his 20th game in charge of Tottenham.
Asked if it was important that Spurs stick to a plan after six managers in six seasons, Frank smiled and said: “Very important.
“Part of taking this job was to sit here and face challenges. Of course I would love to sit here and we have beaten Arsenal and then faced Paris, but we lost and lost badly. Part of it is to manage those failures, learn from it and move on from it.
“The one thing I am 1,000% confident about is that I know how to build a team and how to build a club. And we will do that.
“On this path we will learn and the big thing is how we learn from the bad times because that is where we can see where we fall behind, how we react. The best teams keep moving forward. They still work hard, they still do the same things and there is no doubt about that.
“In the first four months I learn a lot about the team, I learn a lot about individual players and everything that is needed to learn how we can find the right formula with the right players on the field.
“And also some players are coming back and then we play every third day. It’s a big challenge, but I accept it.”
During about 20 minutes with the media inside the Parc des Princes, Frank admitted it was “a tough watch” as he analyzed Sunday’s North London derby defeat and revealed he had had two meetings with the players about the reaction.
Frank detailed how during 53 situations where Arsenal and Spurs were involved in a “duel or second ball”, Tottenham lost 36.
“If you don’t do that, that’s the basics, it’s very difficult to win football games,” Frank said.
“Tomorrow we are facing one of the best teams in Europe away from home, so it is a good challenge that we are 100 percent ready for and I am confident that we will come back with a good performance.”
Frank used opposite number Luis Enrique as a reference point after responding to Kylian Mbappe’s 2024 departure by leading the Parisians to European glory 12 months later.
“In the first season, (Luis Enrique) also had to go through a lot of battles,” Frank said.
“And (he) changed everything from playing with the biggest players in Europe to playing for lesser stars, very determined players, and he made those changes to create one of the best teams in the world.”
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Tottenham’s Brennan Johnson is suspended for Wednesday’s match after being shown a red card in the win over Copenhagen.
The match also saw the return of Spurs forward Wilson Odobert to the Parc des Princes, where he spent five years in their academy. He went on to sign for Troyes in 2022 and later joined Tottenham after a season at Burnley two years later.
The 20-year-old was reminded on Tuesday of an occasion in 2019 when he was a ballboy at the Parc des Princes before a Champions League match and smiled, but revealed he was ready to punish PSG.
“Yes, I remember holding the big UEFA flag and now it’s great to be able to come back as a player,” Odobert said.
“It was such a dream and now I have objectives and goals because I’m not a kid anymore, I want to perform and give back to my team as much as I can.”
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