Gus Poyet reveals what stuck out to him about Thomas Frank and Tottenham’s performance in the London derby against Chelsea.
Going into Saturday’s game, the mood around Spurs was positive overall, as despite some of the team’s shortcomings this season, the club were still sitting third in the Premier League.
However, that one performance has completely changed the feeling among the fan base, with the Tottenham supporters booing loudly at the final whistle.
While that might be seen as some as an overreaction, if there was any performance that deserved to be booed, it was that one, with Tottenham mustering just a 0.05 xG against Chelsea.
Spurs failed to register a single shot in the second half despite trailing the game, and Thomas Frank admitted he had never been in charge of a team that created so little in a game.
Gus Poyet says Tottenham players are confused about their style under Thomas Frank
Poyet suggested that the difference between Chelsea and Spurs was very evident on Saturday as the away side knew exactly what their manager expected of them, while the home side appeared lost.
While the former Tottenham midfielder and assistant coach conceded that the Lilywhites are in transition, he opined that the supporters are right to expect more fight from the players in a big derby game.
Poyet told Football365: “Obviously, we were all expecting more from Spurs. I think sometimes, when you get to this kind of derby… I don’t pay too much attention to how the teams arrive to this game. You know how they come from the previous game, because it’s unique. So I was expecting, let’s say, a more competitive, more equal game.
“I think Chelsea players, they are playing at the moment, like the style and the way they want to play. Spurs looked to me like they were a little bit confused, and it was difficult to get into the pace of the game, like they were never in the rhythm. Then when the best player in Spurs is probably the goalkeeper, that tells you everything about it.
When asked why they were confused, Poyet said: “I think the team, more or less, is the team that we were expecting. It’s just that I think Spurs are in a process of change. I don’t forget how Ange was playing in the beginning, with that incredible high line, and it was crazy. There were 3, 4, 5, 6 goals. I said at the beginning of that season, if you want to see goals, go watch Spurs. Winning or losing is another matter.”
“So any other manager coming after that, it will be a process. Obviously. I don’t think that the squad of Spurs has too much in common with the squad of Brentford. Completely different the style of a player. So there is a little bit of adaptation both ways, from the coach to the players and the players to the coach. And I think that’s been the season so far.
“There have been games like Paris Saint-Germain, you go ‘wow’ and then the next game, you go, ‘what happened?’ Up and down because of that new way of playing. But then it’s a derby and the derbies, they are there to be won because it has nothing to do with their identity. They have nothing to do with a change of coach. It’s just a matter of the players going in there and performing.
“It didn’t look like Tottenham was playing a derby properly. They were just in between. Do we attack? Do we defend? We keep the ball? Do we play long? We work for a corner, for a throw-in. It was like a little bit of everything, and at the end, it was nothing. So bad day and the bad day is clear when the game finished and everything that happened after the game, which shows that it was a really big frustration in that stadium.”
Poyet dismisses controversial Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence incident
Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence ignored Thomas Frank and headed straight to the tunnel after the final whistle against Chelsea.
Frank has put Van de Ven’s and Spence’s behaviour down to frustration and played down the incident, but that has been a big talking point in the media over the last 48 hours.
Poyet backed the Tottenham defensive duo, suggesting that they were fully within their rights to head straight back into the tunnel instead of applauding the supporters like Frank wanted.
Reacting to the incident, the Uruguayan said: “It’s not because of Frank because I don’t know him, and I think he’s a great coach, but I said it maybe two years ago, for some reason that nobody knows, the coaches, they start finishing the game in England, and they started walking onto the pitch.
“I don’t like it. Me, I’m a little bit old-fashioned, shake hands with the opposition, get in [the tunnel]. The stars are the players. I made one mistake here in Korea in my first game at home. That was a very important game, and the people from the media asked me to go close to the fans, and I stayed a little bit longer, and I said to them, that’s it.
“Me, I clap the fans, shake hands, and I go in. Okay? Then there are special celebrations. Special days, no, but the last two or three years, finish the game, shake hands. And the cameras, they follow the coaches onto the pitch.
“So I think it became like a habit, and that habit makes you be in positions that we should avoid, let’s say, with your players, with the opposite players, and the referees. Because if you go in, you don’t complain. If you go in front of the referee, there is something you want to talk about, maybe you complain, and you get a yellow card. So I like it the old way.”