Thomas Frank has admitted that he is extremely frustrated with the performance that he saw from his Tottenham players at the City Ground.
There was some cautious optimism among the Spurs fan base ahead of the team’s trip to Nottingham Forest.
Not only had the Lilywhites registered back-to-back home wins against Brentford and Slavia Prague in the lead-up to the contest, but they also played on the front foot and created plenty of chances in those matches.
However, we saw Tottenham revert to type in the Midlands, failing to even lay a glove on the home side and emerging with a deserved 3-0 loss.
Thomas Frank says Tottenham were never in the game after going 2-0 down
The Tottenham boss asserted that his players failed to execute their game plan and keep their heads after Forest’s second goal, suggesting that it was a repeat of what we saw from the team last season as well.
Frank pointed the finger at the number of unforced errors that Spurs made in possession as the main reason why they did not create chances.
When asked if it was a case of two steps forward and a huge leap back for his side, the Dane said (via Football.London): “Yeah, absolutely agree. That was very disappointing. It was a bad performance. Frustrating, because I think the last three games were good in terms of performance and results, normally linked. And you can lose a game like this. That’s the frustrating part, of course.
“I think every game, I think, until the 1-0 goal, it was a little bit back and forth for both teams. Hard transition both ways. And then after the first goal, I think we lost structure and were more disjointed. And then the 2-0 goal killed the game off.
“Basically, not in the game after that, in my opinion. And that’s part of keeping the structure, keep the game plan, keep going, keep doing the right things. So that’s definitely not the first time we’ve seen that, this year, last year, whenever. That’s something that’s ongoing work in progress before we’re more consistent in that.
“Doesn’t help that we made two mistakes with the first two goals. But again, that can happen in football. So we just need to keep doing the right things. So everything looks the right way. And then on top of that, we decide to throw the ball away at least 25 times. So we can’t hit each other 25 times. That’s going to make it difficult for you to create anything or to win a game.”
When pressed on if it was a mental issue, the 52-year-old responded: “I think it’s a combination of mental, structure, and coolness. Stick to the game plan, focus.”
Frank asked if Spurs players are failing to execute his game plan
Tottenham registered just one shot on target throughout the 90 minutes at the City Ground, and unfortunately, that kind of performance has become far too common this season.
Frank insisted that the issue does not come down to the game plan, but rather the players’ inability to make simple passes.
When it was pointed out that he has asked for more aggression and bravery from his side and asked if the players are not taking his messages on board, Frank responded: “No, I think it’s very simple. If you don’t perform, you can say all the right things. If you’re a little bit out of sync, then you see things like this. When you are on track and in sync, you see the last three performances. So that’s very simple.
“If you perform, you keep doing the right thing, then it makes it easier, of course. And then I just think of the little small thing that is difficult. We win together, we lose together, but we can’t pass the ball on the pitch. So if we lose the ball 25 times, I think it’s fair to say that it’s pretty difficult to create something.”
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