Thomas Frank has explained why he is over the moon with what he saw from the Tottenham players against Brighton, and admits that one aspect of his side’s play gave him ‘goosebumps’.
Spurs will be happy to have salvaged a point from the clash against Brighton, given that they were 2-0 down within the first 31 minutes.
However, on the balance of play, the Lilywhites will feel that they had the chances to come away with all three points from the Amex Stadium.
That is certainly the opinion of Thomas Frank, who admits that he cannot have asked more from his players in terms of intensity.
Thomas Frank was delighted with the mentality of the Tottenham players
The North Londoners were coming off a physically and emotionally draining Champions League clash against Villarreal in mid-week, but one would not have guessed that from the intensity they showed against the Segualls.
Frank claimed that it was his side’s most complete performance of the season, revealing that he got ‘goosebumps’ when watching the recovery runs that his players were making.
When asked if he is happy with the resilience his side showed after going 2-0 down, the Dane told Football.London: “I’m very, very pleased with it. I think there was also a situation the first half, the way we sprinted back on our recovery runs.
“That’s goosebumps, that’s bread and butter. But you want to be a resilient team because we play against good teams and it will be difficult sometimes. But it’s a good group of players. They want to perform. They are disappointed after the game. Even when we come back, they wanted to win, of course.
“I also think the overall performance played in – I think maybe this was our most complete performance so far in the season. I know we made, you can say we conceded two goals, but I think actually there were so many positives overall in the game.
“Also the high pressure, the man-to-man, very aggressive. But as you say, that resilience in the group, that mentality, is good.”
Frank lauds Tottenham players for the way they pressed
It was Spurs’ first draw of the Frank era, and given that the Tottenham boss has emphasised the importance of clean sheets, he may have been disappointed with the goals that this side conceded.
However, the 51-year-old emphasised the positives, lauding his players for how they pressed the Segulls high up the pitch and counter-pressed when they lost the ball.
When asked why he felt it was Tottenham Hotspur’s most complete performance of the season so far, Frank responded: “I know we conceded two goals, and it’s never that black and white. So one where we will say I should take it. The second one is, OK, we conceded a goal, that can happen. It’s just the Premier League, it’s good. But besides that, I thought we defended well.
“Overall, I think the high pressure was very aggressive, and we were winning the ball back more or less all the time, which we like to do. I think in phase one, we got out every time, more or less. We controlled it up there.
“We created so many good opportunities, and had to counter-press and rest defending crosses. So there was a lot of the bits we like to do, because of that. And then on top of that, the mentality to come back from 2-0 down is so important.”