Thomas Frank addresses why Spurs have won just three games from 19 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Thomas Frank has once again addressed Spurs’ home form and the struggles that come from playing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Thomas Frank had stated earlier in the season that he had clear plans in place to improve Tottenham Hotspur’s home record.
However, none of those plans seem to have worked out so far, as Tottenham’s record at home continues to slide from bad to worse each time they play in front of their supporters.
Saturday’s clash against Chelsea only deepened those concerns, as Tottenham once again looked out of their depth at home, struggling to impose themselves and being comfortably outplayed by their London rivals.
Thomas Frank explains Tottenham’s home form struggles
When asked about Tottenham’s ongoing issues at home, Thomas Frank admitted that the problem is complex and cannot be fixed overnight.
He noted that his time at the club has been short but insisted that improving home performances remains a top priority.
He told football.London: “Of course, it’s a relatively small sample for me to look into. First and foremost, we need to work very hard on keep adding to performances, keep adding layers, keep improving.
“Work very hard on the training pitch, in meeting rooms, in one-to-one actions and I see a good improvement in the team in general. Of course, we’re coming on the back of a bad performance.
“That’s the big flashing light right now, so everyone has a little bit a struggle to look past that and look to the very good performances we’ve had this year as well.
“I also think it’s fair to say we are coming off the back of in many ways a fantastic season, but also a tough season and if anyone would have said that we would have now 17 points after 10 games, unbeaten in the Champions League and fifth, it doesn’t matter where we are now, it’s where we are at the end of the season…
“Everything’s definitely not perfect, but there’s decent foundation and it’s up to us to add layers. I think everyone would have taken where we are now, in terms of 22 defeats last season and finishing 17th. The Europa League is fantastic, wow, but the Champions League is different.
“Fantastic the first 30 minutes of the game Saturday night. I think the noise was incredible and that carried us forwards. It seems there was a little bit of a turning point when we conceded the goal.
“Where we all get a little bit frustrated, which is natural. I think it’s more than fair, because we are in the performance business, and if we can’t deal with the pressure or deal with the negativity or the criticism, we shouldn’t sit here.
“Probably Vic and I, we are in the football world because we love the game and we love to be part of something.
“It’s nice, the big occasions and the big crowds. I think the fans were fantastic the first 30 and after the game if we perform badly and on top of that we lost the game, more than fair enough they boo us. But during the game, we need a little bit of help.
“And especially when it’s not going the right way. They can be the turning point. We are down 1-0 last 15, imagine they carry us over the line. We got a little of an unfair 1-1, what a feeling. That point can be the difference in a long season.”
Frank urges patience and balance in expectations
When asked whether there is a growing expectation to play in a certain way at home, Frank was quick to acknowledge the difficulty of maintaining consistency, given the range of challenges each opponent brings.
He added: “That’s different types of games, sometimes also everything accumulating, the number you gave is not a fantastic number.
“We haven’t won at home in the last whatever games in the Premier League, not too many, but completely different games. Some teams are very different teams to play against, others a little bit easier.
“For example, Villa, I think very good comparative performance. Unfortunately, we lost, we just got it wrong, but we easily could have won that 1-0.
“Saturday night is an accumulation of a lot of things. A big London derby. We always hope we can beat them. We haven’t beaten them for a long time and we didn’t, so that’s just added a bit.”
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