Tottenham manager Thomas Frank previews their opening Premier League match at home to Bournemouth.

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00:00Hi Thomas. Back to Jett. When Thomas Tuchel took over, he reached out to about 50 players.

00:06Jett said he wasn't one of them when we spoke to him last season.

00:12I just wondered, in your mind, from watching from afar and obviously this season, what do you think has changed?

00:18And have you actually spoken to Thomas Tuchel in the league up to Jett's support?

00:22I've spoken to Tuchel, but not about Jett actually, so that was before.

00:28I think, again, I think Justin gives such a top example of, in football it goes so quick.

00:38And we need to remind ourselves about it and the players need to remind themselves about it sometimes.

00:42Especially when now the team, clearly a coach was talking about the 12 players I need to manage,

00:47that's not in the team, okay, I need to explain to them, let him go quick.

00:51But with his performances, suddenly he's just in the picture because he is athletic.

00:57Now I'm guessing, I don't know, I've spoken to Tuchel about this.

01:00Athletic, quick, 1-1 defensively, exceptionally good.

01:06Look at the performances he's done against PSG and also Burnley and City.

01:11Top wingers he's taking out.

01:13And when he's bombarding forward, it's very difficult to catch him.

01:17And he's, you know, just a great type.

01:21He can play both sides, left and right.

01:23So, yeah, very good player.

01:26Very good player.

01:27Yeah.

01:28I erased that, you know, all games we lose, I can't remember them.

01:33Well, I just wondered, well, if you can't remember, then fair enough, but that day, I mean,

01:43most people were never out of the way watching how well he played.

01:46It really did sort of sum up how far he'd come.

01:49Yeah.

01:50Did you notice any of your opposites as you made that day?

01:53I definitely noticed that it was difficult for Brian on the day to go past him.

02:02But now he's good yet.

02:03I actually followed him, you know, since the Championship days when Brentford was already on the radar there back then.

02:11And obviously it's been a fantastic start, a team that's so obviously well put together,

02:17but just fighting for everything.

02:19Forgive my language, before you famously talked about the New Zealand no-dicket policy.

02:25I just wondered what in your mind constitutes a dickhead and how do you sort of fight against it?

02:33Fair play.

02:36I actually, I actually, I actually don't think there's any people that is a dickhead.

02:47I think then you're probably a psychopath if you are.

02:50I think most people are just not being guided well enough or got the help they need.

02:58And hopefully the most people that are getting into a good group and they can see,

03:02okay, this is actually how we should behave.

03:04And a lot of them need to get guided.

03:07Then I would say there's probably a little bit with the ego.

03:10There's always the ego who get in the way for all of us.

03:15And it's about maybe being guided around that, I think is a key thing.

03:20And then I think also it's human nature.

03:22It's back in history, history, history.

03:24You want to be part of a clan.

03:26We want to be part of something.

03:28And you feel you're accepting a part of something.

03:30You're like willing to do more.

03:32So if you get into a good environment, good culture, you feel, oh, I'm part of something.

03:36Most of the guys that maybe are borderline, they catch big egos.

03:41Maybe we get around them and they get guided in the right way.

03:44And the best coaches is the ones where it's not me telling it all the time,

03:48but it's the players who's doing it in.

03:50So just as a follow-up, with that in mind, when it comes to bringing anyone into the club,

03:55or whatever it might be, do you not really look at their sort of,

03:58if there's any sort of character references in the past?

04:00Is it more when you actually deal with the player up front?

04:03That's when you really can tell what they're up front?

04:05Yeah, but we take massive references.

04:07Massive, big on it.

04:09On any players done in the past, we'll do it the same.

04:11And of course, there are some players you are taking in that is like,

04:15okay, he's a 10 out of 10. Perfect.

04:17Others are not 10 out of 10.

04:19But they can't be too low, of course.

04:23But then you think, okay, I think with our culture, it'll work anyway.

04:31Can you talk a little bit to us about building a squad for modern football,

04:37for Champions League campaign?

04:39When you look at, for example, your front unit, whatever,

04:42whatever you classify, do you want two of each?

04:45Is variety more important than anything?

04:50Yeah, I think the perfect picture,

04:55the front is not that perfect a lot of times in football or in clubs,

05:00in my opinion, is that you have 20 plus three players.

05:04That's a perfect, two in each position.

05:07All of them are robust.

05:11Of course, you can get injuries.

05:13And then you need, you probably don't need 20 top players,

05:21because they also need that balance of everyone can get enough minutes.

05:25So it feeds their ego and where they are in their stages career and everything.

05:29So that's the perfect scenario.

05:33It's not that often you get that.

05:35When you look at Tottenham's injury record last season, does that come into your planning?

05:43Or do you have to almost forget about it and say you can't easily?

05:47No, that's 100% of course we come into the planning.

05:51We had too many injuries last year, so we can't get around that.

05:57And hopefully, with some of the processes we set in place, or put in place, that can help.

06:05But it also, with that in mind, of course, we need to be aware that it's a long season.

06:09And as I said from the beginning, hopefully, we're going to play 60 plus games.

06:13So that we need to be good enough on building the players, good enough in doing the rotation at the right time,

06:23which is an art and very difficult.

06:27And be good enough to have the right amount of players.

06:31Because you can't have too many.

06:33Because that's also not good.

06:35So on that, what can I ask about central defence then you've got?

06:40Are you in the market for another one?

06:43Is Voskovic gone to Hamburg and why?

06:48And who are your options in there when you talked about injuries?

06:56What's Miki's situation?

06:57Is he going to blow through every game or is he going to be whatever you have to?

07:01I think Voskovic, there's definitely something on that.

07:08That he maybe will not be in the club this summer.

07:18We have right now three centre-backs, Miki, Romeo, Tanso.

07:24And Ben can play there if necessary.

07:28We have Kota, a young central defender we got this summer.

07:34That is training with the team, running now, training with the team next week.

07:39Or training with the ball, there's not many left behind.

07:43And then Dragos has come back in a couple of months.

07:51So I think that should be enough.

07:53Not necessarily, no.

07:57Not necessarily, no.

07:58Not necessarily, no.

07:59Not necessarily, no, yeah.

08:01Matt?

08:02Hi.

08:03Just to ask about the striker situation.

08:04Obviously, Richarsen is in such good form.

08:06Is there anything Solange you can do at the moment more to get into the team?

08:11Or has Richarsen sort of made an impossible job?

08:14I think it's all about performances.

08:17Richie has been fantastic in the pre-season.

08:22Played well, scoring goals.

08:25If you're playing well and scoring goals, you keep your shirt.

08:28It's difficult to put him out of the team and I have no interest in doing that.

08:32On the flip side, I think Dom is a very good striker.

08:34I think Dominic has been, in my opinion, good for Tottenham.

08:39I know he had the injury and then had to come back and maybe he didn't show his size level

08:44in the end of last season.

08:45But I think he's two good strikers.

08:47We need two good strikers.

08:48We just said we're going to play 60 games and with that we need both.

08:54I think that's very far away right now.

09:09I think he knows that he's a good striker.

09:14He knows that I like him.

09:16He knows there's competition.

09:18Let's say he was on the team and he performed and Richie was pushing.

09:25It's the same for both of them.

09:27Can I ask one about the conversations you have with players when the clubs are looking

09:31to sign them?

09:32You spoke last week of the only one players here who want to be here.

09:35Maybe there can be news today that clubs signed someone who was also strongly linked

09:39with other clubs.

09:40But in general, how do you convince yourself that a player does want to be here?

09:44When you're speaking to them?

09:47I think when I speak to them, I'm pretty direct and honest in how I see the player.

09:53Of course, I want to sell the Tottenham project.

09:57Of course, but I'm also direct in terms of how I see their role and what we hopefully

10:03can make them to become.

10:05But also that it will be a fantastic journey, but also can be ups and downs in that journey.

10:10And there's bits I need to work on.

10:12And we go into that.

10:16Then I can say sign off.

10:18I would like the player, but the player also need to sign off to the project and the role.

10:24Jacob?

10:25Thomas, you said before about players having an ego.

10:30Presumably, though, there's a good type of ego and a bad type of ego.

10:35They need to have that on the pitch, though.

10:37100%.

10:38You know, they need to.

10:39We all have the ego.

10:40We can't live without the ego.

10:41We, you know, none of us would have been in this room, probably being in the position

10:46you guys are.

10:47I am Anthony.

10:48We don't have an ego that can push us a bit.

10:50So I think that's hugely important.

10:53But I think it's important that it's not controlling you in many ways.

10:59And I always use that attitude as confident but humble.

11:02So you need to be extremely confident in your own abilities, but also humble about the team,

11:07humble about your role, humble about what you need to do.

11:10Humble about is every single day you need to put the hard work in.

11:14But of course, when you step on the pitch, when I step in here, you know, we need to look

11:19confident, but I'm not humble to do all the hard work.

11:23Forget it.

11:24You need a player who doesn't come across as having that kind of humble opportunity.

11:29Are you and me as well?

11:30Or do you think they'd like to get in there and work out what's going on?

11:36I've met a few over the years.

11:43I think it's important to try to understand the player.

11:47I think it's so easy to say, oh, he doesn't have enough or he has too much.

11:52It's the easiest way.

11:55It's my job together with the coaches to maximise their potential.

11:59To maximise their potential, I need to get to know them and try to get into them.

12:04Finish with John, please.

12:05What do you think you could give us an overview of this transfer window compared with the ones

12:11you've had at Brentford?

12:13Has it been a bigger pool because of the financial, a bigger financial pool?

12:19Was it a smaller pool because you're looking specifically for Champions League?

12:25How many numbers have changed?

12:28I would say, if any, a smaller pool, I would say.

12:33But probably similar with just a couple of levels above in terms of what you're looking for.

12:40But when you're looking for better players, there's not that many.

12:45And we all want the best and the perfect one, that perfect number 10 I described before.

12:50There are very few of them out there, if any.

12:53So when you do that, there's always some doubts in something.

12:56Of course there is.

12:59But it's been a good learning.

13:02It's the same processes, but of course I need to get to know how people work here

13:10and how the processes are.

13:11So that means there is.

13:12There's been more work this summer than there's been the other years in Brentford.

13:18Except the first couple of years, of course.

13:22So, which is natural.

13:24It seems that other clubs have been involved more and a bit more like

13:28you've got to fend up the players with what it's right or what it's convinced by.

13:33Say again.

13:34You've got to fend up the club itself, you've got to find other clubs

13:38fighting for the same group of players.

13:40Yeah.

13:41But to be fair, I think it was the same in Brentford, just on a different level.

13:44We just competed against other clubs, also wanted a player.

13:46So it's the same.

13:48There's just a few more of you guys in here asking questions

13:52and a few more digging out stories that's maybe there, maybe not there.

13:55But that's the biggest difference.

13:57Is it a stressful period for Mojo?

14:00My preferred thing is, of course, just to coach the players, develop them, train on the pitch,

14:11play the matches, ups and downs.

14:13This is part of it.

14:17So I'm like quite problematic.

14:19I know I need to do it.

14:20And I also want good players in and you also.

14:22So it's fine, but I prefer the other bit.

14:24Okay.

14:25Thank you very much.

14:26Thank you, guys.

14:29Yeah.

14:30Thank you guys.

14:32See you guys.

14:33Take care.

14:34See you.

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