Frank Reacts To Tottenham’s 4-1 Collapse Against North London Rivals

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Tottenham Hotspurs boss Thomas Frank Reacts To Tottenham’s 4-1 Collapse Against North London Rivals  23/11/2025  Emirates Stadium, London, UK

Transcript

00:00Why should I start?

00:09This is of course hugely disappointing that we don't perform better in the game against Arsenal, our biggest rival.

00:20I can only apologize to the fans for that.

00:24I was very confident, whatever Friday we spoke about, that we could be competitive today.

00:32And we won over the 90 minutes.

00:36We tried to come here and be aggressive and press high and in spells go after them.

00:44We didn't succeed with that bit, didn't manage to get near enough to them in the situation we could.

00:50That means we got pushed back and got a little bit too passive, it looks like, we were running after them.

00:54And then when we finally got on the ball, we were not good enough to get out of the situations.

00:59So no matter how painful it is to admit, they are definitely six years down the line, we are four months down the line.

01:07But even with that, I was still expecting much more from us today.

01:13Not that we could be dominating over 90 minutes, but that we could be competitive as we were against City and PSG.

01:21Another game with a lack of creativity is going to be spoken about.

01:24Is it concerning you that it is still not clicking?

01:27And now I think this is, it is concerning.

01:31It is concerning.

01:33Of course, we are working very hard on trying to make that better.

01:39But sometimes you need to, it's not only playing out, find nice passes and the final pass.

01:46It is also in a game like this, if you see some of the situation where they wanted high Arsenal.

01:52And then there was a little bit more open space.

01:54So we didn't win enough in those situations.

01:56And then create from that.

01:58But for me, the creativity, I know it was very low, was not my biggest concern today.

02:02That's also a concern, of course.

02:05Did you get it wrong today? Did you set the tone with a set-up that was too negative?

02:15I'm a very big believer that no matter what system you play, you can be successful.

02:22I completely understand the question, and I always take the full responsibility.

02:28So the full responsibility will always be on me.

02:31Today, when we didn't perform, I picked the team that played 5-4-1, changed it at half-time.

02:37Very, very clever.

02:38One minute into it, they scored to 3-0.

02:41And then the rest is history after that.

02:45What I would say is that no matter if you played one or another's system,

02:50we needed to be more aggressive and be better than the duels.

02:53And that doesn't matter the system.

02:55But I take the responsibility for everything today, no matter that.

02:59Thomas, with the back five, was the plan in the first half to frustrate Arsenal?

03:06Or was that something that was imposed upon you?

03:08Ask again, sorry.

03:12Was the plan in the back five to frustrate Arsenal, to shut the game down?

03:16Or was that something that was imposed upon you?

03:18I think, you know, the question before, I know we are working very hard on the offensive part of it.

03:23So we could be extremely defensive solid, but still be aggressive, still go after them,

03:27which we've done, which we also did, for example, against PSG.

03:30But we didn't succeed with today in the same way.

03:33So, as I say, if you have a back five, you will still be very offensive in many, many ways.

03:39But today, it just didn't succeed.

03:42John?

03:43In that first half, Thomas, tactics aside, did you see enough fight from the team?

03:49I mean, you know, normally in a North London dog, it's early, early, it's incredibly intense.

03:55And was that lacking from the players?

03:58I think we were 100% too far from them in these duels we wanted to create.

04:04Or these, how can I say, getting pressure, getting close.

04:08In those duels, as I talked about before, we didn't win enough of them.

04:12If that's lack of fight or lack of whatever it is, we just didn't do it enough.

04:16James?

04:17Just following on from that, you say you didn't win the duels, you weren't aggressive enough.

04:21Was there a concern then that the team just didn't believe they could win yet?

04:25No, that would surprise me, if I'm honest.

04:32Why shouldn't we be able to win here?

04:35I think that's two different things.

04:39Maybe it was, I think in any game, you need to get through tough spells.

04:46So, I don't think that, maybe that came during the game, I don't know.

04:51I don't need to ask the players about.

04:53Thomas, up to the ball with the team, I can obviously stress the importance of not having these bad performances.

04:59Yeah.

05:00Even games can go either way.

05:02But we've had that one with Chelsea and then with us today.

05:05How alarmed are you by the fact that the team is still capable of putting in these kind of performances?

05:09That, of course, will always be a concern.

05:12I would like the team to have very few bad performances.

05:16There will always be average performances because it's football we are dealing with.

05:19So, that's definitely something I need to look into.

05:25Because today, I felt we were fresh.

05:27I think we were ready.

05:29Chelsea game was a little bit on the back end of a top spell.

05:32There could be that.

05:33But the form was still bad.

05:34So, today, I didn't expect us not to be not competitive.

05:39Just secondly, talking about creativity, you chose not to start Xavi.

05:44You sort of explained it already about the tactical set-up.

05:47But have you been playing better in the last few weeks?

05:50Specifically, why didn't you pick him?

05:53He's been playing better.

05:54What are you saying?

05:55It feels like he's been getting to grips with Xavi in the last few weeks.

05:57Yeah, he's better and better.

05:59I think that was a tactical decision.

06:01I think Wilson has done well.

06:03So, it's one of him or Xavi or Wilson.

06:06Ian?

06:08Honestly, the fourth Arsenal goal starts with a Tottenham burying deep in their half.

06:14When you watch it back, he's not a Tottenham player.

06:17He seems to own the ball.

06:19He ends up back with your goalkeeper.

06:213-1 down.

06:22He plays it.

06:23They get the ball and they score.

06:25Is that an issue with confidence or bravery?

06:28Just a one-on-board in that situation?

06:33I think you are 3-1 down.

06:35What's the score at that time?

06:3782nd minute.

06:39We always want bravery.

06:41You need to be consistent.

06:42You need to keep going.

06:43You need to do all the right things.

06:44I think I would be more concerned if that was as 0-0 or 1-0.

06:48Jay?

06:49Hi, Thomas.

06:50To one point in the last three league games against Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United,

06:55teams that you want to be competing against at the top of the table,

06:58just wondering what you've learned from those last three games

07:01and where the areas of improvement are.

07:03I think it's three different games.

07:06As you can see, I think the United game was a much better performance than today

07:15and the Chelsea won.

07:18I also think there is a difference between Chelsea and Arsenal.

07:21Even both of them look bad on paper.

07:23I need to watch this back as well.

07:25I think there is definitely a lot to work on still.

07:35I think it's fair to say that we are very disappointed and unhappy with the performance

07:41today.

07:42I don't want to run away from that.

07:44I apologize to the fans.

07:46I think it's also fair to say where we are coming from.

07:48We finished 17th last year and we tried to build something,

07:53which today didn't look like we tried to build something.

07:56You just mentioned that there are differences between this performance and Chelsea.

07:59Lots of people will look at the XG and the Chelsea creation and say they are very similar.

08:03Can you just elaborate on what you've noticed and what's different?

08:06I think it's also fair to say I need to look at this game back.

08:09I have more just fresh in mind and very emotional and frustrated of course right now.

08:14So please ask me about that question next time we see each other.

08:18On Tuesday.

08:19Yeah, on Tuesday.

08:20Final one.

08:21Thomas, I know you said that systems could be attacking on defense and you could be successful

08:25than anyone, but would you accept that maybe in lining up in a back five before the game,

08:29which you have not done in a long time, you are sending a message to the players and maybe

08:33encouraging a degree of passivity by lining up with that extra defender?

08:37Yeah, you can say that, but there are so many ways you can see it in that aspect.

08:46I have seen lots of teams, including my own team playing also 3-5-2 or 3-4-3,

08:54being very aggressive, positive, forward thinking.

08:57That was not the case today.

08:59So I don't think it's about the system.

09:01Okay, thank you.

09:04Thank you, guys.

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