- 7 hours ago
Tottenham boss Thomas Frank and striker Dominic Solanke preview their final UEFA Champions League group stage clash with Eintract Frankfurt
Frankfurt, Germany
Courtesy of UEFA
Frankfurt, Germany
Courtesy of UEFA
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hi everybody, good evening, welcome to our Matchday Minus One press conference for tomorrow's Champions League fixture against Eintracht Frankfurt.
00:08I'm joined by Dominic Solanke and our head coach Thomas Frank.
00:11We'll take questions for both and ask for a maximum of two per reporter to get through as many as we can in the time we have.
00:16Please use the microphones provided and headsets available for translation.
00:21Jamie, do you want to start us off?
00:24Good evening, Thomas. Can you just tell us who's travelled and the reasons behind why those who haven't travelled haven't?
00:34And also just clear up a situation regarding Randall Kolomouane and Wilson-Oderberg, we think, today, earlier today?
00:40Yeah, there's a few things to report. Kolomouane and Wilson-Oderberg are both fine.
00:49Unfortunately, we were both involved in a minor accident. Everyone else involved in that accident was fine.
00:55It was a tyre blowing up.
00:58So, the two of them are a little bit delayed, but they will end later tonight.
01:02So, that's the first thing.
01:05Then, Petro hasn't travelled. Unfortunately, he picked up a hamstring injury, so he'll be out for four weeks.
01:11But, Miki hasn't travelled. Minor thing is possible available for the weekend. I think that's it.
01:24Just with the injury situation as well, I think it was about three or four weeks ago, you said that Dayan had had the injection that we were going to know the answers in three or four weeks.
01:34Who, sorry?
01:34Kulisewski.
01:35Ah, Kulisewski, yeah.
01:36Is there any update?
01:37No, I don't have any update on that one, yeah.
01:39Okay. And just finally for me, clearly the form in the league and the form in Europe have just been completely miles apart.
01:48Can you put your finger on why that is?
01:50Do you think the players maybe feel more pressure in league games and they're kind of freed up in Europe more?
01:55It must be driving you crazy trying to work out why they're so different.
01:59Yeah, I think first and foremost, I think tomorrow, for me, we have a great opportunity to secure a position in top eight, which will be a very good result and very good achievement.
02:13We are very, very positive and looking forward to that.
02:17So that's what we are focusing everything we can on.
02:22The other thing is that I think the performances set for a while have been good in many ways.
02:30We just haven't got on the wrong side or got on the right side enough to get the three points.
02:35That's what we're working very hard on.
02:36Sometimes you're on that spell.
02:37The players are giving everything.
02:38But for me, tomorrow, it's all about Frankfurt, all about the opportunity ahead of us.
02:46Hi there.
02:47First one for Dom.
02:48You're obviously a very busy man on a football pitch.
02:50You like to run, you like to press.
02:52How close are you to kind of being a player you want to be again in terms of fitness to do all of that?
02:59Yeah, hopefully soon.
03:00I feel good.
03:00I feel fit.
03:02All of my injury worries have gone away.
03:04I was obviously out for quite a long time.
03:06So, yeah, I'm obviously not going to get straight up to fitness and sharpness straight away.
03:11But, yeah, I've been training with the team for a bit now and a few games under my belt.
03:15So, yeah, I'm feeling good.
03:19Thomas, one for you as well.
03:20I mean, I don't know if you can do this in a percentage wise or not,
03:24but how confident are you of getting another player through the door before the window closes?
03:30We are in the market.
03:32We do everything we can to see if we can improve the squad.
03:37We said that the whole time.
03:39I think it's, of course, when things are not exactly where we want it and we have some injuries,
03:45you can be pushed and forced to take decisions you don't really want to take if everything was on top.
03:52So, we need to be very, very smart and cool and calm and take a good decision to help us to optimise short-term success,
04:02but also secure long-term success.
04:06Matt.
04:07Hello, Thomas.
04:09Could I firstly just ask for a little more detail on the car accident?
04:12Were they coming to the airport or to train in and were they both in that car?
04:16I'm actually in doubt if they're both in that car, if I'm honest, but they were together.
04:24But they're fine and it was on the way to the airport.
04:27And can I also ask, maybe both of you can answer this.
04:30We sat in this very room last season with your predecessor on what felt like a knife edge,
04:37that if you lost, maybe you'd lose the job.
04:40At the end of the season, you won, thanks to Dom and his penalty, and turned it around.
04:45Does it feel like you're on a knife edge again, and does that make things harder?
04:53I can't speak about last year.
04:55Dom can maybe talk about that in a second.
04:58For me, I see an opportunity ahead of us tomorrow that we want to do everything we can to grab with both hands.
05:05I think it's quite clear, I said before, the Dortmund one, that we, just this moment in time with injuries and the squad list,
05:13we have limited players available.
05:16So since that game, Lucas, unfortunately, is not available, and Petro.
05:20So the good news is we have Pape back from AFCON, winning AFCON, with Senegal.
05:29He was not on the squad on the weekend because he had some illness, so he's not super where he should be, but he's available.
05:36The same with Xiao Palinha, he's also available, so that's also positive.
05:39So I think we have, again, I think 11 outfield players, and then great opportunities for academy players coming off the bench,
05:48and we saw you and I get a fantastic debut against Dortmund.
05:55We are confident we can produce results, and that's what we go for tomorrow.
05:59Yeah, I think just what the gaffer said, really, we're seeing tomorrow as a positive.
06:07Obviously, last year we came in and got a great result, and we're looking to do that again tomorrow.
06:11It's a great opportunity for us to finish in the top eight, and yeah, we're looking forward to the game more than anything.
06:19Hi, Thomas.
06:20And just going back to this car accident, sorry to labour the point, I know you've got a lot of things going on at the moment.
06:27Ah, a few things, yeah.
06:29Are they both, were they both shaken?
06:32I mean, are they both in the right frame of mind to come out here and perform?
06:35That is my absolute understanding on everything.
06:39I haven't spoken to them personally yet, because the first thing we heard, the first matches, is that they are fine,
06:46and nothing happened, as I said the first time, and they will fly out later,
06:51and I fully expect both to be available for tomorrow.
06:54Thanks.
06:54My other question is about the Champions League results.
06:57I mean, how proud are you of what you've done so far in the competition?
07:03And do you think you've had the credit that you deserve for your results in Europe?
07:07I think it's, again, it's not about me, it's about us.
07:14I'm very happy that the team and the club, we are in a position where, with a win tomorrow,
07:21we can finish in top eight in the best club tournament in the world,
07:26and it's super, super competitive, as we know, so that we are very, very pleased with.
07:32And I think that's, those results and some of those performances are also what we need to take going forward, of course,
07:38and build on that.
07:39And, again, it's me, it's my job to look a little bit in the bigger perspective.
07:45You know, even that we haven't won as much as we won, it's very, very few things that need to go our way.
07:53You know, the small margins.
07:56Keep doing the right thing.
07:57Keep improving the things you want to do.
07:59Getting quality players back, as Dominic Solanke has talked about before.
08:06Dom is a huge force.
08:08He's been out for six months.
08:11You know, to have your main striker and top scorer out,
08:15I'd like to see some of the other teams being out there as well.
08:18So, that means something.
08:21And Dom is a physical beast and great mentality.
08:24But, of course, we, he push it to the limit as well.
08:28I've come from being off the bench, playing 50 minutes, then 70 minutes,
08:31going off a cramp, then 90 minutes.
08:33So, he's pushing everything he can.
08:36But it's, it's, it's a tough job with short turnarounds.
08:40Jack.
08:41Hi, Dom.
08:41Can I just take you back again to the game here last year in the Europa League?
08:46Can you, can you be a bit, can you tell us how you guys felt going into the game?
08:51And did you feel like it could have been a, or it was a kind of real turning point
08:56for what was, at that time, quite a difficult season?
09:00Yeah, I think, yeah, I think last year, obviously, we weren't as good as we wanted to be in the league.
09:05And we had the European competition to, to look forward to as well.
09:09And that was a huge game in our season.
09:11And we obviously want to win cups at this club.
09:15And I think, yeah, like you mentioned, that was obviously a huge part of winning that.
09:20And yeah, we got fond memories of it.
09:21It was a close game and we managed to just win the game and then go on to win the whole trophy.
09:27So, yeah, I think we haven't got anything but good things to say about that game.
09:32Thomas, another injury, Pedro, he's one of your best players.
09:40I mean, how much of a blow is that?
09:42You surely can't believe it at this stage, another key player injured.
09:46No, it definitely not help any of us.
09:50We, of course, we prefer to have the best players out there on the pitch.
09:55Any coach want that.
09:57Any teammate want that.
09:58But we also have a squad that they need to, other players need to step up as they've done and perform.
10:07And Dom, obviously being on the sidelines, watching on throughout this first six months,
10:13you can see the sort of pressure the team's been under, the manager's been under from the sidelines.
10:18How desperate are you to make up for lost time and come to the aid of the team right now?
10:26Yeah, it's always difficult being injured.
10:28Personally, but, yeah, obviously it's always hard to watch the team and know that you can't really help and do anything to change that.
10:35But, yeah, I'm back with it now.
10:36And like I mentioned, I feel good.
10:38So, I want to do everything I can to help the team.
10:41We're only just past the halfway mark and we've still got a lot of games to play and still believe we can still go on to have a good season.
10:48So, yeah, obviously I'm hoping to play a big role in that.
10:51But now we're all looking for the positives.
10:54Finish with Tom, please.
10:56Hi, Thomas.
10:56You talked before Burnley, I think, about the sort of mental power you said and focus of being able to kind of compete in various different competitions.
11:04Is there something about the Champions League you think that kind of gets these players going more than other competitions?
11:09They put more what it says.
11:12Ask me again.
11:13More focus.
11:14In terms of their focus, maybe, you know.
11:16Yeah.
11:16I think you said before, Burnley, the challenge now is kind of in the sort of lesser, if you like, Premier League games, let's say, you know, that sometimes the mental concentration maybe isn't there.
11:24Is there something about the Champions League, even about European games, you know, now that this gets this team going?
11:29I think there is definitely proven, I would say.
11:34Maybe there's not a specific science behind it.
11:37But the mental and the physical load on players to produce every third and fourth game is very big when you do.
11:47And so it's so big and it's more difficult to do that.
11:52And of course, the bigger the competition from Cronsons League to Europa League to Champions League is just better team.
11:58That means it's more.
12:00You need to give more.
12:02And that you need to have players and a squad that is, how can you say, I would not say used to it, but are learning over time to go out there and produce no matter what.
12:14So that's a big thing.
12:16And, you know, a lot of teams you can see either getting more to adapt to it.
12:22I know Newcastle talked a lot about the first time they were in Champions League a couple of years ago.
12:29And even this season as well.
12:30So it's just as an example, or Villa last year, whatever it is.
12:34So we just need to learn from it and keep producing.
12:39And then sometimes it's the small things that even do a lot of things right.
12:44You don't get the result.
12:45And then, oh, everything is a catastrophe.
12:48But actually behind the scenes, there's a lot of things going the right direction.
12:51And can I ask about Kinski?
12:52Because there's been some reports that maybe he might be on his way to West Ham.
12:55I mean, has he been frustrated about not playing?
12:57And is he someone you might let go of this January?
12:59Oh, in general, happy with Kinski.
13:02He's a great keeper.
13:03I think any player wants to play, but we also need good players if something happens with Vic, for example.
13:12And just on Miki, you said it's a minor thing.
13:14He's obviously had quite a history of hamstring problems.
13:16Is it a hamstring thing or not?
13:18It's just a minor thing.
13:19We expect him to be a big possibility for a city.
13:22Not a hamstring thing?
13:23It's not a hamstring.
13:25Final one in the middle, please.
13:28My name is Sonja.
13:29I'm from Hit Radio FFH, a local radio station here in Frankfurt.
13:33And I was wondering, Thomas, with all the thoughts on your own team, on your mind, obviously,
13:39how much do you have in your head about Frankfurt?
13:43They are in a crisis themselves.
13:45And what do you expect?
13:47What kind of game tomorrow?
13:49Of course, we've started them closely.
13:55And they may be not in their best form.
14:00But it's a team that I think done fantastic in the league last year.
14:04And I still think they have done some fantastic results and played some fantastic games this season.
14:07Recently, just played 3-3 with Dortmund.
14:10I think that's four or five games ago.
14:14They have very good players.
14:15And they have a clear identity in what they want to do.
14:21So I expect a very difficult game where they'll come in their man-man pressure tomorrow.
14:28We know I think they're very good in the transitions.
14:31So I expect a difficult game.
14:33I know they're on paper.
14:35I don't have anything to play for.
14:36But sometimes you can play free.
14:39I've been in this game long enough that you never know what you're going to face tomorrow.
14:43And it, of course, needs to be focused on us, with big respect for Frankfurt.
14:50And we know all their strength.
14:52No doubt about that.
14:54Okay.
14:54Thank you very much.
14:55Thank you, guys.
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