Every word Thomas Frank said on Cristian Romero injury, Xavi Simons rut and Monaco test

Thomas Frank has been speaking in Monaco ahead of Tottenham's third Champions League group fixture

Thomas Frank has confirmed Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies have remained behind in London ahead of Tottenham's Champions League clash with Monaco.

The Dane has been speaking to the media on Tuesday evening to preview the contest and he's also explained why Brennan Johnson hasn't been playing - despite scoring the goal that got the club back into Europe's elite club competitions.

The Spurs boss also shared his positivity that Xavi Simons will soon take off following a tough start to life in N17.

Football.London has you covered with every word both Frank and central defender Kevin Danso just said at Stade Louis II.

Only a couple of days after Sunday’s defeat, an opportunity to put things right?

“Yeah, that is the good thing with playing the games so shortly after each other, you just progress and move onto the next one. I think the good thing with the Villa game is overall a very good performance looking back. I was pleased with a lot of things and now we need to take a lot of the bits into the game tomorrow against Monaco, which is a very good team, with very good players and they already started the campaign quite well with a draw against (Manchester) City. Last year they beat Villa, they beat Barcelona so clearly, clearly a very talented team.”

Any more on Romero after he missed training?

“Yeah, it’s an adductor strain. We will assess it more this week before we come with any time frame.”

FOR DANSO: How conscious are you of replacing Romero with the way he plays with his passing?

“Definitely but also just try to fulfil the role the best I can. Obviously he’s a very important player for us and for me it’s just doing a job, defending first and foremost and trying to replace him as best I can. I think it was an OK game, unfortunately we didn’t get the result we wanted to, but the aim is to win here tomorrow.”

Thomas Frank adds: “I think Kevin played a very good game against Villa.”

Should fans be concerned with Cuti’s injury because it was this time last year he got an injury and it become long-term?

“No, I don’t think so. For me, it is an adductor strain. We will assess him this week and then we’ll know more.”

How difficult has it made preparation with Monaco’s managerial change from Adi Hutter to Sebastian Pocognoli?

“Yeah, I think of course it’s hard, but we have studied Pocognoli and his team at Union. They did very well, they won the Championship in Belgium, so that is what we do. We look at the last game they played and then all or more or less a lot of games from Union and also this Champions League campaign. I think we have a good idea of what they want, but also we know that they have very talented players and it speaks for itself. Also under the former manager, they played 2-2 here with City, so it’s a tough test but we’re up for it. We trust ourselves, we think we’re in a good place and we’ll do everything we can to win the game tomorrow.”

Case of fine tuning?

"It’s fair to say we are relatively early days. There has been a lot of progress overall. Very good in high pressure. Very aggressive against Villa. Offensively, scored quite a few goals. How many teams right now play free-flowing top football three games in a row, in the Premier League? We are aiming for the perfect game every game. That’s what we want. But we know what we are working at and progressing nicely."

Xavi, similar to Wirtz, new league and not yet reached heights expected?

"Very good comparison with Wirtz, also a very good player just like Xavi coming into a new country, new club, new city, just need to settle and it is part of it. We are all getting judged every game but we also need to see the bigger perspective.

"I always look for glimpses and Xavi I asked him to be more arriving in the box and when I looked back at the game, he did. Was there a big eye-catching moment? No, but there were glimpses so it’s going a little bit in the right direction."

Has Destiny Udogie Travelled?"No. The latest is that we got that knee irritation after international duty that we are assessing and working very hard to get on top of. We will know more probablyday by day or next week."Away from stronger than home? What's that down to?"I think we didn't lose an open game either. Yeah, I think if we, I don't know exactly. It also depends on who you are facing, that can be home and away. I know at home you may be playing in a specific way and other teams are playing in a specific way against you compared to when you go away. And then the team opens a little bit more up, so you can hit them a little bit more on the counter so you don't have to create everythingfrom scratch and it even plays behind the ball.

"But I just think definitely the away form has been very good in terms of what we said before. I think we've been extremely good in the foundation in football, in terms of we have a good base in the middle, low block and also very high. I think it's very important that we probably have the most aggressive teams in the high pressure. And I think that's a big part of why wealso are quite good away from home. We need to continue tomorrow against a very good team, but we're up for that."FOR DANSO: What's it like coming in for Romero - has it ever happened before in your career?"Yeah, I think I'm experienced enough, old enough now to deal with whatever comes in a game of football. Things happen that aren't expected, but I felt ready and I was ready and I'll always be ready when the gaffer needs me. And that's what I try to do in the game."

Why are teams struggling in attack?

"That’s a big Q. I was looking and this is with the biggest respect to Villa who won the game, I think they’re a very good team, they are top and have been very free-flowing but they didn’t really create anything, even though they scored two goals. Both teams also, we didn’t create massive, massive chances against Villa but enough. Both teams tried to cancel each other out. There’s me looking at it, a big coaching staff, I don’t know how many analysis guys also helping. Every team prepares so well to cancel each other out. It can be something with training time, it can be, I haven’t thought about that. I think depending on teams, there’s partly that relationship. If you work together constantly in a back four, you play every game and you have two in front of you, how do you hit them with the right passes? There’s some of that, the (clicks fingers), where teams suddenly click. Even with the best teams suddenly they’re playing three games and they lack a bit of flow. It’s a little bit up and down always."

Midfield balance? Happy with it?

"In general I’ve been overall happy with the midfield that have played so far this season. We always want more passes through the lines, diags, balls in behind but overall I’m quite happy. "

Brennan Johnson scored, arguably, the most important goal in the club's history. He started the season really well, but he just seems to have kind of fallen away. Do you prefer Mohamed Kudus on the right at the moment, or can you provide some context as to why Brennan hasn't really had many opportunities?"I think, for me, Brennan is a very important player. He's a fantastic, important goal last season. Also the top scorer, I think, in the club last year. He also started the season well. He has scored two good goals.So, again, probably a little bit down to how do we put the players out that make it fit."Brennan has trained very well the last couple of weeks, doing what he's doing very well, scoring goals intraining, which is important to keep, showing that I'm not taking the right decision if he's not in the team. I think Brennan can play both to the left and to the right, as we said before. Of course, Mohamed Kudus has done very well on the right, for example. Then on the left, I actually think Wilson has done well. So it's just a little bit of competition. Brennan just needs to keep going. He will get his games."Considered switching to back-three at all?"As I've said before, for me, it's not about the system. For me, it's the guiding principles. I think right now I still think the 4-2-3-1 is the go-to, depending on types. As I said, I think if we had won that game against Villa 1-0, which we easily could have done, I'd be pretty happy. So I think the performance was overall good, very competitive, so I'm happy with that. I'm very aware that we need to add extra layers, which we're working on. And just a quick one for Kevin, if that's alright."FOR DANSO: Did you get the chance to apologise to Digne, it was an innocuous incident with no malice but a bad cut?"Yeah, I mean, these things happen in football. Of course, there was no 8-10, nothing behind it, just an unfortunate situation. I apologised to him while he was on the floor because I felt that I did catch him, but I clearly cleared the ball and then delivered the follow-through, which does happen in football. Suddenly, I saw the picture of his ankle and I didn't have a chance after the game, but I apologised to him on the pitch. I would like to apologise to him publicly as well."Obviously, no malice, no nothing behind it, and my intention is never to injure anybody. But yeah, it's just part of football, sadly. "