Every word Thomas Frank said on his Tottenham future, Djed Spence incident and strange substitution

Here's every single word the Tottenham Hotspur boss said after the heavy defeat at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday

Thomas Frank faced questions aplenty at his press conference after Tottenham's horrendous 3-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday.

Spurs handed their hosts an early festive gift on 28 minutes. Archie Gray was dispossessed by Ibrahim Sangare on the edge of his own box and while Guglielmo ] Vicario did well to save the Forest man's shot as he ran into the box, Callum Hudson-Odoi poked home the follow-up.

Hudson-Odoi then grabbed a second goal, albeit with a touch of fortune as his deep cross looped over everyone and into the far corner of the net.

It was 3-0 in the 79th minute when Hudson-Odoi breezed past Pedro Porro and knocked the ball into the run of Sangare, who struck a shot from outside the box with the outside of his foot which flew in off the right-hand post.

Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Frank after the game. Here's the full transcript from the press conference at the City Ground.

It feels like two steps forward, a big leap back today?

Yeah, absolutely agree. That was very disappointing. It was a bad performance. Frustrating, because I think the last three games were good on performance and results, normally linked. And you can lose a game like this. That's the frustrating part, of course.

I think every game, I think, until the 1-0 goal, it was a little bit back and forth for both teams. Hard transition both ways. And then after the first goal, I think we lost structure and were more disjointed.

And then the 2-0 goal killed the game off. Basically not in the game after that, in my opinion. And that's part of keeping the structure, keep the game plan, keep going, keep doing the right things.

So that's definitely not the first time we've seen that, this year, last year, whenever. That's something that's ongoing work in progress before we're more consistent in that.

Doesn't help that we made two mistakes with the first two goals. But again, that can happen in football. So we just need to keep doing the right things. So everything looks the right way. And then on top of that, we decide to throw the ball away at least 25 times. So we can't hit each other 25 times. That's going to make it difficult for you to create anything or to win a game.

You said before the game that you want to see more aggression, positive, brave, offence-minded football, but the team only had one shot on target, are the players not taking it on board?

No, I think it's very simple. If you don't perform, you can say all the right things. If you're a little bit out of sync, then you see things like this. When you are on track and in sync, you see the last three performances. So that's very simple. If you perform, you keep doing the right thing, then it makes it easier of course. And then I just think the little small thing that is difficult. We win together, we lose together, but can't pass the ball on the pitch. So if we lose the ball 25 times, I think it's fair to say that it's pretty difficult to create something.

Does that come into it when you're 2-0 down and make three sub and one of them is Ben Davies, one of them is Joao Palhinha? I think a lot of the fans are hoping for attacking players, but is that part of the reason, because you're looking to keep the ball?

No, we had four offensive players on the pitch. I think that's fair to say. So I felt that, just to go back to the bit before where I say we're disjointed. So if you're disjointed, you can have 11 offensive players on the pitch. It will not help. So we need to be in sync. And then it helps, and hopefully we can find a way back after that.

With Archie Gray's mistake, is that something he'll simply have to learn from as a young player?

Yeah, you know, that happens. I've said before, mistakes happen, stuff like that. Of course I'll be irritated about it because you like to avoid it, but he will learn. I think it was a classic thing, you see, week in, week out. It's ball-playing to one of the two sitters. Bounce it up, first touch, not take a touch. He will learn from that. I'm pretty sure he'll use one touch next time.

No issue with the goalkeeper with that?

No. I think you see that every week in the Premier League, from every team, all over the world. So there's no problem with that.

You're always a very calm and measured manager in these press conferences after the bad results, are you a bit different in the dressing room with the players?

I think I do everything to control my emotions, which is a hurricane inside me because of course it's deeply frustrating that we're not doing better today after three good performances. I think it's extremely important to be calm and measured, and of course have very, very direct and clear messages at the right time, so they're not in doubt of what I think. And very honest about where we are. That's why I was also very honest today. It was a very bad performance. No two ways about that.

But also know that to change this, this will take some time. Because no one wants to hear about that. It's just reality. I think the ones who have followed the club and the team, I think it's fair to say there's been a few not-too-consistent performances and that's a thing we are working very hard on.

Did you have any issue with Djed Spence arguing while coming off and throwing his jacket about?

You're the third one that said that to me today. I didn't see it. Of course I will look back to be aware of it. I think there can be three reasons. He can be disappointed with his own performance, the team's performance, he can be disappointed with being subbed off. I'll ask him about that.

It feels like people would understand the up-and-down results a bit but it still feels like the floor of this team is very low. Do you agree with that?

I think that is a fair assessment, unfortunately. That's something we need to work very hard on. That these setbacks can't affect us that much. I'm pretty sure when I watched the game... When did we concede the first goal? 28 minutes. I think when I watch it back, it was probably not that bad until the first goal. So it can't be one goal that makes it so disjointed for 15 minutes. It can't happen.

You can have a day where it's not perfect. How many games have you seen where it's not perfect? Then you find your way into it. Then you maybe win 2-1 in the second half where you eat your way into it. That's just ongoing work we need to work so hard on.

Is it a mental thing or more than that?

I think it's a combination of mental, structure, coolness. Stick to the game plan, focus.

You're trying to bed in all these new ideas, but you're at a club where the average time span of managers hasn't been that long, do you feel that you'll get the time to put everything you want into place?

I can't see why not. I think it's pretty evident that if no-one gets the time, no-one can turn this around. This is not a quick fix.

Christmas and New Year is always a hectic schedule, how do you look to navigate this in the next couple of weeks?

First and foremost, we have, I think, finally a more or less full week going into Liverpool next time. After that, we have eight days in to Palace. So that gives a little bit of time to train and try to get on top of some of these things. That's also the challenge. No complaints, just the fact. We try to change things with very short time between games. It's just a little bit more tricky. But we need to utilise the time in the next two weeks massively. And then we have five games in a short amount of time.

Are you expecting Matt Wells will still be at the club next week?

There's definitely a few rumours about that. We will, how can you say, when we know if that will happen or not happen, we will announce it.

You spoke about keeping your composure and being calm. Do you think the players did that well enough in general? We had the Djed moment and it felt like there were a couple of times you were telling Pedro to calm down as well?

I think that's two small situations. I think in general, no matter what, to have that coolness on the pitch and relentless concentration and focus, that's a big thing of being a top team.