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Here's every single word the Tottenham Hotspur head coach said after the Champions League win against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday
Thomas Frank was a happy man in his press conference after the 2-0 victory against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday in the Champions League.
Despite having 13 players unavailable, Spurs opened the scoring 14 minutes in. Wilson Odobert swung and missed a volley but the ball fell for the Frenchman to run on and hit a low cross that Spurs captain Cristian Romero turned in with a deft flick of his foot.
Then 25 minutes in, referee Glenn Nyberg was advised to go over to his pitch-side monitor to look at Daniel Svensson's high challenge on Odobert and he duly upgraded the booking he had initially dished out to a red card.
Dominic Solanke, making his first start in eight months, then scored a second for Spurs. It came through a second assist for Odobert who played a one-two with Pedro Porro before hitting a low cross that Solanke managed to strike both of his feet before it rolled into the net.
The hosts had the better chances in the second half with both Randal Kolo Muani and Porro wasting one-vs-one opportunities and Xavi Simons creating plenty throughout. It was a much-needed victory for Tottenham and Frank, making it 24 consecutive games unbeaten now at home in Europe for the club.
Our Spurs 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 Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It's clearly been a tough few days. How much did you enjoy that performance and that win tonight?
Yeah, I really enjoyed the performance and the win, of course. I think especially the first half, I felt we were very good. I think we started exceptionally well. On top of them, pressed them, calm on the ball, produced chances, created opportunities, scored a good goal, and kept going. And then scored the second goal, which of course is also super important.So, everything about the first half, I was extremely happy with. I think it's definitely some of the best we've done. Second half, I would have loved us to keep the ball a bit better. I would have loved to have killed it with some of the big chances, just the 3-0. But we know in football it's never easy, even if you play 11 against 10. Also because the momentum is they have to push a bit.And then of course, we all knew it was an important win to get. And especially at home, of course, we haven't been as confident. So the performance and the win can we build on? And then I asked for the fans to help everyone, especially the team and the players. And they were exceptional, especially the first half. You felt it was that one of these, how can you say, a little bit special European nights. You felt the energy was quite unique. So that was very nice. Everyone felt it from minute one, that urgency. What changed for you? Was there a different message? With Dom coming back for example, has that helped?
I don't know. It was just extremely nice to experience. And as I say, the way they pushed us forward and that energy between the fans and the players was magic. And that's what we need to create more of. And luckily, we've been good to do it in the Champions League with four wins and four clean sheets at home.
It felt like your players gave everything tonight? Destiny was back in the team and played 95 minutes, Dom 70 minutes after eight months without a start, you must be so pleased with those players leaving it all out there?
I said it from the beginning, the players are giving everything. I think that's an extremely good sign about the culture. Extremely good sign that they want to do everything. That they are together, that we are together. Very impressive and we were a little bit down to the bare bones with the available players.
And the way Destiny, he was definitely one of the ones I was talking about yesterday. We were constantly talking about, should we swap him in or not? But he was sometimes bombarding forward. I was thinking 'Oh no, Dest, please, come on, calm now. Be a little bit clever.' But very nice. Dom is the one that is normally a physical beast, but he's been out for so long. It means something. He gave everything, and I think he gave so much to the team.
And of course also scored a great goal with a triple contact to get it over the line. But very good to have the two of them on the pitch.
A difference creative hub today with Xavi, Odobert and also Djed Spence, what did you make of the three of them?
I think they did very well. So we played that, how can you say? It was a little bit of a 3-4-3, both to match it up, but also to do it a little bit, taking care of it. And Djed, I think, did exceptionally well, especially first half.
Xavi produced a lot of good moments and found good positions, and I think Wilson was electric at times. So I'm happy with that.
Jun'ai Byfield is just 17-years-old, but he didn't look out of place, did he?
No, no, not at all. Jun'ai has impressed throughout the training. The players trust him. Clearly they rate him highly. I rate him highly. One thing is to get your debut for Tottenham, the last five minutes, 4-0 up and everything is smooth. Another thing is to get your debut in the Champions League, a big night against Dortmund and we needed to win the game. And he just came in, composed, calm, on top of this. Wow. I hope his parents are very proud. They should be.
How do you translate this Champions League form into the Premier League?
I think the big thing is to build on this with a performance and a win against Burnley on Saturday. What I would say is that it's a big skill to be able to produce Premier League, Champions League, Premier League, Champions League every week from the team and players. That we're working very hard on and I actually think and I keep saying it because I mean it, this is the eighth game in a row where I think we consistently performed quite well.
Not everything has been through the roof, but overall good in all games, but we haven't been able to get over the line, get a little bit of the margins with us. Today you can say the little margins was maybe a red card that helped a little bit instead of the one we had against Liverpool go the other way. And of course the triple contract of Dom inside the post, goal, boom and down where we didn’t get that against Sunderland, West Ham and Bournemouth where all three we should have won with the performance we put in. So, we just need to do the same thing, keep believing and then we just know that things will turn.
How important is the top eight?“No, I think it's important that of course it's always the next game that is the most important one, so we need to perform and win against Burnley on Saturday. After that of course I know we have Frankfurt and we need to do everything we can to make sure we finish top-eight because that will mean that you have two games less. Also I think it's fair to say we have a few injuries, so to not only to have a little more rest, but mainly also to be able to train with the players and try to implement more principles and ideas."
I know you didn’t want to make this about you but it was a big night, a lot of the ownership were here, do you think your team proved you are worth sticking with?I think it's about the team and everything, but of course I understand the question. What I feel the whole time is that I feel the staff is with us, I think the players are with us, the ownership, everyone wants the same thing and we're on the same page. We do a lot of things in the right direction and today was a big performance and a big win. Of course, I'm very aware of that, but I’m also very aware that this we have done and we need to keep that consistency and of course turn that a little bit.
As I say, some of the other games we easily could have won, now we need to build on this. And I just see a team that is running very, very hard and I think that's a very, very good sign. That's a healthy sign of a culture and we are building something a little bit step by step. We can easily have got better results the last three games, we just didn't, but we're running hard.
Will you allow yourself a wine or beer tonight?
I think two big glasses of red will be necessary, I will enjoy that.
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