Thomas Frank admits he made a wrong decision with Tottenham and provides Dominic Solanke update

Thomas Frank is looking forward to his first experience of the Champions League and he spoke in a press conference about his debut at the helm in the competition as Tottenham host Villarreal.

The 51-year-old made the move from Brentford in the summer and after taking the Bees into the Premier League by consistently punching above their weight, the Dane will now take the next step up in the game in managing in the biggest club competition in Europe on Monday night.

Villarreal will present a tough challenge with the La Liga side having started their campaign well and including a smattering of players in their team who have previously played for clubs in north London and one who is still employed by Spurs in Manor Solomon, who joined on loan on deadline day and is eligible to face his parent club due to UEFA rules.

Our Tottenham correspondent Alasdair Gold was among those putting the questions to Frank ahead of the Champions League match against the Spanish side on Tuesday night. Here's the full transcript from Monday's press conference at Hotspur Way.

After all your years in management, what does it mean personally to manage in Champions League for first time?

Obviously it’s a big thing. I am hugely looking forward to it. I know it will be special when we have that Champions League anthem playing. That will be the moment. Now is preparation, a few cameras, business as usual but when we walk out onto the pitch tomorrow that will be very special.

This group know how to win in Europe – have you got a squad that can go all the way?

I believe I have a fantastic squad and we would like to go as far as possible. When you’re in a competition, you ultimately want to try and win it, but I think the most important thing is one game at a time. We have a game against Villarreal tomorrow. A very good team. I have been very, very impressed when I have studied them, but we will do everything we can to get a good start.

It's a huge moment for you – but also for Villarreal, they are enjoying a resurgence, what do you know about this team and their manager – who believes in building a team of good people like you?

Huge respect for Marcelino. I think he has done a top job. You can see his team is well structure, well organised. The way they play, they like to dominate as much as possible on the ball and I’ve been impressed with what I’ve seen. It’s going to be a good challenge.

Are you a fan of the format of the new league phase?

I think in general I am a person that is open for different things. I saw it from the outside last year and now I need to try and live it. For now it looks interesting and promising. I think no matter the format it is a Champions League game tomorrow and we look forward to that and we’ll do everything we can to win it.

Do you have an idea of how many points you need to get through?

I don’t focus on that. I focus on one thing and that is let’s see if we can beat Villarreal tomorrow. That is the most important thing. After that we play Brighton so one game at a time.

Tell us about your journey to this point, you started at Griffin Park in Championship and now about to manage in Champions League?

Of course it is a fantastic opportunity and experience tomorrow. In many ways you would say yes we played with Brentford in the Championships at Griffin Park, a small, compact stadium and tomorrow we are playing in one of the best stadiums in the world – maybe the best. In front of our fantastic fans, it is a European night and we know they will be absolutely on it. It will be so special, so yeah really looking forward to the first two minutes, the Champions League anthem and then it’s (now) focus on the game.

What would you have done differently against Bournemouth with hindsight?

First and foremost I would just like to win it, that would be easier. But no, I think that was a bad performance and it definitely didn’t get better when I watched it back. I always try to look myself at what I could have done better, so I didn’t think I helped the players well enough in that game.

Took the wrong decision in terms of the planning - not that we didn’t have a plan for phase one and phase two, but that was the bit where we should have done more in this game. If we didn’t do anything that was the biggest thing. Then I would say that big respect to Bournemouth, they are a very difficult and tricky team to play against. So they did very well, they hit a top level and we didn’t hit a good level. That’s a bad combination, that bit. We learn from it and move forward.

What are your early memories of the Champions League?

Of course watched a lot of Champions League games. [When did it change from European Cup to Champions League?] Maybe it was the Champions League but I definitely remember that one in ‘92 because that was the one against Barcelona against Sampdoria in the final, where Michael Laudrup played and Ronald Koeman scored a fantastic free-kick. So some standout games and finals. Of course we all remember the ‘99 Man United treble. The fantastic, crazy win against Bayern. The Liverpool-Milan 3-3. There’s so many Champions League memories. So many big games.

What's the latest on Dominic Solanke and how minutes is Randal Kolo Muani able to play?

Dom is taking steps in the right direction. So that is positive. As you saw out there [that he was not involved in training], he is not ready to be involved tomorrow.

Randal Kolo Muani is ready. How many minutes? They can always play more minutes than we think. If we needed him to play he could play 90 minutes but can he play at the intensity and the level we want? He is ready and he is involved tomorrow and that is the most important thing.

You have come up with specific tactical plans for different teams this season, how do you do that with such a tight turn around between games and only a couple of days to prepare now the Champions League is about to start?

That’s a good question. The main thing is we have some guiding principles on how we want to defend for example. So I think it’s relatively clear to everyone that we want to go man-to-man in the high pressure, that’s no secret. That needs to be tweaked depending on the opponent. That could be a small adjustment there, the middle pressure, the low pressure but if we have guiding principles it hopefully helps the players.

Then the same with the offensive side of the game. How we want to break through. How we want to build up. But of course depending on the opponent, they may press in different ways and then maybe we need to tweak a little bit if we build up in a 4-1 or a 4-2. Whatever you call it, what kind of solutions do we find out to use? We try to get that across to the players with videos, walkthroughs, with some 11v11. With different ways of doing it.

I’m a big believer in can we get the right details across in the right amount because I don’t believe being out there for two hours or having one hour meetings. So it is how can we do that balance to give them some good guidance and then they are top players. So we give them good guidelines and then they take decisions on the pitch and they are very good at that.