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The Tottenham Hotspur head coach has been speaking about one of his predecessors after the Argentine was speaking about Spurs this week
Thomas Frank believes that if the Tottenham fans sing Mauricio Pochettino's name rather than his own during Tuesday night's crunch clash with Newcastle then it is "well deserved" for the Argentine.
With Spurs struggling under Frank this season, with just two wins from their past 16 Premier League matches, the supporters have sung for Pochettino at times in recent weeks, including during Saturday's defeat at Old Trafford. The 53-year-old led the north London club to three top three finishes along with another top four finish as they reached the Champions League final in 2019, months before he was sacked after five-and-a-half years at the helm.
Tottenham have been on a downward curve on the pitch since and this week Pochettino appeared on the High Performance podcast and spoke passionately about Tottenham and how the club, currently sat 15th in the table, should be fighting for the Premier League and Champions League.
Far from believing that the words of Pochettino, currently boss of the USA national team, and the chants for him are disrespectful, Frank feels they are warranted.
"I met Mauricio a few times, great guy, a great coach. I think he’s a legend (here). I don’t think he won a trophy but he was part of transforming the club, from where it was at that stage, to where it ended being in terms of being close to winning the Premier League title," he said.
"Getting into the Champions League final. If you are close, then you are very close to winning it. Sometimes it’s football, it’s margins. Pochettino did a top job here and is a true legend, so if the fans sing his name it’s well deserved."
With Tottenham sitting just six points above West Ham in the Premier League's drop zone, there seemed to be a very deliberate stance from Frank of swerving the word 'relegation' at his press conference on Monday. The 52-year-old used it only once in passing despite nine questions about Spurs being in a relegation battle.
Instead he used the word "desperate" eight times to describe how Tottenham need to get points to move up the table. Newcastle know the pain of relegation, having gone down in 2009, and Frank finally used the word he was desperately trying to avoid while admitting that nobody is too good to fall out of the Premier League.
"That's 100 per cent fair. Every club should do whatever they can to perform every single game and do everything they can to end as high as possible," said the Dane. "The Premier League is one of the most competitive leagues in the world. I think if we were a little bit higher then you’d say ‘is top four the end?’ Now it’s not as high, then 'is relegation the end’? For me, no matter what, I will only focus on the next game."
So is it a problem that Tottenham don't see that they are in a relegation battle right now?
"I will repeat myself a bit. We will do everything we can and if we see a team that isn’t running or not fighting and trying to win the next game, it’s about that," Frank said in response. "We can talk about bottom of the table, top of the table, it’s about the next game. I’m fully, fully focused about that.
"One thing’s for sure, if you’re too afraid to achieve whatever you want to achieve, you can’t focus on your take. You need to focus on your next game and do everything you can to win that, and then, also of course because we haven’t won enough games, it would give a little bit more momentum and confidence."
Both Tottenham and Newcastle have struggled to cope with both their Premier League and Champions League demands and Frank admitted the physical load has been problematic for the squad.
"I can’t speak 100 per cent on behalf of Newcastle. For Tottenham, you say in Europe 18 out of 20 seasons, of course I can’t speak the first 16/17 of those. Some of them are a way off. It’s fair to say there’s very few players left from the current squad," he said. "Clearly we as a squad, it’s relatively transparent we struggled playing Premier League and Europa League last season.
"And we are still struggling a little bit with that. It’s something we need to build on in terms of physical and mental robustness.
"It’s not only young players. f you’re robust, physically and mentally, you can be 19-years-old or you can be 38. It’s just to find players who can do that.
"The Premier League definitely is very competitive, probably the most competitive it’s been in the five years I’ve been there. It’s made it very, very difficult every game. That’s part of it. We like that challenge, no problem. You can see the clubs playing in Europe are challenged a bit more. Some of them are more used to it and they’re not as challenged."
Frank will go into Tuesday night's game against Eddie Howe's struggling team with Djed Spence back in contention but having lost Destiny Udogie to a hamstring injury for up to five weeks. Worryingly when asked if he expected Dejan Kulusevski to play this season amid his ongoing knee problems, the Spurs boss could only say: "I don't know."
With captain Cristian Romero suspended for four matches after his red card in the 2-0 defeat at Manchester United on Saturday, Frank confirmed that Micky van de Ven will take the armband.
"He’s young, 24 I think. It’s not the first time he’s been captain this season, it must be at least four or five times," said the Dane. "I think he still needs to learn and bring bits, but there’s both communication and calmness and interaction with his team-mates and do his job on the pitch, of course."
Frank could hand 19-year-old left-back Souza his home debut after the £13million January signing from Santos did well during his first appearance at Old Trafford.
"He did very well, I’m very happy for him. Coming from Brazil, 19-years-old, to Tottenham, to the Premier League, getting his debut in one of the most iconic stadiums in the world. That’s a big thing so I hope him and his family are proud," said the Spurs boss.
"He did 40 minutes last time didn’t he... so I hope he is [ready to play against Newcastle]. He’s still shortish [on fitness] but I liked what I saw from him when he came on, nice and positive."
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