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One pundit thinks Thomas Frank has no choice but to do something drastic after being disrespected by Tottenham duo Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence.
While Tottenham’s performance against Chelsea was abject, that display has been overshadowed to an extent by the scenes that followed the final whistle.
A video showed Van de Ven and Spence ignoring Frank and walking straight into the dressing room, with the Dane turning around and giving the duo a stare.
In his post-match press conference, Thomas Frank played down the Van de Ven and Spence incident, putting it down to frustration at the result, but the Spurs boss has now been told that he cannot let that kind of behaviour fly.
Thomas Frank told to give a final warning to the Tottenham duo
Perry Groves believes that the Spurs head coach was disrespected by Van de Ven and Spence, and suggested that the Dane’s reaction told us all we need to know about how he felt.
The former Arsenal winger believes that Frank should assert his authority by warning both players that they will be dropped if they do something similar again.
Groves told talkSPORT: “I think that is a problem because if you’re Thomas Frank, the way that he looked round, it was a lack of respect. That’s what it was. It wasn’t just a little look. It was a men that stare at goats stare.
“He was looking at his two players and said, ‘I can’t believe you’ve done that to me. So Thomas Frank, and I think he’s a very good manager, but he’s found himself in positions that he’s never been in before.
“With the expectation of his 60,000 at home crowd, his team being booed off, which he would never have had at Brentford, and he would have been in complete control of the players at Brentford.
“So now he’s dealing with bigger egos and for him to get control, he’s got to bring in Djed Spence and Micky van de Ven individually. Not in front of the rest of the players, individually, and say to them, ‘if I ask you to do something, you don’t question me. You just do it. If you want to question me, you question me afterwards.’
“Because, Micky [Gray], you played obviously under Peter Reid at Sunderland, nobody questioned him. I know it’s a different era, but you could have a row with him and you do it within the confined dressing room, but no one would question him publicly. That was Van de Ven and Djed Spence just disrespecting Thomas Frank.”
Thomas Frank revealed in his Monday press conference that Van de Ven and Spence both apologised privately for their post-match actions.
He said: “Micky and Djed came into my office yesterday, unprompted. And just said: ‘Want to say sorry for the situation.’
“They didn’t want it to look bad or disrespectful or all of the kind of perceptions you can get in this beautiful media world. That was not the intention at all towards me or the team or the club. They were just frustrated with the performance, the loss and the booing during the game.”
Frank finds himself between a rock and a hard place
According to reports, Tottenham accept that Van de Ven and Spence were acting out of frustration, and do not see it as a slight on Frank.
Frank finds himself in a difficult position as he would also not want to alienate two players who are very important for his side at a time when some fans are already starting to turn on him.
Despite that, TalkSPORT’s Hugh Woozencroft believes Frank should drop the pair for not just one but two matches. He said: “Honestly, for me, if I was the manager, they wouldn’t be starting, they wouldn’t be playing midweek or at the weekend against Manchester United.
“Spurs fans will say they need them. You say they need them and maybe they do, but for me, you’ve got to set the tone as a manager at a football club.
“Those two players showed a level of ego that doesn’t match their talent when they did that to Thomas Frank.”
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