Frank wants better crowd support after defender duo’s apology as they fail to acknowledge fans after Chelsea defeat.
Frank calls for better support from Spurs crowd after Van de Ven and Spence apologise.
After disclosing that Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence had apologised to him for their response to Saturday’s 1-0 home loss to Chelsea, Thomas Frank has asked for improved support from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium fans.
Van de Ven and Spence were furious as the final whistle blew and the Spurs supporters jeered, just as they had done at halftime when their team was behind due to a goal from João Pedro in the 34th minute. At the end of yet another disappointing Premier League day at the stadium, the defenders surged past Frank and headed for the tunnel, rejecting their manager’s attempts to encourage them to acknowledge the fans in the South Stand.
Under Frank, Tottenham has lost three of its five games in the competition and only won once, continuing a concerning pattern. Since the stadium opened in 2019, the team has lost 41 times there, with three wins and twelve losses in 19 home league games. The fact that their bitterest rivals, Arsenal, have dropped 48 league games at the Emirates Stadium since it opened in 2006 saddens the Spurs supporters.
As they started getting ready for Tuesday night’s home Champions League match against Copenhagen, Frank was pleased to share the specifics of how Van de Ven and Spence had visited him separately on Sunday to apologise.
“I want to get the point across that the fans were fantastic in the first 30 minutes,” Frank said. “It seems there was a little bit of a turning point when we conceded the goal, where we all get a little bit frustrated, which is natural.
“After the game, if we perform badly and on top of that we lose, it’s more than fair enough that they boo us. We are in the performance business and if we can’t deal with the pressure, the negativity or the criticism, we shouldn’t sit here. But during the game, we need a little bit of help. And especially when it’s not going the right way.
“They [the fans] can be the turning point. We were 1-0 down in the last 15 minutes … imagine they carry us over the line and we got a little bit of an unfair 1-1. What a feeling! That point can be the difference in a long season.”