Thomas Frank has refused to criticise Cristian Romero after the defender’s social media attack on Tottenham’s owners, with the Argentina international remaining club captain.
The Spurs manager was on the defensive in his press conference before Saturday’s Premier League fixture at Manchester United. He would not give any steer as to the outcome of Romero’s outburst – the second in two months – only saying: “We have dealt with the matter internally.”
“Cuti is a very passionate player and captain who wants to leave everything on the pitch,” said Frank. “He is very ambitious and wants to win every single time. Sometimes, when you are like that, you can have an outburst like this time but we have dealt with it internally.”
Frank would not say whether any disciplinary action had been taken against Romero, though he did insist there “is always one line you can’t cross for any player” or “can’t cross too many times”.
On the question of whether he will remain Spurs captain, Frank was able to answer more directly, however. “The answer is yes,” he said. “Leadership is many things. I’m 52 and I think I’m pretty good at leadership but could I get better? Yes. Do I make mistakes every day? No, but probably weekly. Romero is 27 years old. He will still make mistakes going forward as a leader. Does he do a lot of good things? Yes.”
Asked if Romero should have found another way to air his displeasure with the club’s transfer window business, with the player describing the size of the Spurs squad as “disgraceful”, Frank said: “I have said before that there are a lot of ways of doing things. Cuti has been very important for us this season and in past seasons and we need to be aware of that. But I wouldn’t have done it.”
Romero posted on Instagram after Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City, explaining he had played the match despite feeling unwell because there were only 11 players fit. The number was actually 13. “Great effort from all my teammates yesterday, they were all incredible,” he said. “I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially as we had only 11 players available – unbelievable but true and disgraceful.”
The post was liked by some of Romero’s teammates, including Pedro Porro, Djed Spence, Kevin Danso, Conor Gallagher, Pape Sarr, James Maddison and Dominic Solanke.
Spurs made two signings during the window – Gallagher from Atlético Madrid for £34.6m and Souza, a 19-year-old left-back, from Santos for £13m. They sold Brennan Johnson to Crystal Palace for £35m.
Frank defended the Spurs ownership, saying they were “very serious” in their ambitions for the club. “I speak with them, I am together with them so I am not in doubt,” he said. “I think it a little unfair, if not very unfair, to judge them on a January window. I understand there’s a lot of scrutiny but that would be unfair.”
He said that a window in which Spurs added two senior signings, Gallagher and the Brazilian full-back Souza, was “very good” compared with other top flight teams “and for where we are it’s OK”.
In January, after defeat by Bournemouth, Romero had posted a similar message, demanding ownership take more responsibility for the club’s performance. “At times like this, it should be other people coming out to speak, but they don’t – as has been happening for several years now,” he wrote. “They only show up when things are going well, to tell a few lies.” Romero later deleted the reference to lies.
Frank spoke with Romero after the first post and publicly said the player had made a “mistake”. Asked whether repeating that mistake meant Romero had gone too far, the 52-year-old would not answer. “We’re dealing with it internally, that’s my main message tonight,” he said. On whether the reactions from his teammates meant other players shared his feelings on the ownership, Frank said: “We don’t know what a ‘like’ means.”
The Dane said of social media: “I can’t get rid of it, it’s out there, but one thing I do know is that we all give it too much attention. It’s such a small number of people who are writing things out there and everything they write we take as truth. I think that’s a challenge overall.”
Frank revealed that Micky van de Ven had returned to training and would be available for selection at Old Trafford, where Spurs meet Manchester United at lunchtime on Saturday.
