Thomas Frank has called for “calm heads” after Tottenham fans urged the club to dismiss him during their draw at relegation-threatened Burnley. The away end sang “You’re getting sacked in the morning” at full time, making their views clear to the hierarchy and head coach.
Cristian Romero salvaged a late point for Tottenham after Axel Tuanzebe and Lyle Foster had turned things around to counter Micky van de Ven’s opening goal. The draw leaves Tottenham with two wins in 14 and mired in mid-table.
“You can’t say we didn’t do everything to win,” Frank said. “We just need to keep improving. The only way it can be is calm heads, carry on and keep doing what we think is the right thing.
“We do more than enough to win the game, we just need to defend better in two situations. And, of course, score another goal that could make the difference at 1-0.”
Poor defending assisted Burnley’s comeback. “We can never, ever, ever concede that goal, because it just changes the momentum going into half-time,” Frank said of Tuanzebe’s header.
“In the second half we are coming out, we are not as dominant, but I still think we are OK on top. We got a big chance to Dominic Solanke, 2-1 up. And then we concede another goal that we can never, ever, ever concede.”
The Tottenham supporters chanted regularly for Frank’s exit during the match. Talks were held last weekend over the head coach’s position, but no definitive action was taken.
“The message to the fans, as I said the whole time, is that we’re working very hard on making sure everything is going in the right direction and that we’ll keep doing that,” Frank said.
“First and foremost, I want to thank them for travelling and supporting the team throughout the game. We could, should have been out of sight. But also they acknowledge the willpower and character of the team that keep running, keep fighting to the end. We just need to keep going.”
A point away to Eintracht Frankfurt on Wednesday should guarantee a top-eight spot in the Champions League and progression to the round of 16, which would help Frank’s cause. The club are also in negotiations with Liverpool over the signing of the defender Andy Robertson, who would become the second new arrival this month after Conor Gallagher.
There were more points dropped late on by Burnley, which has become a regular occurrence this season. “It was only four or five weeks ago I was hugely critical of this team in terms of us at Brighton away, we’ve reacted in an incredible way,” Scott Parker said.
“There’s no denying that we need to now turn draws into wins and today, for being so close, you’d hope that would have been the case. We just fell a little bit short.”
