Frank told Tottenham duo should be dropped for ‘disrespecting’ Spurs head coach
Tottenham boss Thomas Frank has been told that he should drop Djed Spence and Micky van der Ven after the head coach was “disrespected” by the Spurs duo.
Frank’s side put in a disappointing display as they lost 1-0 to Chelsea in north London and the visitors could have won by a bigger margin if they had taken their chances.
After the match, Van der Ven and Spence were clearly upset at the result and appeared to refuse a handshake off Tottenham head coach Frank as they exited the pitch.
Frank gave them a long stare of disapproval as they walked off down the tunnel but the Tottenham boss played down the incident in his post-match press conference.
When asked about the incident in the post-match press conference, Frank said:Â “All the players are of course frustrated. They would like to do well, they would like to win, they would like to perform well, so I understand that.
“I think it is about which is difficult to be consistent in good times and in bad times. That is why I went around to the fans as I did. It is more fun when we win, I can tell you that.”
Former Arsenal winger Perry Groves thinks Frank was disrespected by the Spurs duo, he said on 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.”
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Host Hugh Woozencroft added: “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.”
Before former Sunderland left-back Michael Gray gave his thoughts: “If they’ve got something of a bee in their bonnet about the way that the crowd reacted in the game, then do something about it yourself.
“But I think even if it’s a token gesture, you shouldn’t have to see your manager pointing to the two players to say, ‘go and say thanks to the crowd’.
“Even if you don’t want to do it, you walk so far up towards the supporters, you don’t even have to get close to them.
“In the back of your mind, you’re going, ‘right, I don’t really want to do this, but I’m going to do it. I’ll just clap my hands and say thanks very much.’
“Then you come off the pitch and then you can have a little word about what you’ve just done when you get into the dressing room. They didn’t do that. They ignored the manager and I don’t think we’ve heard the last of it, I have to say.
“I mean, I think they will play because he does need those two players, but he needs to have a stern word with them.”
