Spurs news: Thomas Frank issues apology after crushing derby defeat at Arsenal | OneFootball

Dane was overseeing his first competitive north London derby

The Dane's first taste of a competitive north London derby was a painful one, Spurs managing just three shots and barely laying a glove on their rivals.

Asked what most disappointed him about the performance, Frank said: "Where should I start? This is of course hugely disappointing that we didn’t perform better in the game against Arsenal our biggest rivals.

"I can only apologise to the fans for that. I was very confident on Friday when we spoke that we would be competitive today. We tried to come here and be aggressive and press high and in spells go after them.

"We didn’t succeed with that bit. We didn’t manage to get near enough them in the situations we could.

"It means we got pushed back and got a little too passive. It looks like we are running after them. When we finally got on the ball we were not good enough to get out of those situations."

Spurs started with a back five and had Joao Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur in front of them.

That meant the likes of Xavi Simons, Randal Kolo, Mathys Tel and Brennan Johnson were all on the bench as the visitors looked to frustrate the Gunners.

However, it was 2-0 at the break and Frank duly switched to a 4-2-3-1 at half-time. Within a minute, Eze made it 3-0 and effectively put the match to bed.

The back three worked well against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup in August, but it was put to Frank that the set-up at the Emirates Stadium had set too negative a tone from the start.

"I’m a very big believer that no matter what system you play you can be successful," Frank said.

"I completely understand the question and I will always take the full responsibility. The full responsibility will always be on me today when we didn’t perform.

"I picked a team that played 5-4-1, changed it half-time - very clever, one minute into it they scored. 3-0. Then the rest is history after that.

"What I would say is that no matter if we played another system we needed to be more aggressive and better in the duels. That doesn’t matter to the system but I need to take responsibility for everything today."