Thomas Frank explains decision to bench duo in win over West Ham – and praises ‘promising’ Simons after debut | OneFootball

Thomas Frank was pleased that his faith in his squad was repaid in Tottenham’s 3-0 win over West Ham.

With a Champions League clash against Villarreal to come on Tuesday and several players playing for their countries over the international break, Frank opted to make changes to his line-up.

Mathys Tel and Lucas Bergvall were both given starts over Richarlison and Rodrigo Bentancur, and Frank explained he is taking a long-term view when it comes to selecting who plays.

“I think it’s extremely important that I trust my players,” he said when asked about the changes to his team.

“Of course they need to perform and train well and show the right attitude and all that but they do.

“I have the privilege to rest Rodri (Bentancur). Of course he could have played today but he played two 90s (for Uruguay), he landed Thursday morning, so I’m not too worried about this but what about Tuesday, what about the next one?

“They can’t all play 70 games. Rodri is a key player for us, Richy is the same. He could have started also but played at 4000m height against Bolivia.

“Others have done well. Lucas (Bergvall), look how he came on the pitch and how he performed today. I think Mathys (Tel) was very impressive. His performance was maybe not through the roof but was very solid, I would seven out of 10. He worked hard, pressing, and that’s very good, as he’s also not in the Champions League squad.

“Very happy with the squad and the players.”

Summer signing Xavi Simons also made his debut for the club, setting up Spurs’ first with a corner delivery which was headed in by Pape Sarr, before Bergvall and Micky van de Ven added to the lead.

“I think he was promising, I like what I saw from him,” Frank said on Simons.

“I like that he took initiative on the ball. Every single time he had the ball he tried to create something.

“I think he had a wonderful assist from the first goal from the corner and worked hard as well so I think it was a good first game.”