Thomas Frank defends Tottenham progress after away fans boo dismal Brentford draw | OneFootball

Dane admitted the abuse was largely ‘fair’

Thomas Frank has acknowledged Tottenham supporters’ frustrations after he was booed by sections of the away support following their 0-0 draw with Brentford, but added he thought his side deserved credit for their defensive improvements.

Frank was met with a chorus of boos from Spurs’ travelling support as he attempted to lead his players over to the away end at full-time at the Gtech Community Stadium.

A turgid display, in which Spurs mustered just two shots on target, failed to offer up any encouragement that they had turned a corner after last weekend’s victory over Crystal Palace, and fans’ frustrations boiled over as the Dane tried to thank them for their support.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Frank admitted that criticism of his side’s attacking performance was fair, but added that there had to be an acknowledgement of the defensive work his team put in after recording their second successive clean sheet away from home.

“I think they seemed like they were not too satisfied, and it's fair,” said Frank.

“I think when we don't hit a top performance overall, but I think it's double-sided because I think what we need to understand is the acknowledgement of the defensive side of the game, which we've done excellent today against a team that just scored three against Liverpool, three against Man Utd, so on and so on.

“But of course, the offensive part needs to be better. There's no two ways about that.

“You prefer everyone is happy, and we are winning. We are winning 3-0. I think it's the understanding of where we are right now as a team and as a club. I think that is the transparent view of it.”

Frank’s style of play has routinely come in for criticism since he took charge of Spurs in June, but asked whether he was concerned he could lose the fanbase if he did not play more entertaining football, the Dane said his team’s defence-first strategy was a reflection of where the club finds itself after a difficult year.

“It's not that we don't want to play offensive or attacking football. I just think when we're not, how can you say, on the top of the game as we would like to be, we work very, very hard on that,” Frank continued

“But by working hard on that, if you struggle scoring goals, let's say that, or create enough chances, you can't open up too much because then you need to score too many goals. So it's a fine balance.”