Thomas Frank: 'If your back is against the wall, you fight' | OneFootball

Under pressure Thomas Frank spoke about resilience and turning the tide at Tottenham Hotspur ahead of Tuesday night's Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund.

Spurs suffered a stinging 2-1 defeat at home to West Ham United at the weekend which has led to many reports questioning the Dane's future at the club.

"I've just been, how can you say, feeling the trust along the way," Frank said about his relationship with the club hierarchy. 

The boos were loud again in North London last time out but Frank still believes he can win hearts and minds back: "As I have said many times, as long as we win football matches and make sure we win enough of them – everyone will support us. It is not about me. It is about supporting the team, the players.

"We are playing a game tomorrow against a very good German side and we are a little bit limited with the players available. We have 11 outfield players available for the game from our normal first-team players. One of them is Xavi [Simons] and he didn't train today because there was a bad tackle from behind that injured his ankle but because he is so strong mentally he will play through pain tomorrow. Big courage to Xavi. And I cannot understand why that is not a red card, but that is for a bigger discussion.

"We have 11 players available and we probably have three players that need to push massively to get through 90 minutes physically, so that's why we need everyone to support us.

"We need everyone to support us from minute one. Especially the team, especially the players. If we get that support, anything can happen. Magic can happen."

When pressed on the issue the coach confirmed his belief: "In this game, you always need resilience.

"The three biggest things in showing resilience is having good values and I believe I am a guy that has good values. Second is you know reality and the reality is that one in five people don't like you no matter what you do and one in five love you no matter what you do – both sides are probably biased, no matter what you do.

"And then there is the three and five, if you behave well, are respectful and show integrity then you are sweet. The reality is not everyone will like you."

Frank also confirmed that Dominic Solanke has replaced Mathys Tel in the Champions League squad, a decision he said was 'not nice'.

"There are a lot of signs that this is going the right way," the former Brentford boss said towards the end of the conference. 

"We still need to find a way to get over the line and I think we are much closer than we think."