Tottenham manager Thomas Frank has admitted full responsibility for his side’s crushing 4-1 defeat to Arsenal in the North London Derby, describing the result as “painful and unacceptable.”
The Spurs boss issued an apology to the travelling supporters, many of whom left the Emirates Stadium long before the final whistle, unable to watch their team’s second-half collapse.
It was the Eberechi Eze show at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday. The Arsenal star, who almost joined Spurs from Crystal Palace in the summer transfer window, scored a stunning hat-trick for the Gunners to guide his team to a famous win against their city rivals.
The win extended Arsenal’s lead at the top to six points but left Spurs in 9th position in the league.
Thomas Frank blames hismself for Tottenham defeat
Frank admitted that he got his tactics and system wrong against Mikel Arteta’s side and when he changed it, the Gunners scored early in the second half which ultimately ended his team’s chances of getting anything from the match.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Frank didn’t mince his words. “I’m a very big believer that no matter what system you play, you can be successful,” he said, as reported by the Mirror.
“But today, it simply didn’t work. I completely understand the criticism, and I will always take full responsibility. The full responsibility will always be on me today when we didn’t perform.”
Frank revealed that he had opted for a defensive 5-4-1 formation in an attempt to contain Arsenal’s dynamic attack, but his tactical gamble backfired badly.
Within the first half, Arsenal’s quick passing and movement ripped through Spurs’ structure, forcing the manager to abandon the system at halftime.
“We changed it at halftime, but by then, they had already scored early in the second half, 3-0, and the rest is history,” he explained.
The Danish manager acknowledged that beyond tactics, Tottenham lacked aggression and intensity in key moments.
He added:
“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.
“It is concerning, of course. We are working very hard to try to make that better but sometimes it’s not only playing out and finding a nice pass but also in a game like this if you see some of the situations where they won it high, Arsenal, then there was a little bit more open space.
“We didn’t win it enough in those situations and then create from that. For me the creativity, I know it was very low, but it was not my biggest concern today.”
Next time, the Tottenham boss would show more intent and playing an attacking system, something that could work to the strength of his team.
For now, the Gunners maintain their winning run against their city rivals, with Arteta’s team winning the last four league matches against their north London rivals.