Spurs boss Thomas Frank understands fans' frustration after 'boring' chants

Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank was booed by his own fans after Thursday’s drab scoreless draw at his former club Brentford, and while the coach understands the supporters’ frustration, he believes that success will change their attitude.

There were chants of ‘boring, boring Tottenham’ from the fans who also sang the names of former Spurs players, and when Frank went to applaud the travelling supporters at the end of the 0-0 gam, he was greeted with a chorus of boos.

“It’s not perfect, we want to be a free-flowing team,” Frank told a press conference on Friday ahead of Sunday’s game with Sunderland.

“I think a couple of things I want to reinforce positively is the last two away performances. I think we were very good defensively.

“We’re working very hard on the offensive part of our game and understand the frustrations. I share them too.”

Frank’s side are 12th in the standings after one win in their last four league games, and the manager gave his reasons for their disappointing form, including the absence of Dominic Solanke, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski to injury.

“Yesterday we lost the ball with unforced errors 25 times,” he said.

“All that can be adjusted. The next bit is the patterns and the structure, and getting in the right positions. The third thing, I think it’s okay to mention that we still lack some very important offensive players.

“I don’t want to mention it again. I’m getting a little bit bored, very bored, and sick and tired of naming them.”

Frank, in his first season at the club, was asked if he could be successful at Spurs without the backing of the fans.

“I will try to maybe turn that question around to say that if you are successful, the Tottenham fans will be behind you,” Frank replied.

“The fans will get behind us and I am pretty sure that yes, I am booed last night but I am pretty sure there are a lot of fans behind us.”

Spurs host a Sunderland side who have defied the odds after their promotion, currently in seventh place and who held Manchester City to a scoreless draw on Thursday.

“We need to do everything we can to put an attacking, intense, front-footed performance out against Sunderland in two days’ time,” Frank said.

“I’ll do everything I can to make sure we do that. And if we do that and get three points, it’s seven from three, which would be a very good output.”