Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank voiced his frustration after watching his side fall to a heavy 4–1 North London derby defeat to Arsenal, with Eberechi Eze netting a brilliant hat-trick. The loss adds further pressure after Spurs were also beaten 1–0 by Chelsea earlier this month, marking back-to-back huge derby disappointments, softfootball reports.
Tottenham entered the derby with tactical adjustments, but Arsenal’s attacking force proved too strong. Frank accepted responsibility for the changes and emphasised that the problems ran deeper than formation choices. The Spurs boss is now tasked with getting a response from a side struggling in decisive moments of big matches.
In a reaction shared via Tottenham’s official X handle, Frank addressed the match with brutal honesty, acknowledging that his team delivered the opposite of their intentions and fell far below the expected standard. The manager admitted the performance lacked intensity, structure, and competitiveness in key areas.
Frank began by giving his general assessment of the match, he said:
I think it’s extremely painful. I can’t talk away from that. It was a bad performance. It was the complete opposite of the intention. We can only apologize to the fans for this performance.
He then addressed the debate around fight and character in the team, saying:
You can always say that on the day. I don’t like that because I’ve seen a lot of character and fight in this team. But I think one big thing we didn’t do well enough is win duels. We can call that whatever you want, but we didn’t win duels.
The Manager also explained his tactical decisions during the derby:
I tried to play a 5-4-1. I will always take responsibility in the end to change the system. We changed at halftime to 4-2-3-1. My view is no matter what formation we play, if we don’t have the duels and intensity, we don’t win.
He spoke about the defensive issues that led to the goals conceded, he stated:
The goals I’d like to see more in detail. The whole game I need to look through tonight and that will be a painful watch. The main bit was we were not aggressive and stepping forward in duels.
Frank concluded by addressing Tottenham’s recurring struggles in the final third, he stated:
It’s fair to say it’s an ongoing thing that we’re working hard on with everything we can. It hasn’t looked good today. It didn’t look for Chelsea. Other games, it’s looked better. But today it did not look good.
Despite the bruising defeat, Frank stressed that Spurs must quickly regroup, rebuild confidence, and restore intensity as the club enters a crucial stretch of the season. Tottenham’s inconsistent attack and persistent struggles in key moments remain issues he and his staff must fix urgently as fans look for a reaction in their next outing
