Thomas Frank admitted that his “special operation” had failed, but he was proud of his player after Tottenham surrendered a two-goal lead, losing the Super Cup on a penalty to Paris Saint-Germain.
The set-piece goal by Micky Van de Ven and Cristian Romero spurred another trophy along the way. It will only be three months since Frank’s predecessor Ange Postecoglou will make the Europa League successful in May.
Champions League winner PSG, who returned to the preseason last week after the Club World Cup exploit in July, struck an impressive counterattack.
Tottenham initially had an advantage in the shootout when Vicinha missed the PSG’s first kick and Rodrigo Bentankul went up two Premier League clubs, but following that, Van de Ben and Matisse didn’t score as Frank’s competitive debut ended in a 4-3 shootout loss after a 2-2 draw.
The Danish coach paid tribute to his team after he had largely had a good effect in the back three formation with equipment they’d always seen the threat of the set piece.
“I am extremely proud of the players, teams, clubs and fans,” Frank recalled. “I think players give it everything and play against one of the best teams in the world. They’re probably the best team right now, and we were perfect for 75, 80 minutes. They give very little.
“We knew we had to do something a little different to the PSG. It was a special operation. In medical terminology, the operation was successful, but the patient died, so it was not so good in the end.
“But we worked on a game plan that was a little different and very close to success.
“We knew we could hurt them, so it was a bit of a special manipulation, obviously because we got a little more direct spell. We’re focusing on the set pieces from all areas of the pitch, but we’re focusing on the set pieces no matter what.”
Frank’s game plan worked perfectly up to 85 minutes – Van de Ben’s opener just rewarded the disciplined and dynamic first half display of Tottenham.
Romero’s header from Pedro Polo’s free kick stayed as it was as Blake greeted Spurs fans at Dreamland, as he placed his body on the line to stop the PSG until a massive replacement by Luis Enrique defeated the scale.
New Tottenham boss Frank said Saturday’s Premier League opener will boost morale to Burnley at home, saying, “Every game is important.
“When we look at the faces of the players and all of us, we’re very disappointed and there’s a 24-hour rule. 24-hours can be disappointing.
“We want to compete in many different tournaments. If we want to do that, we need to turn around and be ready to go again soon. We’ll make sure the players are ready on Saturday.”
Luis Enrique was honest with PSG, who played in the Club World Cup final just a month ago.
“To be honest, I don’t know if this trophy is worthy,” admitted the Spanish coach. “The difference was sturdy among Tottenham. They had six weeks of preparation and six days.
“It was huge and we were trying to play football, but we couldn’t do it for the first 80 minutes. We had a lot of poor passes so we could have been lucky.
