Tottenham's Apology Following Disappointing Derby Loss
Tottenham manager Thomas Frank and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario have issued apologies to fans after a dismal performance against Arsenal in the north London derby on Sunday.
Spurs suffered a 4-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium, marking their joint-heaviest loss in Premier League history to the Gunners. Eberechi Eze notably scored a hat-trick against Tottenham, a club he nearly joined during the summer transfer window.
Richarlison provided a moment of brilliance with a stunning 40-yard goal, but it offered little consolation to the visitors, who recorded an expected goals (xG) rating of just 0.07—the lowest in the top flight this season.
“It’s extremely painful—I won’t walk away from that,” Frank told Sky Sports. His side has now lost three of their last five league matches. “We can only apologise to the fans for that performance. It was a bad performance. I’ve seen a lot of character and fight in this team, but we didn’t win enough duels.”
Frank opted for a back three against the league leaders, but the strategy failed as Arsenal repeatedly penetrated Tottenham’s defense in the first half, leading 2-0 at halftime thanks to goals from Leandro Trossard and Eze.
Although Frank altered the formation at halftime, Eze scored again just 35 seconds into the second half, completing his hat-trick 14 minutes before the final whistle.
“I will always take responsibility for my choices,” Frank continued. “In my view, regardless of the formation we played, we didn’t have enough duels or intensity in the crucial moments, which makes it very difficult to win a football match.”
Vicario echoed his manager’s sentiments, stating, “We have to apologise to the people who support us every day. They expected us to fight, and today we didn’t fight. That’s not negotiable at this level. We were too passive. The game plan we prepared was different. The emotions are high, but we need cool heads.”
“We’ll Keep Noise Out and Focus”
This was not the first instance this season where Tottenham has struggled to create opportunities in the attacking third. In a 1-0 defeat at home to Chelsea earlier this month, Spurs managed just three attempts and recorded an xG of 0.1—the second lowest in the Premier League this season. Their xG of 0.17 in the 1-0 loss to Bournemouth in August was only slightly better.
“It has been an ongoing theme that we are working hard to improve,” Frank added, as his side prepares to visit defending champions Paris St-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday. “It doesn’t look good today or against Chelsea. There will be noise—we played against our biggest rivals and lost badly—but we’ll keep the noise out and focus. I know this team is competitive. Of course, it looks bad; it was not good enough.”